State Bank of India enters UK mortgage market

Terms of the products are between five to 25 years. The product has a £150 booking fee and £1,990 arrangement fee and no early repayment charge.

The bank is only offering deals direct through its UK branches but plans to add IFAs and mortgage brokers to its distribution network through the next year.

The lender also has Financial Services Authority permission to offer regulated mortgages and plans to launch residential products in 2012.

Deepak Ahuja, head of consumer banking and wealth at SBI, said: "We see housing as a bellwether of the UK economy and it is going to come back. I expect buy-to-let mortgage customers to be roughly evenly split between property investors and people who simply want to rent out a second home."

“We have decided to launch this project now as the mortgage market has changed and our more prudent lending criteria can be competitive. A 60% LTV buy-to-let would not have been able to compete three-four years ago.”