Sbi Home Seeks Additional Equity

S Datta, managing director, SBI Home, told newsmen here late last week that the company was badly affected by when it sought to confine itself to the builders and corporate sector.

SBI Home is promoted by the State Bank of India and HDFC with 26 per cent and 14 per cent equity, respectively, apart from the Life Insurance Corporation, Unit Trust of India and General Insurance Corporation and its associates with 18 per cent stake.

The unprecedented slump in the construction sector has resulted in builders defaulting on payments, he said. According to him, the repayment from the corporate sector has been dependent on the overall economic situation.

 

Datta said he expects the additional amount from the promoters to be ready in three months. Of this, Rs 25 crore will be in the form of equity and the rest as preference shares. The pumping in of the amount will be proportional to the stake of each promoter in the company, he said.

The company is at present looking forward to concentrate more on the individual housing sector. The policy at present is to sanction at least Rs 200 crore every year in this sector.

Cumulative sanctions till March 31, 2000, stood at Rs 2,250 crore of which Rs 1,000 crore was allotted to the individual housing sector.

Dutta said Tata Consultancy Services has been contracted to revamp SBI Home's infotech infrastructure, for which Rs 1 crore has been set aside.

SBI Home will strive to make home finance accessible to the wide majority who are currently out of the purview of the house finance disbursed by the institutions in the public sector, he said.

The current market size of the housing finance segment in the country is Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Of this only Rs 38,000 crore is only available from government institutions.