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| Product | Quantum (Rs. Cr) | Long Term Rating | Short Term Rating |
| Bank Loan Ratings | 308.00 | ACUITE A- | Stable | Assigned | - |
| Bank Loan Ratings | 392.50 | ACUITE A- | Stable | Reaffirmed | - |
| Total Outstanding | 700.50 | - | - |
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Rating Rationale |
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Acuité has assigned the long-term rating of ‘ACUITE A-’ (read as ACUITE A minus) on the Rs. 308 Cr. bank facilities of KIFS Housing Finance Limited (KHFL). The outlook is ‘Stable’.
Acuité has reaffirmed the long-term rating of ‘ACUITE A-’ (read as ACUITE A minus) on the Rs. 392.50 Cr. bank facilities of KIFS Housing Finance Limited (KHFL). The outlook is ‘Stable’. Rating for the rationale The rating continues to take into account healthy capital structure and support of resourceful promoters, which is well reflected through Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of 74.79 percent and leverage of 1.34 times as on March 31,2024(Provisionals). The rating also factors in the significant traction in disbursements and collections. Disbursements in FY2024(Provisionals) increased to Rs. 320.82 Cr. as compared to Rs 240.61 Cr. during FY2023. The ratings further factor in comfortable financial performance and resources raising ability of the company at competitive rates. The rating is, however, constrained due to limited track record & low portfolio seasoning, modest scale of operations. Although the company is well positioned to benefit from continued government focus on affordable housing, Acuite believes that company’s ability to profitably scale up business operations in highly competitive housing finance sector is a key monitorable. |
| About the company |
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Ahmedabad based KHFL, incorporated in November 2015, is a housing finance company (HFC) registered with National Housing Bank (NHB). It primarily focuses on affordable housing segment. KHFL is promoted by the KIFS (Khandwala Integrated Financial Services) group. The group is engaged in the businesses of capital markets activities with presence in segments such as stocks and commodities broking, bullion trading, arbitrage and portfolio management services as well as any movable/ immovable properties. KHFL is owned by KIFS International LLP through its promoters, Mr. Rajesh Khandwala, Mr. Vimal Khandwala and Mr. Jayesh Khandwala. KHFL operations are spread across 83 branches located in 10 states as on March 31,2024. The geographies targeted are periphery of Tier 2 and Tier 3, towns. KHFL has majorly two products - home loans and loan against property (LAP).
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| Unsupported Rating |
| Not Applicable |
| Analytical Approach |
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Acuité has considered the standalone financial and business risk profile of KHFL to arrive at the rating
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| Key Rating Drivers |
| Strength |
| Experienced Management Team
KIFS Housing Finance Limited is governed by a professional board, headed by Mr. Rajesh P. Khandwala and Mr. Vimal P. Khandwala being its Promoter Directors. Other Directors to the KIFS Housing Finance Limited include Mr. Vikas Kumar who is appointed on the Board as an Independent Director, Mr. Satish Mehta, Ms. Bhavna Govindbhai Desai, and Mr. Kushal Khandwala. The top management is supported by Mr. Kushal Khandwala, Whole Time Director , Mr. Saurabh Goel - Credit and Risk Head and Mr. Vikki Soni (Chief Financial Officer) who runs the day to day business of KHFL and have previously worked with large housing finance companies. The management has also implemented strong credit and risk management systems which will enable the company to improve upon their collections and maintain asset quality at moderate levels. Acuité believes that KHFL’s business profile will continue to benefit from the established presence in the housing segment backed by strong promoter support. Comfortable capitalisation supported by resourceful promoters KHFL commenced its operations in the affordable housing finance segment in FY2018, with a focus on extending credit in the affordable housing finance segment. Over the past two years of operations, the company has received continuous support in the form of periodic capital infusion from the promoter group. The company is promoted by the KIFS group through the parent entity, KIFS international LLP. The day to day operations are managed by promoter director Mr. Vimal Khandwala and Mr. Kushal Khandwala. The promoters have over 2 decades of experience in financial services industry and are well supported by seasonal management team. The company has also demonstrated its ability to raise debt from banks and financial institutions; it has raised debt of from various public and private banks and through refinancing schemes of National housing bank. KHFL’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 74.79 percent as on March 31,2024(Provisionals). KHFL’s networth and gearing stood at Rs. 338.23 Cr. and 1.34 times as on March 31, 2024(Provisionals) as against Rs. 312.13 Cr. and 0.90 times as on March 31, 2023. Acuité believes that KHFL will continue to maintain healthy capitalisation levels backed by support from the promoters. Government thrust towards Affordable housing segment KHFL entered into the lending space to extend credit in the affordable housing finance segment, the company over the past two years has built a granular portfolio with maximum ticket size upto Rs. 50 Lakhs. Over the past few years, affordable housing finance segment has received the Government’s thrust through various incentives such as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme. Around 29 percent of the existing home loan customers of KHFL have availed this subsidy. KHFL has a prudent lending philosophy as seen in the granular nature of its portfolio, low Loan to value (LTV) ratio and focus on lending towards salaried class borrowers. The company currently has no real estate developer loans in its portfolio due to which the company has a relatively less risky asset portfolio. Acuité believes that KHFL will benefit from its prudent lending philosophy along with the governmental thrust in the affordable housing segment while it focuses on growth in its loan portfolio. |
