Blackstone backed Aadhar Housing Finance Limited (AHFL) is expecting over 20% increase in order book and disbursement in home loan for low-income housing as the upcoming budget is likely to give push to housing for all.
Rishi Anand, MD and CEO of the company said that it has requested the government to redefine income criteria of economically weaker section (EWS) to Rs 5 lakh and low income group (LIG) to Rs 10 lakh.
“This was last done in 2015 and now with the evolving times requires attention,” Das said.
The company has disbursed Rs 6,000 crore in FY 23 and Rs 7,100 crore in FY 24.
“Our order book, profit and disbursement grew by almost 20% last year and we are looking at same rate of growth this year. There is huge demand in the segment and we want to serve the segment to ensure housing for all,” said Das.
Uttar Pradesh is the biggest market for the company contributing almost 15% of the revenue.
Areas in metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai also contributing significantly to the revenue.
“The way cost of the construction is going up, most of our business is coming from self construction or resale, builder projects are not feasible and our client hardly buys in builder projects. Now that we are into majority of the states, we are going deep into the states to cater to the needs of the customers,” said Das.
The company is also exploring Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir as a market.
AHFL is one of the largest low-income segment focused Housing Finance company with AUM of Rs 16,566 crores as on 31st December 2022, with a geographical reach across 20 states and union territories and a network of 424 branches and offices.
“One action that could boost home ownership would be the reintroduction of PMAY to cover a wider geographical reach, through all the four verticals – Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) with an enhanced subsidy amount of Rs 3 lakh, affordable housing in partnership, beneficiary led construction and In situ slum development,” Das said.
Owing to rising cost of construction, the government could also consider, redefining priority sector lending limits from current Rs 35 lakh in a metro location to Rs 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakh in a non-metro to Rs 35 lakh and merging both PMAY Urban and PMAY Rural schemes for CLSS subsidy while keeping the subsidy amount the same.
“We would also suggest the central and state governments to work collectively towards creating an affordable housing inventory under the public private partnership which could provide impetus to citizens thereby empowering and encouraging them to opt for home ownership,” Das said.
Source Homevior.in
