India: Fullerton India to establish home finance arm and PayPal India incubator’s graduates
DEALSTREETASIA: Singapore-state fund Temasek-owned Fullerton India Credit Co. Ltd, a non-banking financial company is planning to establish a home finance company in India, a report said. Buoyed by recent success in retail lending, Fullerton aims at granting loans to people in the affordable housing segment, according to a report in Indian publication Mint, which quoted Shantanu Mitra, the firm’s managing director and chief executive
The report quoted the Fullerton India chief executive as saying, “So far, we have kept away from housing finance because competition was tough and we could not compete with the banks on pricing. But now, with the network we have built, we think we can compete on pricing and also take advantage of the high returns this sector offers.”
Mitra further added, “These are the new opportunities coming up through which we can utilize our distribution network at a time when the macroeconomic environment in India is improving.”
Fullerton India has applied to the National Housing Bank for a licence to establish a subsidiary with an initial investment of Rs.100 crore ($ 15.68 million). The firms plans to lend to individuals seeking to purchase houses in both rural and urban areas.
Noting that their initial strategy would focus on smaller towns where Fullerton India has a branch network present, Mitra stated: “We will do a ticket size of Rs 25-40 lakh in urban areas, while in rural areas the ticket size could be Rs 5-10 lakh.”
Fullerton India will add 40 more branches across India over the next year. Currently, it has 443 branches in India, with a loan book consisting of loans against property, loans to small companies and entrepreneurs, personal loans and rural loans. Read the full article
E27.CO: Meet the 3 startup graduates of PayPal India incubator. The ventures are DoPartTime, a marketplace for jobs providers and seekers; Fantain, a sports fans analytics firm; and Kobster, a B2B e-com portal
