New Delhi, Mar 17: Responding to the plea of the Finance Minister P Chidambaram to moderate home loan rates, public sector lender UCO Bank on Monday reduced the rates by 0.25 per cent.

"It will give relief to new home loan borrowers as well as make our rates more attractive," UCO Bank Chairman and Managing Director S K Goel told PTI.

The board which met on Saturday decided to reduce the housing loan with immediate effect, he said.

Home loan rates ranging from 9.5 per cent and 12 per cent across all the three tenure would come down by quarter percentage points, he added.

Earlier during the month, Finance Minister had said there was public demand that interest rates on home loans up to Rs 20 lakh should be slashed, but said it was for the banks and RBI to take a call.

"I shall certainly bear in mind that there is public demand that interest rates for borrowers, who borrow (housing loans) up to Rs 20 lakh, must be lowered," Chidambaram had said.

The Finance Minister said he agreed that housing loan borrowers of less than Rs 20 lakh should be incentivised by lowering interest rates.

"I made a number of efforts to impress upon bankers in this regard ... it is a constant effort that I will have to make... bankers will have to take a call, RBI will have to take a call," he had said.

On capital raising plan, Goel said the bank would take a view only when market stabilises. If markets does not stabilise till June, the bank would raise about Rs 250 crore through Qualified Institutional Placement, he said.