Dewan Housing Finance sees loan book growing at 18-19% this fiscal

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) is “fairly optimistic” of clocking 18-19 per cent growth in its loan book this fiscal, Chief Executive Officer Harshil Mehta said.

The housing finance major is also hopeful of maintaining the growth rate in the next two years as it goes about strengthening its existing branch network and improving the IT systems to reach further into Tier- 2 and Tier-3 markets.

“Our focus will remain on the low- and middle-income segments. We are retail-focused and will be a retail-focused player,” Mehta told BusinessLine .

As of September 30, 2015, DHFL’s assets under management stood at over ₹63,000 crore, reflecting a 26 per cent increase over the ₹50,000 crore of September 30, 2014.

DHFL’s average loan ticket size at the portfolio level stood at ₹11.7 lakh.

As much as 33 per cent of the overall loan book is accounted for by western India (including Mumbai), while the eastern part of the country accounted for just 5 per cent.

Mehta, who was in the national capital, sees DHFL’s loan disbursements growing at a robust 25 per cent year-on-year in North India in the next three years.

More branches Currently, DHFL has 32 branches in the North and as much as 24 per cent of its overall loan book in value terms is accounted for by this region.

DHFL’s loan book in north India is currently growing at about 25 per cent. Mehta highlighted that the company had, in the last 18 months, opened some 15-20 branches in north India and this should start contributing to revenues and profits in the coming days.

Capital mop-up Mehta said that DHFL, which on an average processes 17,000 home loan applications across the country every month, was well capitalised and was not looking to raise capital in the next 18 months.

“We are comfortable on the capital front. There will be no need to raise equity capital even as we grow at 18-19 per cent in the next one or two years.”