The rating agency ICRA in its latest report warned that the tight liquidity has crimped credit growth for housing finance companies (HFCs) and is unlikely to improve much in FY20, even as the weak external environment will put a pressure on asset quality. It noted that HFCs are likely to register a 13-15% credit growth in FY19, which will inch up to 14-16% in FY20.
According to the report, aggravating the difficulties will be a likely pressure on the asset quality front due to the weak operating environment. It said that discussions with some HFCs reveal that their stock of repossessed assets has also increased, due to the lower saleability of those assets leading to an elongated recovery time. Besides, it stated that gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of home loan segment will increase to up to 1.3% in the medium term from the present 1% levels. It said “if we include project loans, their overall NPAs will shoot up to 1.8% in the medium term from the present 1.4%.”
ICRA further said that the ongoing troubles will result in a narrowing of margins and, accordingly, a moderation of profit levels to 14% levels in FY19 from 18% in the year-ago period. It also expects bottom-line to be at the same levels in FY20 as well. It noted that the housing finance sector has been considered as one of the safest bets for financiers in the last few years, as the segment has been largely resilient.
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