• Interest rate competition: Subdued loan growth of around 4% stemmed from an intense rate war with banks following RBI's roughly 100 bps rate cuts, rather than any structural demand issues.
• Pricing mechanism disparity: Unlike banks with automatically adjusting repo-linked loans, LIC Housing Finance sets rates via its own Prime Lending Rate based on market borrowing costs, putting it at a competitive disadvantage.
• Home loan exposure: The Individual Home Loan (IHL) portfolio comprised 82% of the business, where competitive pressure from banks was strongest due to mutual targeting of prime customers.
• Growth guidance outlook: Business growth recovered to 10% in Q4 and reached approximately 20% in April, giving management confidence in achieving or exceeding double-digit growth guidance in upcoming quarters.