LIC Housing Finance expects healthy home loan demand and 15% jump in retail credit

LIC Housing Finance (LIC HFL) expects demand for home loans to continue to be healthy going forward. In an interaction with CNBC-TV18, the housing financier's MD and CEO, Y Viswanatha Gowd, exuded confidence that demand in the housing segment is expected to always remain strong especially after the pandemic.

There is good demand across geographies, especially in the affordable housing segment and even in the high ticket-size space in select cities, he said.

The non-banking financial company (NBFC) on Wednesday reported a net profit of Rs 1,314 crore for the January-March period, up 35.8 percent on a sequential basis, according to a regulatory filing. That was on the back of a 5.2 percent increase in revenue. 

LIC Housing Finance's net interest income — or the difference between interest earned and interest paid — rose 17 percent to Rs 1,776.75 crore.

"If you look at our portfolio, nearly 70 percent of our client deals are in the salaried class. Of late, even our recovery in collection efficiency is more than 99 percent in March. That gives us the confidence that we can have very good growth in all areas of our operations," Gowd said.

The company expects growth of 15 percent in its retail home loan portfolio. The company is seeing a good revival, with uncertainty on account of the COVID now gone and economic activity in place, he added.