Banks, financial institutions disburse 34 lakh home loans in 2022: Study

New Delhi: Banks and other financial institutions disbursed as many as 34 lakh home loans totalling Rs 9 lakh crore in 2022, of which the bulk was accounted for by the less than Rs 25 lakh ticket size category, revealed a study on retail loans by Equifax and Andromeda.

The disbursals during January-December 2022 period were up 18 per cent year-on-year. The number of loans given was also up by 17 per cent in 2022, said the study titled 'Indian Retail Loans Overview-April 2023'.

Overall portfolio outstanding of home loans grew by 16 per cent from December 2021 to December 2022, it said.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Equifax is a global data, analytics and technology company.

Founded in 1991, Andromeda is one of the country's largest loan distributors.

The study further said the personal loan segment registered a growth of 57 per cent during 2022. The market size of the retail industry reached Rs 100 lakh crore by December 2022, it said, adding that as of December 31, 2022, the retail industry reported 54 crore active loans.

There were 6.5 crore active consumer durable loans at December-end 2022, registering an annual growth of 48 per cent over the last year.

KM Nanaiah, Managing Director, Equifax Credit Information Services and Country Leader – India & MEA, said the report will enable lenders to navigate the new high-growth environment effectively by leveraging the knowledge gained from the pandemic.

V Swaminathan, Executive Chairman − Andromeda Sales and Distributions, said that be it public sector banks, private sector banks or housing finance companies (HFCs), all are witnessing healthy growth in the home loan business.

He further said the rise in demand for personal loans in India can be attributed to multiple factors, such as the growing consumption-driven demand, the ease of availing loans and the competitive landscape among lenders.

"Despite the recent RBI policy rate hikes, personal loan interest rates have not seen a similar increase compared to home loan rates," he said.

The study said that while the loans in the 0-25 lakh ticket size category accounted for 67 per cent of disbursals, the disbursals increased by 36 per cent in the Rs 75 lakh-Rs 1 crore ticket size category in January-December 2022 compared to the preceding year. In 2021, the growth in the Rs 0-25 lakh category was also 67 per cent over the year 2020.

The contribution to retail loan disbursement was highest by the public sector banks and the private sector banks, the study said.

However, the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) witnessed a growth of 78 per cent from January 2021 to December 2021 compared to the year-ago period, the study said. The private sector banks recorded a growth of 24 per cent on an annual basis.