Axis Bank queues up, cuts base rate by 10 bps to 9.85%

A day after its bigger rival ICICI Bank cut its lending rate, the third-largest private lender, Axis Bank, on Friday lowered its base rate by 0.10 per cent to 9.85 per cent, effective June 30.

The Shikha Sharma-led bank has cut its base rate, or the minimum lending rate, by 0.10 per cent to 9.85 per cent, a bank spokesman said.

With this, the bank has passed on a 0.30 per cent reduction to borrowers this fiscal as against the 0.75 per cent repo rate cut by RBI since January.

Still, the base rate is higher than the 9.7 per cent offered by ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and the State Bank of India.

SBI was the first off the block to lower its base rate earlier this month after RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan in the policy meet on June 2 asked banks to pass on the benefit to consumers.

SBI had slashed its base rate by 15 basis points to 9.7 per cent. HDFC Bank followed suit last week with a 0.15 per cent cut to 9.7 per cent. Similarly, ICICI Bank brought down its rate by a marginal 0.05 per cent on Thursday.

The mid-sized Allahabad Bank too has queued up, reducing its base rate by 0.3 per cent to 9.95 per cent.

Meanwhile, Kotak Mahindra Bank has hinted at base rate easing.