LIC Housing Finance net profit down by 5% to Rs 398.92 crore in Q4

Mumbai: Mortgage financier LIC Housing Finance (LIC HFL) on Tuesday reported a 5% decline in its profit after tax at Rs 398.92 crore in the quarter ended in March 2021 due to higher provisioning for bad loans. It had reported a profit after tax of Rs 421.43 crore in the year-ago period.

For FY2020-21, net profit grew by 14% to Rs 2,734.34 crore as against Rs 2,401.84 crore in the previous year.

“We made provision for all the delinquencies in the fourth quarter. So, NPA provisioning was on the higher side which affected the profit during the quarter,” LIC HFL Managing Director and CEO Y Viswanatha Gowd said. During the quarter, provisions stood at Rs 1,000 crore, he said.

In the January-March quarter, total disbursements were at Rs 22,362 crore in Q4 FY2021, up 97% as against Rs 11,323 crore in the year-ago period.

Out of this, disbursements in the individual home loan segment at Rs 19,010 crore were up 114% from Rs 8,877 crore in Q4 FY2020. Project loans stood at Rs 1,197 crore compared with Rs 411 crore in Q4 FY2020.

Net interest income (NII) rose by 33% to Rs 1,505 crore, as against Rs 1,134 crore for the same period in the previous year. Net interest margin for the quarter stood at 2.66% as against 2.17% in the year-ago period.

Gowd said delinquency levels increased during the fourth quarter of FY21, mostly arising out of pandemic impact on corporate entities and individuals.

The stage 3 exposure at default as on March 31, 2021, stood at 4.12% against 2.86% as on March 31, 2020. The individual loan portfolio stood at Rs 2,16,047 crore as on March 31, 2021, as against Rs 1,96,340 crore as at the previous fiscal end, a growth of 10%.

The project loan portfolio stood at Rs 15,956 crore as of March 31, 2021, as against Rs 14,237 crore as on March 31, 2020. The total outstanding portfolio grew at 10% to Rs 2,32,003 crore from Rs 2,10,578 crore.

The company said its board has recommended a dividend of 425%. LIC HFL’s shares closed at Rs 521.75 apiece, down 0.48% on BSE.