RBI wants leading rates to be linked with external benchmark rates Those who avail of home loans and personal loans could soon be on par with the big corporates when it comes to how banks calculate interest charges on borrowers. Interest rates on loans across the board would soon be benchmarked to external market rates as the banking regulator aims to put an end to opacity of loan pricing by banks. A Reserve Bank of India committee headed by Dr Janak Raj has suggested that interest rate on loans be pegged to anyone of the three benchmark rates such as T-bill, certificate of deposit rate or the RBI's repo rate rather than leaving it to the discretion of each bank. It also suggested a ban on banks charging a conversion fee whenever the bank resets the rate of interest. "Arbitrariness in calculating the base rate and MCLR and spreads charged over them has undermined the integrity of the interest rate setting process,'' RBI said in a statement.such as T-bill, certi