Bank of Baroda joins rate cut bandwagon, slashes lending rates by up to 0.75%

New Delhi: Joining the rate cut bandwagon, Bank of Baroda on Thursday lowered its lending rates by up to 0.75 percent -- which will lead to cheaper home and corporate loans.

The new rates would be effective from January 7 and will be applicable to all new and renewed borrowal accounts, the bank said in a statement.

The move will help bring down cost of home, auto and other loans linked to marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR).

Even though IDBI Bank and State Bank of Travancore had announced cuts in the last week of 2016, the reduction in lending rate by major banks got-off with country's largest lender SBI slashing its offerings by a flat 0.90 percentage point on Sunday, a day after being exhorted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help the poor and marginalised sections.

Following SBI, many banks like HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, among others have reduced their lending rates.

Housing finance companies HDFC, Indiabulls Finance have also cut their home loan rates.