BoB launches easy home loans

New Delhi, June 14 (UNI) Announcing that the bank will not hike the interest rates for now, the Bank of Baroda (BoB) today unveiled a new finance product here, under which home loans to urban customers will be sanctioned within six days.

''There are no immediate plans to increase the interest rates on home loans as of now, but we are evaluating on this. We want to act with prudence and not rush in this regard,'' BoB Chairman and Managing Director Anil K Khandelwal told reporters here.

He said that the 'urban retail loan factory', third in the country after Mumbai and Ahmedabad, has been initiated to provide hassle-free home loans to the customers, keeping in mind the fast life and growing need of home loans in urban areas.

Mr Khandelwal announced plans to provide the facility at Jaipur, Chennai, Bangalore, Surat, Kolkata, Baroda and Lucknow by the end of July.

''We plan to open 10 full-time retail branches in home loans by July-end including the one in Ahmedabad, opened two weeks ago, and BoB's pilot branch in Mumbai,'' he said, adding that BoB has no immediate plans to enter Tier two cities.

He also said that the BoB will launch many products including wealth management scheme and stock broking in the current fiscal.

On being asked about a hike in the bank rate seeing the recent hike in the repo and reverse repo rate by the RBI, the bank CMD refused to comment saying ''it is upto the central bank.'' Currently, BoB has 2,704 branches in the country and 39 overseas.

It recorded a net profit of Rs 827 crore in 2005-06 as against Rs 677 crore in 2004-05.

UNI PV CS RK1606