Indiabulls Housing Finance says CRISIL has upgraded outlook to stable

Agency affirms company's long-term credit rating of "AA" and short term of "A1+"

Rating agency CRISIL has upgraded its outlook for Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd from “negative” to “stable”. It affirmed the company’s long-term credit rating of “AA” and short term of “A1+”.

The housing finance company in a filing with BSE said it got CRISIL's communication on March 31. The revision in rating factors in fund raising, comfortable asset quality in retail segments and lower than expected rise in non-performing asset (NPA) levels.

There has been regularisation of collection efficiency to levels before Covid-19. Capitalisation is strong with healthy cover for asset-side risks. The liquidity position also remains strong, the company said.

CRISIL had, on March 24, revised its rating outlook to ‘Negative’ from 'Stable', while reaffirming the rating at ‘CRISIL AA’. The revision in outlook (in March 2020) was to reflect the impact of continued share price fall at that time on the financial flexibility of the company. That was especially in the context of the uncertainty in the macro-environment on account of fallout from Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) situation and associated challenges, especially with respect to raising funds from a diverse set of investors.

Meanwhile CRISIL in statement said the current revision (March 31, 2021) in outlook back to ‘Stable’ reflects IBHFL’s strengthened capital position and expected further capital mobilization in the medium term. It also factors in continued fund raising which has benefitted from various schemes announced by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Government of India. The lower than expected inching up in IBHFL’s non-performing assets (NPAs) in the retail book and the last year or so have also seen some correction in the share price of IBHFL, CRISIL said in a statement.