RBI raises home loan limit for cooperative banks

Limits were last revised for UCBs in 2011, and for RCBs in 2009

A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) logo is seen at the gate of its office in New Delhi. File. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to increased the existing limits on individual housing loans provided by cooperative banks, taking into account the rise in housing prices since the limits were last revised and considering customers’ needs for larger loans.

Accordingly, the limits for tier 1/tier 2 urban cooperative banks (UCBs) stood revised from ₹30 lakh/ ₹70 lakh to ₹60 lakh/ ₹140 lakh, respectively, the RBI said.

As regards rural cooperative banks (RCBs), the limits have been increased from ₹20 lakh to ₹50 lakh for RCBs with assessed net worth less than ₹100 crore; and from ₹30 lakh to ₹75 lakh for the rest.

These limits were last revised for UCBs in 2011 and for RCBs in 2009.

Considering the growing need for affordable housing and to realise their potential in providing credit facilities to the housing sector, the RBI has decided to allow state cooperative banks (StCBs) and district central cooperative banks (DCCBs) to extend finance to Commercial Real Estate – Residential Housing (CRE-RH) within the existing aggregate housing finance limit of 5% of their total assets.

The RBI also permitted UCBs to offer door-step banking. “In order to attain harmonisation of regulatory framework across Regulated Entities (REs) and to provide convenience of banking services to customers at their door-step, it has been decided to permit UCBs to extend doorstep banking services to their customers on par with scheduled commercial banks,” the RBI said.