Aadhar Housing Fin expects loan portfolio to grow by 65% this fiscal

World Bank backed Aadhar Housing Finance expects its loan portfolio to grow around 65 per cent this fiscal as the government is giving a strong push to affordable housing.

People like street vendors, small shop owners, plumbers, electricians and others like them are important for the economy and want to have a decent way of living. The government's subsidy scheme for affordable housing is helpful for them to avail small ticket loans of up to Rs 8 lakh, Aadhar Housing Finance MD and CEO Deo Shankar Tripathi said in an interaction.

They are the individuals who need to have a decent way of living, he added.

"Their repaying capacity has improved. By getting subsidy of Rs 2-2.5 lakh, they can get Rs 7-8 lakh loan and these houses are available at the periphery of metros or bigger cities or the tier II, III and IV cities. There is enough opportunity for every housing finance company to grow for next 5-6years.

"We grew by 65 per cent in terms of disbursements and 50 per cent in terms of loan book and 103 per cent in terms of profit last fiscal. This year also, we target to grow by 65 per cent in disbursement and 50 per cent by loan book," Tripathi said.

The company's loan disbursement during the year 2017-18 were Rs 3,905 crore as against Rs 2, 338 crore in 2016-17.

It operates in 20 states with over 275 branches. Catering mainly to retail segment in affordable housing, the segment gets almost 99 per cent of its loan book.

The average loan ticket size is Rs 8.25 lakh, Tripathi said.

The company reported a profit of Rs 100 crore in 2017-18 compared to Rs 49 cr in preceding year.

Total income increased to Rs 798 crore from Rs 543 crore in the year-ago period.

The Gross Retail NPA (on AUM) stood at 0.58 per cent as on March 31, 2018.

The total assets under management (AUM) grew to Rs 7,966 crore by the end of 2017-18 from Rs 4,991 crore in 2016-17.

Aadhar Housing Finance Limited (Aadhar), the erstwhile DHFL Vysya Housing Finance Ltd, is a subsidiary of Wadhawan Global Capital (WGC). It is backed by the World Bank through the equity participation of International Finance Corporation (IFC).