Housing finance company

A specialised lender whose book is mortgages, regulated within the non-bank framework in India.

The asset side is among the safest in lending: secured against property, long-tenor, with historically low loss rates when underwriting is disciplined.

The liability side carries the same mismatch as any non-bank. Twenty-year assets funded with three-year borrowings works until the borrowing has to be rolled in a market that has stopped lending.

Loan-to-value discipline and the share of self-employed borrowers are the two variables that separate the good books from the bad.