Mumbai : IDBI, the public sector bank is determined to lower down the home loan rates by 25 basis points. Auto loan rates were also cut off by over 300 basis points. This was done in an effort to grow its portfolio on retail loans.

The lender has designed a new auto loan scheme for the festival season (October-December). It will charge 8.5 per cent fixed rate for the first year.

"We expect to grow auto loan portfolio from the present Rs 3-4 crore to Rs 200 crore by the end of March 2010," said CS Jain, head of personal banking group of the bank, on Tuesday.

Elaborating on home loan rate cut, Jain said for loans up to Rs 30 lakh, the rate would be reduced to 8.75 per cent from the present 9 per cent. It would be 9 per cent for Rs 30-50 lakh under a new slab. Loans above Rs 50 lakh would be charged at 9.25 per cent, he said.

Home loans have the largest share in the bank's personal banking portfolio. The size of housing loan was about Rs 12,000 crore. The bank's retail business comprises of three verticals-- agricultural assets and liabilities, small and medium enterprises and personal banking.

It would offer 25 basis point higher interest rate on fixed deposits of six-month to one-year tenure for the next one month. The bank aims to increase its retail deposits base to Rs 67,000 crore by the end of March 2010 from the current base of Rs 50,000 crore.

The state-owned bank has started giving personal unsecured loans in the last two-three months after having discontinued its personal loan business from last year.