It is the individual customer who has been a major driver in the performance of quite a few of India's leading housing finance companies, such as LIC Housing, Gruh, Canfin Homes Ltd and PNB Housing Finance. Take the case of market leader HDFC, for instance, which has cornered about half of the market. During 1999-2000, it disbursed a total loan portfolio of Rs 4,493 crore, says managing director Keki M Mistry. But it was individual lending, which is growing by a whopping 50 per cent, that helped boost HDFC's business.

That should hardly be surprising, considering that it is the Rs 5-10 lakh loan segment that comprises about 90 per cent of the total loan disbursals, says Mr Vora. That notwithstanding, all kinds and sizes of loans have shown a remarkable growth, says the NHB chief.

That is partly because interest rates have come down and there has been a downfall of about 200-250 basis points in interest rates from those that prevailed just 2-3 years ago. Coupled with other factors like rising incomes, falling property rates-they are likely to move up only in line with inflation-and tax incentives, NHB in fact estimates that the total size of the housing finance industry could well reach Rs 12,000 crore at the end of fiscal 2001.

Some idea about the great potential in the housing finance industry can be had from the new housing finance company on the block, ICICI Home Finance. In just about 6-8 months' time, it has clocked mortgage loans worth Rs 300 crore. Contrast this with the business of established players like Canfin Homes, which has done about Rs 300 crore worth of business, or LIC Housing Finance, which has disbursed about Rs 1,265 crore as housing loans. Clearly, things have never looked so good for the housing finance companies.

The housing finance business is in fact in for a virtual revamp. Following the passage of the NHB Amendment Act on June 12 this year, all the existing HFCs need fresh registration with the regulatory body. For that, they need to satisfy the condition of Rs 25 lakh as NOF (net owned fund) within a time-frame of 3 years, while a new HFC can only be floated after the NOF condition has been met.

As many as 132 fresh applications have already been received, discloses Mr Vora. As for those seeking refinance, the NOF limit goes up much higher to Rs 25 crore.There are some 29 such outfits already existing. But what will really make finance affordable is the development of a debt market, as noted by the National Housing and Habitat policy.

``Asset securitisation and development of a secondary mortgage market in the country is essential to provide and recycle finance for housing,'' says the policy.