PNB Housing Finance focuses on affordable housing segment; to operationalize 25 new branches by March

New Delhi, January 30

PNB Housing Finance is focussing on its high-yielding affordable housing business ‘Unnati’ in tier-II and -III cities, and targets to operationalise 25 new branches by March this year.

Besides, the housing financier targets to increase the Unnati business from nine per cent currently to about 12-14 per cent going forward. PNB Housing opened 13 Unnati locations during the quarter ended December 2021.

The company initiated a transformational ‘Project IGNITE’ last fiscal year, aimed at boosting the affordable housing business, enhancing its core capabilities by catering to the self-employed segment as well as creating differentiators to beat the competition in the salaried segment loan market, among others.

The company is focussing on high-yielding affordable housing business Unnati in tier-II and -III geographies, its Managing Director and CEO Hardayal Prasad said during an earnings call after Q3FY22 results.

“We have already opened 13 Unnati locations during the quarter and 25 new locations will be operationalised by March 2022…to increase our presence and enhance business in this segment,” Prasad said.

Total assets under management (AUM) of Unnati stands at Rs 3,089 crore as of December 31, 2021.

“Unnati has remained the focus for us and it will continue to grow. As of now, we are able to do nine per cent of the total actual business.

“We have also identified 50 branches across the geographies where we are present… It will help us increase our reach and source our Unnati business in Q4 of the financial year 2022,” its Business Head (Retail) Pankaj Jain said.

Jain added that monthly disbursement numbers are expected to cross Rs 100 crore on an immediate basis. “Our overall percentage of Unnati share will grow from nine per cent to maybe 12-14 per cent. That’s what we are looking at.” In a question related to fundraising after the company aborted the Rs 4,000-crore equity deal led by Carlyle, Prasad said: “We are still working on it. We have not announced anything. We have not come out with anything. We are still working on the capital raise. And hopefully, once we have taken some calls, we will come back to you and we will make the necessary announcement.” PNB Housing Finance posted a net profit of Rs 188 crore in the quarter ended December 2021, down by 19 per cent from the previous close. Disbursement, however, grew 19 per cent to Rs 7,548 crore.

Its Credit Head (Retail) Jatul Anand said, “For Unnati loans, we have categorised the loans under the Rs 35 lakh segment for both salaried and self-employed.”