Subsidiaries now matter more for HDFC

Core business, performance of subsidiaries and capital deployment will be closely monitored in 2018

That a large section of the realty sector, barring affordable housing, is witnessing a slump is a known thing. Therefore, the pace of mortgage business growth settling at 14-18 per cent in the past few quarters has not been much of concern for HDFC Ltd.

While its positioning as India’s largest financier conglomerate has proved helpful, the growing relevance of its subsidiaries has helped tide over the slowdown in the real estate sector. In fact, if the subsidiaries continue to grow at a faster pace, their sum-of-the-part (SOTP) value in HDFC could grow over time. 
 

If the subsidiaries accounted for 50