Macroeconomic fundamentals of India remain strong: Deepak Parekh

Chairman of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), Deepak Parekh, while addressing the 44th annual general meeting of HDFC Ltd, said that India's macroeconomic fundamentals are strong and recovery is on its way. Owing to the second wave, the Indian economy is likely to reflect a similar trend observed in FY21, where the first half of the financial year is weaker and the second half is significantly strong, he said. He said that India's forex reserves and foreign direct investment inflows scaled record highs, the capital markets are also buoyant, and agriculture increase is likely to continue firm with food grain generation measured at above 305 million tonnes. He further recorded that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is committed to fostering growth through an accommodative monetary policy and the government has taken numerous improvements and steps to ease Covid-19 related stress. Adding in terms of the overall macroeconomic environment, he said that the chief laggard remains overall credit increase which continues to remain tepid, however, the major challenge continues to be the unpredictability of coronavirus. He said the potential demand for home loans remains firm. Even in terms of commercial real estate, most firms have not given up their office premises. Demand for real estate is emerging from warehousing and fulfilment centres, owing to the growth in the e-commerce sector. Additionally, with the development of digital infrastructure, demand for data centres has surged, he noted. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, Parekh said HDFC had explained that there are three key monitorables – growth, liquidity, and asset quality. Prekh said the corporation has been managing higher levels of liquidity as a prudent step. Concerning growth, the national lockdown affected individual loans, but once restrictions were eased, the demand exceeded all expectations, he added. Asset quality has been challenging for non-individual loans at a systemic level, according to Parekh. The corporation has always been vigilant in recognising loans where there could be stress and has sufficiently provided for such loans, he said. He said that in FY21, housing demand was from both affordable housing and high-end properties. As of March 31, 2021, gross non-performing loans of HDFC was at Rs 9,759 crore, including 1.98% of the loan portfolio. Its assets under management increased by 10% to Rs 5,69,894 crore as of March 31, 2021. Image Source Also read: Indian economy on revival path: Union Minister Pankaj Chaudhary Also read: Economy may take longer to reach $5 trillion target: Sanjeev Sanyal