Bajaj Fin to launch housing finance arm, seeks NHB nod

Non-banking lender Bajaj Finance today said its board has given the nod to launch a dedicated housing finance subsidiary.
The board has given the nod for the formation of a housing finance company as a wholly-owned subsidiary and will now be applying to the sector regulator National Housing Bank (NHB) for a licence, a top executive of the company said.
"We require a capital of Rs 10 crore before we apply and will arrange it through internal accruals," its chief executive Rajeev Jain told PTI.
He said usually it takes 6-9 months for the licence to come after which the HFC will be operational.

The Pune-headquartered company already has a presence in the mortgage space and nearly 40 per cent of its Rs 27,000 crore book is mortgage products, he said, adding that there are many benefits due to which the company decided to have a dedicated company.
Jain said the advantages include access to external commercial borrowings, refinance from NHB, easier recoveries and higher leverage.