Fullerton India to enter affordable housing finance

Fullerton India Credit Company (FICC) is planning to enter the affordable housing finance segment and has applied for a licence to the National Housing Bank (NHB). The home loan arm will be called Fullerton Home Finance Company.

“We are looking at doing affordable housing. This opportunity will easily fit in with us. Given the housing shortage in the country and considering that segment finds it difficult to get credit, we will offer loans to purchase these houses. In the affordable housing space we can compete and there the returns are higher,” said Shantanu Mitra, chief executive officer and managing director of FICC.

The initial capital for the first two years will be infused through FICC and that would be around Rs 100 crore to start operations. Later, it will depend upon the business plans.

“We will also look at developer finance together with housing finance. In housing finance, we are looking at a ticket size of Rs 25-40 lakh in urban and around Rs 5-10 lakh in rural area,” Mitra said.

The company is also planning to expand in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) segment. “This segment in my opinion is a fairly unorganised sector. This is an area where not more than 10 per cent credit needs are met. From our overall portfolio we have 30 per cent lending to MSME. I want to expand this further. There is no reason why this book should not grow to 40-45 per cent,” he added.