Covid-19: Securitisation volumes to shrink 30-40% this fiscal, says Icra

While the Reserve Bank of India’s revised norms are expected to boost securitisation, especially of housing and mortgage loans, the Covid-19 pandemic may hit transaction volumes by 30-40 per cent in FY21, rating agency ICRA has said.
 

According to ICRA, the total volumes are expected to be Rs 1.2-1.4 trillion in FY21, as against Rs 2 trillion in the last fiscal year.

ICRA said the Indian securitisation market was expected to remain tepid in the first half of FY21 due to the uncertainties emerging from the Covid-19 outbreak and economic slowdown.
 

The lockdown has hit the income generation of a large number of borrowers. Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are likely to witness a spike in delinquencies across asset classes, especially loans disbursed by micro finance institutions (MFIs), which could result in challenges in sell-down of their portfolio. Once the lockdown eases and the economy starts to recover, securitisation would again emerge as an important source of funding for NBFCs and HFCs in the long run.
 

Abhishek Dafria, vice-president and sector head of structured finance at ICRA, said the securitisation market in FY20 at Rs 2 trillion was almost the same as in FY19.