housing finance companies

The housing finance regulator said Housing Finance Companies will no longer levy any fee on floating rate loans. In case of fixed rate loans, it has made a distinction and only those borrowers who pay from their “own sources”, such as savings or even loans from relatives, will be exempted from payment of penalty. In [...] Full Article

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday withdrew the special short-term foreign currency borrowings facility for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies. The central bank made the decision after reviewing the macroeconomic conditions and improvements in the domestic credit and liquidity conditions, it said in a statement. Full Article

Please refer to paragraph 7.5 of our Master Circular dated July 1, 2009 on Lending to Priority Sector, in terms of which loans granted to Housing Finance Companies (HFCs), approved by National Housing Bank for the purpose of refinance, for on-lending to individuals for purchase/construction of dwelling units, provided the housing loans granted by HFCs do not exceed Rs.20 lakh per dwelling unit per family, are eligible to be classified under priority sector. However, the.. Full Article

Capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday eased norms for security, or the asset cover, required for issuing secured bonds. Sebi said that issuers will have to maintain a 100% asset cover that is sufficient to discharge the principal amount at all times for their debt securities offerings. Full Article

Earlier, the entities that fell under the ambit of the law included only chit fund companies, banking companies, financial institutions and housing finance companies. The amendment now says any company registered under section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956, and/or as a trust or society under the Societies Act, 1860, or any similar state legislation, will be brought under the purview of PMLA. Full Article

Several banks and housing finance companies have come under the scanner of the competition watchdog for imposing penalty on pre-payment of loans. The Competition Commission of India, according to a CCI official, is scrutinising a complaint concerning pre-payment penalty from a customer against major home loan players like HDFC, LIC Housing Finance and Deutsche Postbank. Full Article

The Government today launched an interest subvention scheme of 1% on all individual housing loans upto Rs.10 lakh for units costing upto Rs. 20 lakh. The scheme recognizes that cut in interest rates has an important role to play in reducing EMIs of borrowers & creating additional demand for housing. The Scheme will cover all [...] Full Article

The Finance Minister announced a slew of amendments on both income-tax and service tax fronts to achieve the objective of “generating economic activity in the present environment of economic slowdown.” The Lok Sabha later passed the Finance Bill (No 2) 2009, completing the third and final stage of the Budget exercise for 2009-10. Full Article

As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s guidelines on lending to Priority Sector, the following types of home loans extended by the Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) are eligible to be classified as Priority Sector Advances :- i) Loans upto Rs. 20 lakhs, irrespective of location, to individuals for purchase/constructi on of a dwelling unit [...] Full Article

Competition is again hotting up in the home loan segment. With home sales falling, banks and housing finance companies are on an overdrive to expand their credit portfolio, leading to claims and counter-claims. Even as other PSU banks have quietly started following the SBI way to freeze home loan rates at 8 per cent for [...] Full Article