Piramal Housing Finance Enters Pune Market

With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) refusing to mellow the norms on resolution of stressed assets, India’s infrastructure sector might find it difficult to get loans. However, some private players are seen expanding their home finance businesses nevertheless. While real estate developers in Pune would have another option to borrow money from, property buyers in the city would also have one more player to check out for easy loans.

Piramal Housing Finance, for instance, on April 24 announced its plans to expand business to Pune. The home finance company is a sister of conglomerate Piramal Enterprises.

"Through the wholesale business, we already have sanctioned Rs 3,250 crore to developers in Pune. Now, through the housing finance business, we will offer home loans, loan against property and small-ticket construction finance to the developers in the Pune market," Piramal Finance Managing Director Khushru Jijina was quoted in the media as saying.

"We are introducing our retail offering to complement the wholesale business that now enables offerings across the entire spectrum of financial products in real estate," Jijina added.

The housing finance firm is already operating in major markets of Mumbai, Noida, Gurgaon, Delhi and Bengaluru. The housing finance company has lent finances to the tune of over Rs 1,400 crore in Mumbai alone, its biggest market so far.

In the next six months, the company to plans to expand its wings further and launch operations in at least five more cities. Cities where the company is eying launching its business include Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Nashik, and Surat.

"Our strategy with the housing finance business is to reach the Tier-II and Tier-III markets. Apart from the fact that the demand for home loans is significant in these cities, we have also seen that there is demand for small-size construction finances from developers, who do not qualify in our wholesale business," said Jijina.

No note that the housing finance company offers 90 per cent of the property value as loans, subject to terms and conditions. In case you choose to take your home loan on a floating rate of interest, the variable rate will be linked to benchmark rate of PHFL. It is also important to note here that housing finance companies are regulated by the National Housing Bank while financial institutions are governed by the RBI.

With inputs from Housing News

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