NHB buys 12.5% stake in M&M Fin subsidiary

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services On Tuesday said the National Housing Bank (NHB) will pick up a 12.5 per cent stake in its newly floated subsidiary for rural housing finance.

Elaborating on the transaction, NHB Chairman and Managing Director S Sridhar said his company would invest Rs 5.8 crore in Mahindra Rural Housing Finance.

The Mahindra Housing Finance arm will provide loans ranging between Rs 200,000-260,000 to begin with.

It may explore the semi-urban market at an opportune time, Mahindra Rural Housing Finance Chief Executive Officer Anuj Mehra said.

Separately, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial’s Chief Finance Officer V Ravi said the company is seeing some slowdown in vehicle financing because of higher automobile costs, fuel prices and hardening interest rates.

“Still, our non-performing assets (NPAs) are pretty manageable,” Ravi said.

He said the net NPA of the company as on June 30 was 3 per cent, while the gross NPA at the same time was 6 per cent.

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services is A part of the $6.7-billion Mahindra Group and provides finance for utility vehicles, tractors and cars. Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services today closed at Rs 244 on the National Stock Exchange.