Country's largest public sector lender State Bank of India today fixed its benchmark lending rate at 7.5 per cent following a Reserve Bank directive. The bank said in a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange that the rate will come into effect from July 1. The move will end the practice of sub-prime loan to corporate. Sub-prime loan offers lower than market rate to companies with high credit worthiness. Private Banks and other lenders are also likely to peg their base rate closer to that of SBI to stay competitive in the corporate loan market. Through the base rate regime, the RBI seeks to make banks stick to a declared lending rate, below which no bank can lend, with a view to bring about more transparency in the lending regime.