REALTY BYTES

SBI reduces home loan rates further

The State Bank of India reduced its home loan rates further by announcing a three-month-long "SBI My Home Campaign" . In SBI's home loan scheme, interest rate for the first year is 8%, and for the next two years is 8.5% to 9% depending on size of the loan. It is linked with benchmark lending rates. However, the chairman of HDFC, Deepak Parekh, criticised the lending institutions like SBI, which gives home loan at differential rates - low rates for the earlier period and raising it later. Parekh warned that such artificial lower rates could lead to a sub prime-like crisis, which happened in US housing market.

Top retailers team up to fight slowdown

Cut-throat competition in India's organised retail industry seems to have given way to harmony, with top players such as the Future Group, Aditya Birla Retail, Spencer's and Reliance Retail coming together to cut operational costs and improve margins. The retailers have formed a rainbow coalition that will align their sourcing operations and share private labels, logistics, warehouses and hiring details on a transactional payment basis, said top executives with some of the largest players in the sector. The move mirrors a similar step taken by manufacturing firms in the late 90s to share markets and cut costs.