Mangaluru : The South Canara District Central Cooperative (SCDCC) Bank has decided to drastically reduce interest rates on home loans to mark its centenary celebrations. All new home loans availed from May 1 onwards would be available at competitive rates, ranging from 9.5 per cent to 10.5 per cent per annum, said Bank president M.N. Rajendra Kumar on Monday.

Speaking to presspersons here, Mr. Kumar however said that existing loans would continue to be under old rates. He said that the bank’s centenary building ‘Utkrushta Sahakari Soudha’ would be inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday.

It is also the first time when the Chairman of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development is attending a function of a DCC bank in the country, Mr. Kumar said. NABARD Chairman Harsh Kumar Bhanwala is scheduled to open the bank’s Kodialbail Main branch in the centenary building on Thursday. The five-storied state-of-the-art building built at Kodialbail has various facilities including an IT centre for the bank to help discharge various IT-related services; an auditorium in memory of bank’s founder Molahalli Shiva Rao; a guest house; Karnad Sadashiva Rao memorial banking training centre and a conference hall for board meetings. The inauguration would be done at 3 p.m.

Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Cooperation and Agriculture Marketing, Mahendra Jain on Monday said the agrarian crisis haunting the country seems to not have affected the State so far. Attractive interest subvention by the State government and prompt loan repayment by farmers in the State could be the reasons for this, he said.