Updated December 13th 2025, 12:13 IST

The State Bank of India, the country's largest public lender, has altered key interest rate benchmarks across retail deposits and loans, announcing reductions in both deposit and. lending rates with effect from December 15, 2025.
These revisions impact domestic retail term deposits below Rs 3 crore, the External Benchmark Linked Rate (EBLR), the Base Rate, and Funds-Based Lending Rate (MCLR).
While retail term deposit slabs remain unlatered, the Mumbai-headquartered bank has slashed the interest rate for its well-known 444-day ‘Amrit Vrishti’ deposit scheme, reducing returns from 6.60% to 6.45% starting from December 15. However, senior citizens will continue to receive higher rates across all tenors with change only reflected in the 2 to less than 3 years tenor, where the senior citizen rate has been trimmed from 6.95% to 6.90%. The other deposit categories remain unchanged.
The State Bank of India (SBI) has eased borrowing costs by reducing MCLR rates across all tenors by 5 basis points. The revised MCLRs are:
Overnight: 7.85% (earlier 7.90%)
One month: 7.85% (7.90%)
Three months: 8.25% (8.30%)
Six months: 8.60% (8.65%)
One year: 8.70% (8.75%)
Two years: 8.75% (8.80%)
Three years: 8.80% (8.85%)
This move by India's top lender is expected to bring relief to borrowers with loans linked to MCLR including categories such as home, auto, and MSME loans.
Meeanwhile, SBI has also lowered its External Benchmark Linked Rate (EBLR), used majorly to price retail floatig-rate loans from 8.15% to 7.90%, signalling a 25 basis point (bps) cut.
The bank’s Base Rate, applicable to a small segment of legacy borrowers, has also been reduced from 10.00% to 9.90%, effective the same day.
For borrowers, the reduction in MCLR, EBLR, and Base Rate signals cheaper loan servicing costs from mid-December, particularly for customers whose interest resets are due soon. Home loan EMIs linked to EBLR, in particular, may see noticeable relief.
Depositors, on the other hand, will see largely stable returns across most term deposit buckets, except for the modest reduction in the 444-day Amrit Vrishti scheme.
Published December 13th 2025, 12:13 IST