By Varun Singh

Several banks like the State Bank of India (SBI), Kotak Mahindra, Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) are offering loans at record low-interest rates to cash in the spending rush ahead of the festive season.

State Bank of India (SBI) will charge home loan borrowers an interest of 6.7% based on their credit score, irrespective of the loan amount. The offers are available to all segments of borrowers irrespective of the profession of the borrower. The 6.70% home loan offer is also applicable to balance transfer cases.

Kotak Mahindra Bank has reduced its home loan interest rates by 15 basis points (bps) from 6.65% to 6.50% p.a. This special rate of 6.50% p.a. is a limited period festive season offer beginning 10th September and ending 8th November 2021.

Bank of Baroda (BoB) is offering a waiver of @0.25% in the existing applicable rates for home and car loans. In addition to that, the bank is also offering a waiver of processing fees in home loans. Now, home loan rates will start at 6.75% and car loan rates start at 7.00%.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) too has slashed the repo-based lending rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 6.55%.

HDFC too, announced a festive offer with home loans starting from 6.70 per cent. This offer will be applicable to all new loan applications irrespective of the loan amount or employment category. The special festive offer at 6.70 per cent is for all loan slabs and for all customers with credit score of 800 and above.

Real estate experts feel that these interest rate cuts could be a major factor in boosting the home sales this festive season.

Vedanshu Kedia, Director, Prescon Group said, “It is an encouraging move by the leading banks to slash interest rates especially during the onset of the festive season. Even now, a low-interest rate by reputable banks is bound to catapult unimaginable economic growth in the country as a result of enhanced consumption. The initiative will surely make homeownership affordable and viable for the fence-sitters who can now plunge on the best opportunity to buy their dream home.”

Cherag Ramakrishnan, Managing Director CR Realty said, “Considering the auspicious festive season ahead, the timing of the reduction in interest rates by leading banks couldn’t have been better. The real estate market has seen decent sales this year and this reduction in interest rates would further help to keep up the sales momentum.”

Bhushan Nemlekar, Director, Sumit Woods Limited said“The reduction in home loan rates by leading banks is going to help the demand side immensely. The real estate sector has benefited immensely from the record low home loan rates. Currently, the all-time low, sub-7% interest rates are encouraging consumers to proceed with their purchase and quickly close their transactions. Low interest rates also help enhance eligibility for home buyers thereby bringing more customers into the marketplace.”

Pritam Chivukula – Co-Founder & Director, Tridhaatu Realty and Hon. Secretary, CREDAI-MCHI said, “The reduction in home loan interest rates by leading banks for a limited period have extended the best buying opportunity for the homebuyers. The banks are competing to grab the home loan customers before the fiscal year ends. Currently, the home loan rates are at an historic 15 year low, as banks compete in a market with low credit demand. The benign interest rates environment will continue for some time and it is unlikely that interest rates will fall further from the current levels. For the next few days, the buyers can swoop in on good deals on the back of rock-bottom interest rates on home loans along with festive offers from good developers on the eve of expected price rise. We can already see that the demand for residential properties has picked up now as people are beginning to believe that this is the best time to buy a property.”

Ashok Mohanani – President, NAREDCO Maharashtra said, “There is already a growing desire of owning a home as consumers look at it as a necessity in this unprecedented time of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the onset of the festive season, there is a stiff competition amongst the financial institutions to provide the consumers with the best home loan interest rates. This is the best time to buy a home as it gives the aspiring homebuyers a lifetime opportunity to purchase their dream home with various festive offers as well as all-time low interest rates. These factors are also proving to help spur the real estate demand that was temporarily hit last year as a result of the pandemic.”

Jayesh Rathod, Executive Director, The Guardians Real Estate Advisory said, “The move to reduce interest rates by few banks is encouraging and will create competitive housing finance options for the home buyers and eventually pave path for robust housing demand. We have been maintaining since long that banks need to pass on the benefits of the reduced repo rates to consumers and we are happy to see the same happen now. The low interest rate regime is going to be a game-changer for the whole real estate sector especially at a time when the economy is on a recovery trail. It will also augur well for ready-to-move-in homes and the affordable housing segment. Both of these categories will benefit immensely from the reduced rates. From the consumer perspective, this is going to be the last call to take advantage of the bank offers as a difference of even a half percentage on the interest rate on a housing loan can save lakhs of rupees of the prospective buyers.”

Also Read: Homebuyers Prefer This Period For Home Loans

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By Varun Singh

Nirav Modi, is one of the most wanted fugitive, who has his name embroiled in the Punjab National Bank scam (PNB scam).

In the last two days several of his assets including paintings, watches, handbags, and even cars of the like of Rolls Royce were auctioned.

The auction was carried out by Saffron Art, which has termed it a White Glove Sales. Which means all the lots were sold.

The Enforcement Directorate had asked a private auction house to auction the assets of Nirav Modi.

The two auctions raised a total of Rs 53.45 crore (USD 7.65 million) for the Directorate of Enforcement, Government of India, crossing its pre-auction estimate of Rs 41 crore.

One of the collectible that was auctioned was a watch. The watch is a Girard-Perregaux ‘Opera One’ Triple Bridge Tourbillon Wristwatch.

This watch was sold for Rs 95.2 lakh (USD 136,000) believe it or not, but the bidder has paid more than 30 times the estimate of the watch. The auction house claims it is a first for a watch in a public auction.

At this price one can easily find a house within Mumbai limits, a 1-BHK for a cost of one watch of Nirav Modi.

Another rare watch on auction was  Audemars Piguet ‘Jules Audemars Grand Complication’ Automatique Wristwatch sold for more than four times its estimate at Rs 78.4 lakh (USD 112,000).

The total of the two watches comes to Rs 1.73 crore, an easy figure to buy a 2-BHK in a posh locality of Mumbai.

The live auction was led by Amrita Sher-Gil’s rare 1935 painting Boys with Lemons, which was auctioned for the first time, and sold for Rs 15.7 crore (USD 2.24 million). 

M F Husain’s Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12, 1972 sold for Rs 13.44 crore (USD 1.92 million), achieving a world record for the artist.

A dazzling 18K yellow gold and diamond evening bag by Van Cleef and Arpels was sold for four times its estimate at Rs 20.16 lakh (USD 28,800).

An Hermès Kelly Blue Atoll bag tripled its higher estimate and was sold for Rs 17.9 lakh.

The elegant Rolls-Royce Ghost witnessed a high demand, selling for twice its estimate at Rs 1.68 crore (USD 240,000).

A vintage Louis Vuitton cabin trunk sold for more than twelve times its estimate at Rs 8.62 lakh (USD 12,320).

Saffronart CEO and Co-Founder Dinesh Vazirani said, “Saffronart is pleased to have begun this auction season with our Spring Live and Online Auctions, both of which achieved White Glove sales with 100% lots sold, and raised a combined total of Rs 53.45 crores (USD 7.65million) for the Directorate of Enforcement,Government of India. We saw intensely competitive bidding across categories and from around the world.

He further added, “The high prices achieved for leading modern artists such as M F Husain and Amrita Sher-Gil demonstrate that the demand for Indian art is very strong, and the frenzied bidding on watches, handbags and carsmost of which sold in multiples of their estimates underscores the thriving market for luxury collectibles.”

Also Read: Nirav Modi’s Assets Put On Auction By ED.

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