HDFC raises Rs 8,700 cr as 'social loan'

New Delhi: HDFC Ltd on Friday said it has raised $1.1 billion (around Rs 8,700 crore) from a clutch of investors under 'Syndicated Social Loan Facility' to cater to the affordable housing segment in the country. The country's largest mortgage lender by asset size said it has raised the amount by way of external commercial borrowings (ECBs).

"This landmark financing further promotes HDFC's longstanding mission to be the leading provider of housing finance in India. Proceeds from the social loan would go towards financing affordable housing loans," the company said in a release. MUFG Bank Ltd is the lead social loan coordinator for this transaction along with being one of the Mandated Lead Arranger and Borrowers (MLAB), it said. CTBC Bank, Mizuho Bank, State Bank of India and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation are the other MLABs and joint social loan coordinators. This is India's largest social financing issuance, the largest social loan globally, the first social ECB loan out of India and the largest ECB loan deal from a Housing Finance Company/private NBFC in India, HDFC said.

External Commercial Borrowings are instruments used by domestic entities to raise capital from overseas markets in Indian rupee or any other permitted foreign currency. Since its inception in 1977, the largest mortgage lender by asset size in the country has financed 95 lakh housing units and has a gross loan book of Rs 6.7 lakh crore.