CHENNAI: Hoping for some festive cheer, banks have begun hawking their special festive offers to lure Indians to resume borrowing and make big purchases. While State Bank of India (SBI) has announced to waive off processing fees for customers applying for a car, gold, and personal loans through the bank’s YONO app.
Additionally, it is also offering a 0.10 per cent rebate on interest to potential home buyers with good credit scores. SBI is providing gold loans at an interest rate of 7.5 per cent, with flexible repayment options for up to 36 months. Similarly, HDFC Bank is giving 1000 special offers under its ‘Festive Treats’ scheme where it is giving relaxations on processing fee and EMIs along with cashbacks and gift vouchers.
The private bank has also tied up with several big brands to give special deals. Bank customers can avail
discounts up to 30 per cent as per the claims made by it. Meanwhile, ICICI Bank is also giving discounts on processing fees for home loans along with home loan offers at lower EMIs on fresh loans or on transferring the loan balance of other banks. ICICI Bank customers too will be able to avail discounts and cashback via the bank’s tie-ups with brands across categories such as electronics & gadgets, apparels & jewellery, automobiles and wellness, among others.
Anup Bagchi, Executive Director at ICICI Bank said, “With the onset of the festive season, we have put together a wide range of offers for our customers. With this, we believe that our customers will get the best-in-class offers to celebrate their festivities, even while they are indoors or maintaining safe distancing.”
Analysts say loan growth may still languish
The growth in bank credit in the past few years was mainly led by retail, specifically discretionary spending. This year, however, the situation is different and as such rating agency Icra has cut their expectation of loan growth in FY21 to a mere 2-3% from the previous expectation of 6-7 PER CENT.