GIC Housing Finance to disburse Rs750crore housing finance

With demand for real estate picking up, General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) Housing Finance Ltd is targeting disbursal of Rs750crore housing loans this year, a top official of the institution has said.

Due to the economic slowdown, GIC's housing loan disbursement had been 'static', but it would pick up by the second half of this fiscal. Till september this year, the disbursal was Rs290crore, M Sivaraman, managing director, told reporters here last night.

Last year's disbursal was Rs600crore, he said.

Since August 2008, there was slowdown in demand for housing and there had been large scale correction in price level of real estate sector. Prices of property have been corrected by 25% to 30% in the market, he said.

To a query, he said demand for housing was deteriorating due to existing prices in the real estate sector.

To woo more investors, GIC had introduced a limited period special scheme for festival season from October this year for all new individual housing loans up to Rs1crore. The rate of interest applicable for the period was 7.95% for a 6 months period after, which it would reset to the then prevailing base lending rate, he said.

Besides, free accidental death insurance cover and free property insurance cover would also be available to applicants, he said.