LIC Housing Finance Ltd (LICHFL) reported an almost flat standalone net profit at ₹597.53 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2019, against ₹596.31 crore in the year-ago period. Profit before tax was down 13 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) at ₹745 crore against ₹860 crore in the year-ago period.

Jump in provisioning

Despite a jump in provisions towards impairment on financial instruments, the bottomline was supported by lower tax expense.

Interest income in the reporting quarter was up 13 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) at ₹4,969 crore against ₹4,414 crore in the year-ago period. Finance costs were up 12 per cent y-o-y at ₹3,715 crore against ₹3,330 crore.

Net interest income (difference between interest earned and interest expended) was up 18 per cent y-o-y at ₹1,228 crore against ₹1,043 crore.

Provisions towards impairment on financial instruments jumped to ₹391 crore against a write back of ₹3.14 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Tax expense in the reporting quarter was lower at ₹148 crore against ₹263 crore in the year-ago period.

“The net profit has been flattish mainly due to some additional provisioning. There was steady growth in revenue from operations, which was up 13 per cent; home loans grew 16 per cent; net interest income has gone up by 18 per cent; and net interest margin improved to 2.42 per cent (against 2.33 per cent in the year ago quarter),” said Siddhartha Mohanty, MD and CEO. Individual home loan disbursements in the reporting quarter were at ₹10,655 crore against ₹9,170 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Loan disbursement

Total disbursements nudged up 3 per cent y-o-y at ₹13,177 crore against ₹12,778 crore as project loans saw a de-growth of 25 per cent y-o-y to ₹931 crore (₹1,238 crore in the year-ago period).

Mohanty emphasised that there is good traction in loans for affordable homes and under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. On Thursday, LICHFL’s shares closed at ₹440.15 apiece, down 4.05 per cent over the previous close on the BSE.

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