OBC hikes PLR by 75 bps to 12.50%

February 21: Oriental Bank of Commerce has raised its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 75 basis points to 12.50% with effect from Feb. 23.

The rate has been raised in view of increase in cost of deposits, recent CRR hike coupled with increased provisioning requirement on standard advances under certain segments like real estate, NBFC, credit cards, etc, the bank said in a statement.

The bank will raise its BPLR from 11.75% to 12.50%. The upward revision is, however, not applicable to housing loans up to Rs 2 million and education loan up to Rs 400,000.

Recently, other PSU banks like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Union Bank among others have also increased their PLR ranging from 50-75 basis points.

Banks are under pressure to increase their lending rates as cost of funds have gone up following the hike in repo rate and cash reserve ratio by the Reserve Bank.

Shares of the company were trading lower by Rs 1.85, or 0.83%, at Rs 222. Total volume of shares traded at the BSE was 14,754.

Source: Myiris