In a bid to grow its home loan portfolio, Central Bank of India plans to bring residential project developers and prospective home buyers under one roof by organising property expositions across the country.
The public sector bank plans to ramp up its home loan portfolio from Rs 6,800 crore as on September 30 to Rs 10,000 crore by March 31 next year.
Pointing out that the size of the bank’s home loan portfolio was not commensurate with its network of 4,100 branches, Chairman and Managing Director M.V. Tanksale said the idea behind the property expositions is to get more home loans business.
At its recent maiden two-day property exposition ‘Swapna Sankul-2012’ in Mumbai, the bank gave in-principle approval to home loans aggregating about Rs 50 crore. The bank will replicate the Mumbai property exposition model across the country, said Central Bank chief.
“Home loan is one segment which offers a lot of opportunity to expand our loan book. These loans currently account for 4.5 per cent of our total loan book. We hope to increase the share of home loans to 7-8 per cent of total loans by March-end 2013,” said Tanksale.
As part of its retail loans push, Central Bank of India had cut interest rates on home loans and car loans by 10 basis points (bps) and 150 bps, respectively, with effect from September 1. A basis point equals one-hundredth of a percentage point.
The bank had also reduced the interest rate on personal loans and loans against gold by up to 200 bps and 100 bps, respectively. Besides, it waived processing charges on retail advances.
Central Bank is offering home loans up to Rs 30 lakh at its base rate of 10.50 per cent; above Rs 30 lakh to Rs 75 lakh at 10.65 per cent; and above Rs 75 lakh at 10.90 per cent.
According to R.K. Dubey, Executive Director, Central Bank of India, the bank has tied up with the Odisha, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh State Governments to provide their employees home loans at affordable rates. It plans to enter into similar tie-ups with other States as well.