Banks, HFCs on hiring spree amidst rising home loan demand

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Banks, housing finance companies and NBFCs are on a hiring spree amidst rising demand for home loans.

Industry experts and players say that hiring for home loan departments is up by at least 20 per cent to 25 per cent in recent months as players look to expand their home loan portfolios in smaller towns and attract more customers through lower home loan rates.

“Hiring has gone up by 22 per cent to 25 per cent by banks, NBFCs and HFCs. This is especially the case in the last three to four months, especially after the second wave of the pandemic. A small portion seasonal in nature but we expect it to be largely sustained for the next few years. The requirement for additional staff is equally in urban and rural markets,” said Amit Vadera, Vice President – Staffing, TeamLease Services.

About 90 per cent of the requirement is in the sales function with starting salaries in the range of ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 along with attractive variable incentives.

Amidst the pandemic and work from home, many people are now looking at their own homes as well as larger homes, leading to the demand for home loans. Banks, HFCs and NBFCs consider the home loan portfolio to perform better as typically borrowers do their best not to default on home loans. They have been offering interest rates as low as 6.4 per cent (such as Union Bank) and are also charting out aggressive expansion plans.

“There has been increased hiring as most small finance banks, HFCs and NBFCs in different segments are expanding their reach to newer locations and need people,” said the head of a housing finance company.

However, he noted that many employees as are moving from one company to leading to higher manpower costs.

“Every company is in a hiring spree. Everybody feels that there will be a huge uptick in housing and other credit demand,” he, however, noted.

Shriram Housing Finance had in September announced that it plans to hire 350 employees in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as part of its expansion plans in the region. ICICI Home Finance had also announced in September that it would hire over 600 people by the end of this calendar year to meet the demand for home loans.

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LIC Housing Finance Q1 profit falls to ₹153 crore

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LIC Housing Finance Ltd (LIC HFL) reported an 81 per cent drop in net profit at ₹153 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2021 against ₹817 crore in the year-ago period.

The bottomline was weighed down by a sharp rise in provision towards “impairment on financial instruments” and wage revision.

Net interest income (difference between interest earned and interest expended) increased by 4.5 per cent yoy to ₹1,275 crore (₹1,221 crore in the year-ago quarter).

Provision towards “impairment on financial instruments” jumped to ₹830 crore (₹56 crore).

Y Viswanatha Gowd, Managing Director & CEO, said there has been an increase in delinquencies, mostly due to economic activities being impacted in Q1.

He emphasised that with improvement in economic activities and increased and focussed efforts in recovery, LIC HFL is confident of controlling the same.

Wage revision impact

Employee benefit expenses rose to ₹215 crore (₹80 crore). Based on board of directors approval on June 15 on wage revision with effect from August 1, 2017, a sum of ₹124 crore has been recognised by the company during the quarter on an estimated basis.

The lender, in a statement, said total disbursements soared 143 per cent yoy to ₹8,652 crore in Q1 FY2022 from ₹3,560 crore in the year-ago period.

Out of this, disbursement in the individual home loan segment shot up 152 per cent yoy at ₹7,650 crore as against ₹3,034 crore in the year ago period. Project loans disbursement were at ₹237 crore compared with ₹159 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

Outstanding loans portfolio increased by 11 per cent yoy to ₹2,32,548 crore (₹2,09,817 crore).

Net interest margin (NIM) for the quarter declined to 2.20 per cent as against 2.32 per cent for the same period in the previous year.

Covid wave

Gowd said LICHFL’s performance was impacted due to the second wave of Covid-19, resulting in lockdowns being imposed in several States.

“However, with increased vaccination drive and containment of the pandemic spread, since June 2021, the business has picked up. We expect a rebound in the remaining months of FY2022,” he added.

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Market share of banks in individual housing loans up: NHB report

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The market share of banks in individual housing loans has gone up from 62 per cent in 2017-18 to 67 per cent in 2019-20, while that of housing finance companies (HFCs) has come down from 38 per cent to 33 per cent.

According to the National Housing Bank’s latest Trend and Progress of Housing in India report, the pace of growth of banks remained higher than that of HFCs, partly supported by portfolio buyouts, leading to increase in their market share in individual loans.

In 2018-19, the market share of banks and HFCs in individual housing loans (IHLs) was at 64 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively. The overall growth in IHLs of banks and HFCs combined stood at 10 per cent in 2019-20 compared to 16 per cent in 2018-19.

The report said: “The real estate and Housing Finance Sector in India began to witness a moderation in growth after the IL&FS crisis in September 2018. However, with proactive measures and various other initiatives of the Government, RBI and NHB, the sector started to gain momentum.”

The total outstanding IHLs of HFCs and banks combined was around ₹20-lakh crore as at the end of March 2019-20 compared to around ₹18-lakh crore in 2018-19.

Outstanding IHLs of Banks and HFCs registered year-on-year growth of 8.5 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively, NHB said.

Slab-wise analysis

Slab-wise analysis of total IHLs of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) and HFCs combined shows that around 44 per cent of the total IHL as on March 31, 2020 (against 47 per cent as on March 31, 2019) was towards 124 lakh housing units (119 lakh as on March 31, 2019) within IHL slab of ₹25 lakh.

Fifty six per cent of the total IHL (53 per cent as on March 31, 2019) was towards 30 lakh housing units in the IHL slab of over ₹25 lakh, the report said.

Referring to growth in the number of housing units financed within IHL slab of ₹25 lakh, NBH observed that affordable housing continues to grow on account of robust demand and various support measures towards this segment.

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