NBFCs & HFC upbeat on ₹10,000-cr RBI's infusion

Non-banking finance banks (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) are upbeat after the ₹10,000 crore infusion after RBI's announcement of a second round of measures to help liquidity at a time the country battles the coronavirus. The central bank, besides slashing the reverse repo rate, is targeting long-term repo operations (TLTRO 2.0) for an aggregate amount of ₹50,000 crore. To avail funds, banks have to invest in the bonds and debentures of NBFCs, among others. It provided funds for refinancing to National Housing Bank (NHB) to support housing finance companies. NBFCs and HFCs account for over 60 per cent of developers loans who can now expect more funds from NBFCs and HFCs,‖ said Niranjan Hiranandani, MD, Hiranandani group. While Anuj Puri, Chairman of Anarock Property Consultants, said that an allotment to NHB is a big move for the real estate sector reeling under the liquidity crisis. It will help provide capital to HFCs and eventually provide major relief to developers battling liquidity issues in COVID-19 times.‖ Central bank, in a measure helping borrowers, said that the 90-day non-performing asset (NPA) norm would exclude the moratorium period, meaning that there would be an asset classification standstill for all such accounts from March 1, 2020 to May 31, 2020. Kamal Khetan, CMD, Sunteck Realty, said the relaxation of asset classification norms will ease stress on NBFC lending to the real estate sector, besides ensuring stable costs of funds and avoiding distress sale of assets by developers.