| Weakness |
| Limited seasoning of portfolio
KIFS established operations in FY2018 and commenced disbursements from July 2017, the company has a loan book of Rs. 799.36 Cr. as on March 31, 2024(Provisionals) as against Rs. 601.12 Cr. as on March 31, 2023. The borrower base comprises mainly of salaried customers and balance comprises of self-employed customers. The performance of the portfolio will be demonstrated only over a period of time. Any further disruption of activities in the country may impact the asset quality of lenders such as KHFL. This may result in higher credit costs and moderation in profitability margins, notwithstanding the adequate capital buffers available to absorb any adverse income shocks. Besides the concerns on its asset quality, the loan portfolio is also susceptible to risks of prepayments, balance transfers to other NBFCs/Banks; this is also likely to impact the loan book growth. KHFL’s operating income (net of interest expenses) stood at Rs.75.09 Cr. for FY2024(Provisionals) from Rs. 56.88 Cr. in FY2023 improving significantly from Rs. 46.08 Cr. for FY2022. Profitability metrics have marginally improved marked by Return on Average Assets (RoAA) at 3.45 percent as on March 31, 2024(Provisionals) (P.Y: 2.12 percent) & Net Interest Margin (NIM) at 8.30 percent as on March 31, 2024(Provisionals) (P.Y: 8.58 percent). The company reported improvement in PAT levels to Rs. 26.11 Cr. in FY2024(Provisionals) as compared to Rs. 13.44 Cr. in FY2023. KHFL’s Operating Expenses to Earning Assets (Opex) increased to 4.97 percent as on March 31, 2024(Provisionals) vis-à-vis 6.08 percent as on March 31, 2023. |
| ESG Factors Relevant for Rating |
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KIFS Housing Finance Limited (KHFL) belongs to the housing finance sector which complements banks’ efforts in improving mortgage penetration in India. Some of the material governance issues for the financial services sector are policies and practices with regard to business ethics, board diversity and independence, compensation structure for board and KMPs, role of the audit committee and shareholders’ rights. On the social aspect, some of the critical issues for the sector are the contribution to financial inclusion and community development, responsible financing including funding of environmentally friendly housing projects and policies around data privacy. The industry, by nature has a low exposure to environmental risks. KHFL maintains adequate transparency in its business ethics practices as can be inferred from the entity’s disclosures regarding related party transactions, vigil mechanism, insider trading and whistle blower policy. It also adheres to Reserve Bank of India’s Fair Practices Code and has the necessary interest rate and grievance redressal policies. The board of directors of the company comprises two independent directors and two female directors out of a total of six directors. The company works on several community development initiatives through its CSR projects.
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| Rating Sensitivity |
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| Liquidity Position |
| Adequate |
| The company has adequately matched asset liability profile as on March 31,2024 (Provisionals)with majority of the portfolio currently funded with equity. The company had cash & bank balance of ~Rs. 56.34 Cr. as on March 31, 2024(Provisionals). |
| Outlook:Stable |
| Acuité believes that KHFL will benefit from its strong capitalisation levels and expected continuous support from its promoters. Acuité believes that the outlook will be 'Stable'. The outlook may be revised to ‘Positive’ in case of significant and sustainable growth in its AUM while maintaining profitability, asset quality and capitalization indicators. Conversely, the outlook will be revised to ‘Negative’ in case of any deterioration asset quality or profitability metrics. |
| Other Factors affecting Rating |
| None |
| Key Financials - Standalone / Originator | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Status of non-cooperation with previous CRA (if applicable): |
| Not Applicable |
| Any other information |
| None |
| Applicable Criteria |
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• Application Of Financial Ratios And Adjustments: https://www.acuite.in/view-rating-criteria-53.htm • Banks And Financial Institutions: https://www.acuite.in/view-rating-criteria-45.htm • Default Recognition: https://www.acuite.in/view-rating-criteria-52.htm • Non-Banking Financing Entities: https://www.acuite.in/view-rating-criteria-44.htm |
| Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument |
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In order to inform the investors about complexity of instruments, Acuité has categorized such instruments in three levels: Simple, Complex and Highly Complex. Acuite’ s categorisation of the instruments across the three categories is based on factors like variability of the returns to the investors, uncertainty in cash flow patterns, number of counterparties and general understanding of the instrument by the market. It has to be understood that complexity is different from credit risk and even an instrument categorized as 'Simple' can carry high levels of risk. For more details, please refer Rating Criteria “Complexity Level Of Financial Instruments” on www.acuite.in.
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