ICICI races past HDFC in home loans

ICICI Bank has overtaken housing finance major Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) in the first three quarters of this fiscal, both in disbursals and approvals of home loans.

Public sector State Bank of India's growth in this segment has slowed and is now a distant third.

In the third quarter of this fiscal, ICICI Bank disbursals was at Rs 3,500 crore compared with HDFC's Rs 2,900 crore "" a difference of 20.68 per cent.

In the case of approvals, the gap is higher at 25.71 per cent with ICICI Bank approving Rs 4,400 crore as against HDFC's Rs 3,500 crore.

The disbursals for the nine month period showed a smaller difference of 4.19 per cent with ICICI Bank at Rs 8,700 crore compared with HDFC at Rs 8,350 crore.

On the approvals side, the difference is larger at 15.29 per cent with ICICI Bank at Rs 12,000 crore and HDFC at Rs 10,390 crore.

The disbursements and approvals for SBI has, however, been much lower at Rs 4,500 crore and Rs 6,000 crore, respectively, for the first three quarters.

ICICI Bank's incremental disbursements during October-December 2003 was at Rs 2,274 crore as against HDFC's disbursements of Rs 2,269 crore. SBI's growth during the period was at around Rs 1,300 crore.

The total outstanding loan book as on December 31, 2003, of HDFC was at Rs 25,290 crore and of SBI at Rs 16,000 crore. Total gross book of ICICI Bank was at around Rs 18,000 crore, inclusive of securitisation.

HDFC officials have been maintaining that the firm's NPAs are under control and instead of unbridled growth in loan book, what is important is the profitability.