One year after the integration with DHFL, Piramal Capital & Housing Finance (PCHF) is repositioning itself as a lender for retail with a focus on ‘Budget Bharat’ — lending to the segment that does not have the papers or documents to avail formal credit.
Speaking to TOI, PCHF MD Jairam Sridharan said that the integration with DHFL’s business is complete, with core IT systems being the last block. He said that post-merger, the company has fostered a new culture of a combination of a digital and physical strategy and an informal work environment where executives shed suits for T-shirts.
“Our target segment are those people who have built a life for themselves but have not achieved the escape velocity to improve their lives,” said Sridharan. He added that financial service firms are struggling to sell to customers of this profile as they do not find it worthwhile, given the small size of the loan.
Sridharan said the company will expand its loan book from around Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 1 lakh crore in four years, with two-thirds of the loans in the consumer segment. The group has decided to use the Piramal Finance brand for the lending business.
To lend to this segment, DHFL is building up captive distribution of employees who have the capability of analysing informal records kept by small businesses in cases where the potential borrower does not have documents. Sridharan said, given the requirements of the Budget Bharat segment, the company adopted a high-touch strategy and expand branches to be present in 1,000 locations over the next five years.
