The largest lender State Bank of India will be seeking clarifications from the Reserve Bank of India whether it can offer long-term
home loans with fixed rates in the beginning and convert the same into
floating rates later, chairman Rajnish Kumar said. The move comes after the
RBI has mandated banks to shift all retail lending to floating rates that will be determined by
external benchmarks like the repo rate. Kumar said there is a lack of clarity on how it can go ahead with the fixed rate products, after the RBI’s new regulations. Hinting at the volatility in the repo rate, he said some home buyers may want their loan rates to be fixed. For such buyers, it can offer a '
fixed-floating' product, Kumar said.