'Bhagyalakshmi' nets Rs 2,000 cr in 2 months: LICHF chief

MUMBAI: Within two months of its launch, LIC Housing Finance has grossed up a cool Rs 2,000 crore from its dedicated offering for women, a top company official said.

"We have crossed the Rs 2,000-crore-mark for the 'Bhagyalakshmi' product within a short time," Chief Executive V K Sharma told PTI.

Launched early January, the product offers women borrowers to get loans at 0.25 per cent cheaper for the first two years, after which it turns in to floating interest rate. It is to be a limited-period offer running till the end of this month.

Sharma said the response from the house-seeking women has been "very encouraging" and added that it constitutes a "sizable percentage" of new disbursals by the company since the launch.

On the plans for the next fiscal, he said the housing finance subsidiary of the life insurance giant LIC will post a growth of over 20 per cent in assets, as against 15-20 per cent growth expected in the industry.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 236.25 crore in the December quarter as against Rs 305.69 crore in the previous year.

Last week, LIC Chairman D K Mehrotra had said the life insurer would seek to enter the banking fray through its subsidiary LICHF. Sharma, however, declined comment on the subject.