DHFL targetting 20-25 per cent growth

KOCHI: Housing finance major DHFL is eyeing a 20-25 per cent growth in its disbursements this year.

The company had disbursed Rs 16,600 crore in 2013-14 and is looking at a 20-25 per cent growth this year, DHFL President and Chief Disbursement Officer Rakesh Makkar told reporters here.

In Kerala, it had disbursed Rs 775 crore last fiscal and is eyeing a 20 per cent growth this year.

The company would encourage women customers to buy their own homes, with a 0.25 per cent waiver on processing fees and interest waiver and would focus on low and middle income and affordable housing.

In Kerala, DHFL has a customer base of 7,801, of which 22 per cent are women, the highest in the country.

Kerala with a population of 3.3 crore and housing shortage of about 8.5 lakh units, is a strategic market for DHFL, he said.

DHFL also announced launch of a new branch at Thiruvananthapuram and three service centers at Kollam, Thodupuzha and Pathnamthitta. It was also planning two more branches at Kalpetta and Tirur.

Makkar said the home loan industry grew from Rs 43,851 crore in March 2000 to Rs 7,47,911 crore in March 2013, a growth of 1,606 per cent. Despite such a growth, there would be a shoratge of 18.78 million units in urban areas of the country and 43.9 million units in rural areas, he said.