RBI Releases Data on Lending and Deposit Rates of Banks for April 2025 [PDF]

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has published the latest data on interest rates for loans and deposits collected from scheduled commercial banks (SCBs), excluding regional rural banks and small finance banks. This data gives a snapshot of how much banks are charging on loans and offering on deposits during recent months, particularly March and April 2025. The details are available in Tables 1 to 7 of the official release.

Lending Rates (Interest Charged on Loans)

1. New Loans:
   In March 2025, the average interest rate that banks charged on new rupee loans was 9.35%. This is slightly lower than 9.40% in February 2025, showing a small reduction in lending rates for new borrowers.
2. Existing Loans:
   For all ongoing or outstanding loans, the average interest rate dropped a bit to 9.77% in March 2025 from 9.80% in February 2025.
3. 1-Year MCLR (Benchmark Rate):
   The Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) for a one-year loan — which is a key reference rate for most loans — remained steady at 9.00% in April 2025. This means that banks have not changed their base lending rate for the one-year term.

Deposit Rates (Interest Paid on Deposits)

1. New Term Deposits:
   The average interest rate that banks offered on new rupee term deposits rose to 6.65% in March 2025, up from 6.49% in February 2025. This suggests that banks were willing to offer slightly higher returns to attract new depositors.
2. Existing Term Deposits:
   For existing or ongoing term deposits, the average interest rate was 7.03% in March 2025, which is nearly the same as 7.02% in February 2025.

Conclusion:

The RBI data shows that banks have slightly reduced loan interest rates while increasing deposit rates, especially for new deposits. This trend could be beneficial for borrowers as loans are becoming slightly cheaper, and it’s also good news for depositors as returns on savings are improving.

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