Loan-switching hurting industry, says Deepak Parekh

He criticised practice of allowing customers to shift their housing loans from one lender to another

Deepak Parekh, chairman of India's largest mortgage lending firm HDFC Ltd, has criticised the practice of allowing customers to shift their housing loans from one lender to another at will, saying this does not necessarily ensure growth in housing. 

"At industry level, shifting of housing loans from one player's balance sheet to another does not tantamount to growth in the overall housing market. The overriding objective must always be funding incremental housing," Parekh said in his address to shareholders, published in the annual report of HDFC.

The shifting of housing loans, introduced in 2012 by the Reserve Bank of India