The State Bank of India (SBI) has announced modest cuts to key lending benchmarks and certain retail term deposit rates, effective December 15.
The interest rate on retail term deposits with tenors of two to less than three years has been reduced to 6.40% from 6.45%. Senior citizens will continue to receive a 50 basis point premium, with their rate lowered to 6.90% from 6.95%. Other retail deposit rates remain unchanged. These revisions apply to domestic retail term deposits below ₹3 crore.
SBI has also reduced the interest rate on its popular 444-day ‘Amrit Vrishti’ deposit to 6.45% from 6.60%.
On the lending side, the bank has eased borrowing costs for home, auto and MSME loans by cutting Marginal Cost of Funds-based Lending Rate (MCLR) across all tenors by 5 basis points. The revised MCLR now stands at 7.85% for overnight and one-month tenors, 8.25% for three months, 8.60% for six months, 8.70% for one year, 8.75% for two years and 8.80% for three years.
Additionally, the External Benchmark Linked Rate (EBLR), which applies to many floating-rate retail loans, has been reduced by 25 basis points to 7.90% from 8.15%. The Base Rate (BPLR) for a small group of legacy borrowers has also been cut to 9.90% from 10.00%.
Earlier this week, the government stated that no capital infusion has been made into public sector banks since FY23, citing improved profitability and stronger capital positions.
Separately, SBI noted in a report that a reduction in goods and services tax (GST) could lower CPI inflation by about 25 basis points during September–November 2025 and by nearly 35 basis points in FY26.
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