Indiabulls Housing Finance reports a 2% dip in net income at Rs 1,006 cr

The second largest pure-play mortgage lender Indiabulls Housing Finance Wednesday reported a marginal 2 per cent dip in net income at Rs 1,006 crore for the March quarter due to lower disbursements and on a one-time provisions

For the full year, the company had reported a net income of Rs 4,091 crore, a growth of 11.8 per cent over Rs 3,658 crore booked in FY18.

The company closed the year with assets of Rs 1,20,525 crore, and a balance sheet of Rs 1,30,104 crore.

Net interest income for the quarter rose 5.8 per cent to Rs 1,591 crore, the company said, and had a core capital ratio of 26.29 per cent.

Commenting on the earnings, Gagan Banga, vice-chairman and managing director, said, "we are back in the growth mode and it is disbursals as usual. We'll seek to grow loan book at 20 per cent, and leverage the sell-down route which has emerged as a strong source of funding during the past six months." The company has also declared an interim dividend of Rs 10 a share or 500 per cent, over and above the Rs 40 payout already disbursed.

"Our disbursements were lower as we made a conscious decision to grow the loan-book slower. The net income was also impacted due to a rise in the general provisions to the tune of Rs 30-40 crore during the quarter," deputy managing director Ashwini Hooda told PTI.

The company said the numbers are not comparable as in FY18 the lender had booked a one-time gain of Rs 542.4 crore from sale of investment in OakNorth Bank to GIC of Singapore in November 2017.
 

Also, in the second half of FY19 there was a one-time tax incidence of Rs 291 crore on account of redemption of long-term units of debt mutual funds, he added.

During the reporting quarter, the company's incremental lending was only Rs 7,300 crore.

Gross non-performing assets stood at 0.88 per cent while net NPA printed at 0.69 per cent. The cost of fund stood at 8.77 per cent.

The housing finance company raised Rs 6,100 crore through securitisation during the quarter, Hooda said.

He said the company has set a 20 percent loan growth target for FY20.

The company said merger process with Lakshmi Vilas Bank is progressing and applications to the regulatory bodies are being sent.

When asked about a media report that the group is looking to sell stake its real estate business, Hooda said, "the founders had already told the analysts during a recent call (after the merger announcement) had said that they might look at exiting the real estate business if required, as it is a small vertical."

The Indibulls counter closed 0.47 per cent higher at Rs 748.80 on the BSE against a 1.27 per cent rally in the benchmark Sensex.