SBI Extends Its Special Home Scheme

State Bank of India (SBI). India’s largest lender, has extended its ‘My Home Campaign’ till 31 March 2010. The campaign was originally launched on 8 August 2009 for a period of three months, but SBI extended it just before its expiry. P. Nandakumaran, chief general manager, retail loans, said: “The tremendous response to the campaign is the reason for its renewal. Home loan demand has also been high. During the period February 2009-September 2009, we opened 169,174 accounts across India. The disbursement has been over Rs 13,900 crore in the eight-month period.” Nandakumaran added that 85 per cent of the home loans were below Rs 30 lakh. This indicates that the scheme is extremely popular among customers who buy houses in the affordable segment. The Campaign. SBI offers three products under the ‘My Home Campaign’. One is the SBI Hi-Five Home Loan, under which a fixed rate of 8 per cent per annum (p.a.) is charged for five years for loans up to Rs 5 lakh and a maximum tenure of 10 years. For loans between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 15 lakh, the interest rate is 8 per cent p.a. for the first year and 8.5 per cent p.a. during the second and the third year. You can avail this loan as an overdraft with the possibility of saving interest under the SBI MaxCain scheme. This scheme is favoured by the salaried class. For customers looking at high-end properties, SBI offers the SBI Advantage Home scheme. This scheme carries