LIC Housing Finance denies possibility of rate cut

Indore, Mar 16: LIC Housing Finance Ltd (LICHFL) Director and CEO S K Mitter has denied any possibility of interest rate cut in the near future. However, talking to mediapersons here last evening, he assured that if the borrowing cost goes down, then of course, the company will pass on the benefit to customers.

Referring to the sub-prime crises in the United States, he said India will not be affected by this as the domestic market is end-user driven and also the demand and supply gap is very large. Mr Mitter said he doesn't think that in the next five years the demand will slow down.

LICHFL has been coming up with venture capital fund in the real estate sector from Rs 300 crore to Rs 500 crore and it will go up to Rs 1500 cr to Rs 2000 cr in five years, he added. Referring to different schemes of the company, Mr Mitter told that housing units will be constructed for senior citizens in Bhubaneshwar (Orissa) and Rishikesh (Uttarakhand) after the successful launching in Bangalore where LICHFL has given 98 such units.

The plan will also be launched in different states subject to the availability of government land. Special concession of 0.25 per cent on the interest rates has been given to women on home loans till March 2008, he added.

The company has sanctioned loans worth Rs 5,706 crore till December 2007 in this year, recording a growth of 59 per cent over the same period in the last year. Rs 4,473 crores has already been disbursed to customers.

The net profit for the first nine months of this financial year stood at Rs 269 crores, up by 42 per cent over the corresponding period of the last financial year.

UNI