One-year median lending rate of banks eases to 8.55 per cent in the central bank's monthly data

30 October 2026

Banks have shaved a little off some loan and deposit rates, going by the Reserve Bank of India's monthly release on these rates. Regional rural banks and small finance banks are kept out of this set of figures. For October 2026 the median one-year MCLR of scheduled commercial banks works out to 8.55 per cent; a month before, the same figure stood at 8.61 per cent. Fresh rupee loans in September carried a weighted average lending rate of 8.51 per cent, after 8.61 per cent in August. Loans already on the books showed no movement at all: that rate stayed at 8.96 per cent. Depositors saw small cuts too. Term deposits already held earned a weighted average of 6.55 per cent, a shade below August's 6.56 per cent, while new term deposits earned 5.61 per cent against 5.67 per cent. Across sectors, lending rates did not all shift in the same direction.