LIC Housing Finance posts 40 pc fall in net profit to Rs 421.43 cr for Mar quarter

LIC Housing Finance Ltd (LICHFL) on Friday reported a 40 per cent decline in its net profit to Rs 421.43 crore for the March 2020 quarter.

LIC Housing Finance Ltd (LICHFL) on Friday reported a 40 per cent decline in its net profit to Rs 421.43 crore for the March 2020 quarter. The mortgage financier had reported a profit after tax of Rs 693.58 crore in the year-ago period.

"Considering the headwinds due to the general economic slowdown, we have registered a decent performance. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown up fresh challenges of a magnitude never witnessed in decades," the company's Managing Director and CEO Siddhartha Mohanty said. For the full year 2019-20, the net profit marginally dipped to Rs 2,401.83 crore as against Rs 2,430.97 crore in 2018-19.

Its net interest income declined 9 per cent to Rs 1,089 crore in the March quarter as against Rs 1,202 crore. Total disbursement during the March 2020 quarter stood at Rs 11,325 crore, against Rs 17,242 crore disbursed in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Of this, disbursement in the individual home loan segment was Rs 8,877 crore as against Rs 11,743 crore in 2018-19, whereas project loans stood at Rs 413 crore as compared with Rs 2,031 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. The individual loan portfolio stood at Rs 1,96,340 crore as against Rs 1,81,569 crore, registering a growth of 8 per cent.

Project loan portfolio stood at Rs 14,237 crore as on March 31, 2020, as against Rs 13,077 crore as on March 31, 2019. Total outstanding portfolio during the quarter grew 8 per cent to Rs 2,10,578 crore, compared with Rs 1,94,646 crore a year ago.

Mohanty said about 18 per cent of its retail customers have opted for moratorium. The stage-3 exposure at default as on March 31, 2020, stood at 2.83 per cent as against 1.58 per cent as on March 31, 2019.

The cost of borrowing stood at 7.9 per cent as on March 31, 2020, as against 8.4 per cent last year. "Even as the situation is evolving, we are focusing on maintaining asset quality and restarting disbursements and transitioning to a more technology-driven business process. Despite the adverse situation, we are comfortably placed in terms of liquidity," Mohanty said.

He expects the overall outlook for the economy and the housing finance segment to improve in another two-three quarters. The company's scrip on Friday ended 0.32 per cent higher at Rs 284.75 apiece on the BSE, which closed at 34,731.73 on Friday.