Axis Bank rolls out attractive 'money-saving' scheme for home loan customers

Axis Bank will be offering its new home loan customers an alternative to reduce their principal amount on a monthly basis, in a departure from the current system wherein the lion's share of repayment initially is the interest component.

By reducing the principal with every month's repayment, the gross amount repaid by a borrower during the duration of a loan will also go down as the interest outgo comes down, officials at the private sector lender said Wednesday.

However, the interest outgo for a borrower has been kept at a higher level of 9.05-9.25 per cent as against 8.85- 9.05 per cent for the older product.

"The new home loan product will reduce the overall interest burden on the borrower. We are confident that this unique concept of 'reducing monthly instalments', along with big savings on the interesting side, will be an attractive proposition for home buyers," executive director for retail banking Rajiv Anand told reporters.

In a statement, the bank cited a case of an Rs 50-lakh home loan, saying by the end of the 20th year, the interest outgo under the current equated monthly instalment (EMI) system, a borrower will be paying Rs 57.96 lakh in interest alone assuming an interest rate of 9 per cent.

But under the new offering, even assuming for a higher interest rate of 9.20 per cent, the total interest outgo will be Rs 46.19 lakh only on the same amount of loan. The bank said it will extend loans between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 crore under the new product.