The Reserve Bank today said the average base rate applicable for lending by microlenders for the quarter beginning tomorrow should be 10.09 per cent.
"The RBI has advised that the applicable rate for credit by MFIs for the quarter beginning April is 10.09 per cent," it said in a notification.
During the quarter, there were a few base rate reviews by lenders like Union Bank of India and United Bank of India.
There were two off-schedule rate cuts by the RBI in its key lending rates cumulating to 0.50 per cent.
The Reserve Bank had last February come up with a system under which it will advise the average of the base rates of the five largest commercial banks on the last working day of every quarter, for the purpose of arriving at the interest rates to be charged by an MFI to its borrowers.
It can be noted that there was an uproar over allegations of exorbitant interest rates by MFIs following the crisis in Andhra. Following which the RBI had capped the maximum permissible interest rates to 24 percent.
