Chennai, Oct 29 (PTI) The housing market would continue to remain buoyant in the second half of the year on the back of end-user demand, a top official of Sundaram Home Finance Ltd said on Saturday.

The city-based company has drawn up plans to expand into tier II and III cities in the south with the opening of 10 new branches by March 2023 to disburse business loans to small entrepreneurs, managing director Lakshminarayanan Duraiswamy said.

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Sundaram Home Finance recorded a 26.7 per cent rise in its net profits for the quarter ending September 30, 2022 at Rs 50.3 crore as compared to Rs 39.7 crore registered same period last year.

Disbursements during the quarter under review went up to Rs 940 crore from Rs 797 crore registered in the corresponding period last year.

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The Assets Under Management (AUM) grew to Rs 10,176 crore breaching Rs 10,000 crore from Rs 9,134 crore registered corresponding quarter previous year.

"We registered record disbursements in the first half of over Rs 1,700 crore driven by continued growth in tier II and III towns and the strong appetite for home ownership," he said. "The continued momentum from the previous quarters helped sustain disbursements at higher levels this quarter."

Sundaram Home Finance has forayed into small business loan segment where it plans to disburse loans of up to Rs 20 lakh to small shop owners in Tier III and IV towns to help small entrepreneurs expand their business.

Three exclusive small business loan branches were opened in Madurai, Tenkasi and also in Theni recently.

On the outlook for the year, Duraiswamy said, "we believe that the housing market will continue to remain buoyant in the second half primarily on the back of end-user demand."

"There is potential to expand in Tier II and III towns in the South and we plan to open 10 new branches by March 2023. We will also be hiring about 75 people in the second half to strengthen our strong customer presence," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)