Retail loans prop up DHFL, lift net 15% to Rs 162.3 cr

Private sector mortgage lender Dewan Housing Finance today reported a 15 per cent increase in net profit for the quarter ended March at Rs 162.28 crore, driven by a healthy rise in retail loans.
This pushed up net interest income by 30 per cent.
"Our net profit increased 14.95 per cent to Rs 162.28 crore for the March quarter as against Rs 141.17 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year," Dewan Housing said in a statement.
Gross NPA stood at 0.84 per cent while net NPA was zero, the company said.
Loan disbursements and sanctions rose to Rs 6,291.35 crore and Rs 9,386.85 crore, from the earlier Rs 5,743 crore and Rs 7,243 crore respectively, the lender said.

Total income rose 11.67 per cent to Rs 1,582.48 crore during the quarter from Rs 1,417.13 crore a year ago. The net interest margin of the lender stood at 2.89 per cent for the quarter as well as for the full fiscal, its chairman and managing director Kapil Wadhawan said.

Advances grew 10 per cent while sanctions rose 29.5 per cent, taking the total assets under its management to over Rs 57,000 crore, up 27 per cent, he said.
When asked about growth expectations, Wadhawan told PTI that it could be above 20 per cent this fiscal, adding that there is a lot of optimism in the market on the back of reduction in lending rates.

DHFL had reduced its lending rate by 10 basis points to 9.90 per cent earlier in the month to match its larger rivals like HDFC, SBI and ICICI Bank.
Over 80 per cent of loans are retail, he added.
When asked about branch expansion, he said there are no major plans as the company is sufficiently covered after adding 105 branches in the reporting year, taking its total outlets to 340.
Wadhawan said there is no immediate fund-raising plans too, as it is adequately capitalised. The company had raised USD 175 million through the special ECB window last in FY14.

For the full fiscal, its net income rose 17.45 per cent to Rs 621.29 crore while loan book outstanding grew 26.18 per cent to Rs 51,039.65 crore. Total income grew 20.41 per cent to Rs 5,981.64 crore.