IDFC keen on housing finance, retail lending biz
IDFC is prepared with a “Plan B” just in case it does not make it to the list of winners for a license from the Reserve Bank of India to start a bank. This also means diversification into housing finance and retail lending business.
Speaking on this Group Chief Financial Officer, IDFC, Mr. Sunil Kakar, said, “I can tell you banking or no-banking, we will start diversifying our asset base.”
Explaining the rationale behind the move to diversify, Kakar said, the company, which is classified as an infrastructure finance company by the RBI, is looking for opportunities to reduce its concentration risk as it is involved in lending primarily to the infrastructure segment.
As of December 31, 2013, the company’s outstanding disbursement was Rs. 58,549 crore. 85 per cent out of this was disbursed to infrastructure projects in the energy, transportation and telecommunications segment. As per the reports from the sources in the Reserve Bank of India, IDFC is one of the front-runners to get a banking licence along with state-owned India Post. The RBI is expected to come up with the names of the companies that have been awarded banking licences in the current round by end-March.
Former RBI Governor, Bimal Jalan headed an expert committee which submitted its report to the RBI after vetting the applications of 25 aspirants in the current round. The RBI is hoping to give a big push to financial inclusion by handing out more licenses to corporates to open banks.
The last time, such set of banks was formed in 2003 when two private banks — Kotak Mahindra Bank and YES Bank — came into existence.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Bimal Jalan, Chief Financial Officer, Energy, Housing finance, IDFC, infrastructure finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, LIcense, Mr. Sunil Kakar, RBI, Reserve Bank of India, retail lending business, telecommunications, Transportation, YES Bank
