LIC Housing Finance to foray into Venture Capital sphere

Bangalore: A mortgage lender, LIC Housing Finance is all set to enter into the venture capital (VC) arena. The company is setting up 5 billion (about $100 million) venture fund to invest in the Indian real estate industry.

"For this financial year, the outlook is enthusiastic. Housing projects have restarted and we see a good demand. We expect a revenue growth about 40 percent from the previous year," said R.R.Nair, the Chief Executive of LIC Housing Finance. The company recorded a total income of 28.8 billion rupees for the financial year ended March 31, which has increased about 34 percent from the previous year. Nair expects the company to have a net interest margin of about 2.7-3.0 percent in the financial year that began April 1, as compared to the 2.9 percent interest margin in the just-ended financial year.

The fund will be raised locally, but the company is not sure whether the fund would be invested in residential or commercial projects. "We will finalize partners for the fund within a month and launch it by September," Nair told Dow Jones Newswires in a recent interview.

LIC Housing Finance holds 40.8 percent share in the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, which is the country's largest life insurer by market share. LIC Housing had said that the company will sell 10 million shares to institutional investors later this financial year.