Q. The minimum interest rate of a bank below which it is generally not viable to lend was known as ____ under India’s former internal benchmark lending-rate framework:
Answer: Base Rate
Notes: In India’s former internal benchmark lending-rate system, the Base Rate was the minimum rate below which banks generally did not lend. It was introduced to bring greater transparency in loan pricing and served as the reference rate for many advances. Later, the Reserve Bank of India shifted new rupee loans to the MCLR framework from April 1, 2016, but the term Base Rate remains the correct answer for the former regime.