State Bank of India is set to double its home loan disbursals in the current year even as it launched two new loan packages at 8 per cent interest in the first year and 9 per cent in the second and third year. The bank has already disbursed Rs 7,000 crore in the January-June period of 2009 under its special home loan package, a top official said.

After disbursing Rs 2,348 crore till March 2009, the bank has been disbursing around Rs 1,500 per month since then. SBI was the largest originator of home loans with a growth of Rs 9,370 crore in 2008-09 when interest rates were at their peak. If the bank continues to disburse home loans at the same rate, total disbursals in 2009-10 will cross Rs 18,000 crore. This is significant as, according to the RBI figures, the total growth in housing loans of all banks in 2008-09 was only Rs 19,012 crore. On Tuesday, the bank unveiled two new home loan products with an interest rate of 8 per cent in the first year with processing fee for both waived till September 30. While SBI Easy Home is for loans up to Rs 30-lakh, SBI Advantage Home is for home buyers in the premium segment above Rs 30-lakh. In SBI Easy Home Loan, the interest rate charged on a daily reducing balances would be 8 per cent per annum for the first year and 9 per cent per annum fixed for the second and third years. From the fourth year onwards, the customer can choose between a floating rate of 2 per cent below the SBAR and a fixed rate of 1 per cent below SBAR with a five-year reset.