LIC Housing Finance plans foray into banking biz

LIC Housing Finance, an arm of LIC, on Friday said it is planning to foray into the banking business and is awaiting guidelines from the Reserve Bank of India.

“We are awaiting guidelines from RBI for banking. If we are eligible we will go for it,” said R.R. Nair, CEO, LIC Housing. “I think there is no reason why we should not be eligible because we have got 21 years of work experience in the financial services, Rs 3,400-crore networth along with more than 200 offices across the country.”

The RBI is expected to come out with a discussion paper on new norms, for granting banking licences to private sector companies and non-banking financial companies by July end.

LIC Housing Finance is a subsidiary of LIC, which has 36.5 per cent stake and 32 per cent is with foreign institutional investors. Besides, Nair said, the company is going to launch venture capital fund with the objective to invest in real estate in the next 3-4 months.

The first fund would be about Rs 500 crore and it would be raised from the domestic market. Fund size is expected to grow up to Rs 4,000 crore in the next 3-4 years, he added.