PNB Housing to take steps to check quality of loans

PNB Housing Finance today said it will introduce some steps to check quality of housing loans, but asserted that they will not lead to fall in advances.

"We are going to cull out more prudent norms to safeguard ourselves. We will seek to have some double checks (done before extending loans for project)," PNB housing Finance Managing Director Sanjaya Gupta told reporters here on the sidelines of a RICS event here.

He said PNB Housing Finance expects a 20-25 per cent loan growth in the current fiscal. "We expect to take our loan portfolio to Rs 4,000 crore by March 2011," Gupta said.

The over 30-year old housing finance industry came under a cloud of bribe-for-loan controversy, after CBI last week arrested eight senior officials from several banks and financial institutions.

"PNB Housing is very conservative on project funding. Prudence or additional prudence does not mean that lending volumes would reduce," Gupta added.

He said the company would look at the possibility of rating risk associated with a loan, both internally and externally and then check its viability.

"We will see whether we would do product risk rating both internally and externally and then check whether they match or do not match. Marketability of a project is most important," Gupta added.