Gearing up to initiate co-lending model for home loans: SBI

The lender also said it has waived the processing fee till March for borrowers availing home loans for the bank's approved projects

Mumbai: With an aim to increase its presence in the unorganised segment, the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) said it is preparing to start a co-lending model for home loans. The lender also said it has waived the processing fee till March for borrowers availing home loans for the bank’s approved projects.

“The bank is gearing up to initiate a co-lending model for home loans which will help boost SBI’s footprints in the unorganised sector,” the bank said in a release. In September 2018, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had come out with a co-origination model between banks and NBFCs for providing credit to the priority sector.

Last year in November, RBI rechristened the scheme as Co-Lending Model (CLM) and revised the terms to provide greater operational flexibility to the lending institutions. The model aims to improve the flow of credit to the unserved and underserved sectors of the economy and make available funds to the ultimate beneficiary at an affordable cost, considering the lower cost of funds from banks and greater reach of the NBFCs.

Commenting on SBI’s move to start co-lending in home loans, Housing.com group COO Mani Rangarajan said, “Co-lending as a financial tool will go a long way in benefiting the businesses.” Real estate sector has been demanding that lending should be eased and efforts from the government, RBI and banks will definitely help the sector, he added.

Earlier in the day, SBI said it has crossed the Rs 5 lakh crore mark in its home loan business and expects to double the portfolio in the next five years. Among all scheduled commercial banks, SBI’s market share in the home loan segment is 34 per cent.

At present, it is offering an interest rate on home loans starting as low as 6.80 per cent per annum. It onboards around 1,000 home loan customers per day on an average. “SBI has also completely waived the processing fee till March 2021 for customers availing home loans in its approved projects,” the release said.

The bank is also working on themes like focused development of the home loan business, refined analytics for boosting growth, easing home loan journey for customers, and post disbursal engagement with home loan customers, the release added.