LIC Housing Finance plans to raise funds through green bonds in FY25

LIC Housing Finance Ltd (LICHFL) plans to raise funds through green bonds in the next financial year with an aim to finance environmentally-sustainable housing projects.

“Green financing is something that we will look at the next year and we would deploy the fund for financing green housing projects,” LIC Housing Finance managing director and chief executive Tribhuwan Adhikari was quoted by PTI.

The mortgage arm of insurance behemoth LIC will hold its board meeting on March 7 to consider and approve the borrowing plan for the financial year 2024-2025 through loans or issue of redeemable non-convertible debentures, zero couponed bonds, subordinate debt, Tier II bonds or any other means approved by the regulator.

ALSO READ: LIC Housing Fin to bank on affordable housing loans for credit growth, margins

Profit Target

LICHFL hopes to hit the net profit of ₹5,000 crore milestone by the end of current financial year on the back of robust loan demand and expansion in non-core business, said Adhikari, as per the PTI report.

The non-core businesses include loan against property (LAP) and affordable housing finance, he added.

“Affordable housing segment remained strong in tier-2 and tier-3 markets. We remained focused on this segment, as it gives an opportunity to millions of aspiring Indians to own their home with a moderate budget,” Adhikari was quoted by PTI. “Our endeavour has been to improve service standards through ongoing digital transformation of our processes.”

“We expect to close this financial year with healthy numbers,” the top officer added.

In the financial year 2022-23, LICHFL had reported a net profit of ₹2,891 crore. Its net interest margin (NIM) for the third quarter ended December 2023 was at 3 per cent as against 2.41 per cent recorded in December 2022.

In February, Adhikari had said LICHFL is aiming to more than double the share of affordable housing loans in its loan book to 20-25 per cent in the next two years.

The housing finance company has witnessed a slower loan growth at 5 per cent in the December quarter due to internal restructuring and management changes, he had said.