DHFL seeks repayment moratorium, assures ‘no haircut on principal’

Mumbai, Aug 6 (IANS) In the matter of the company's resolution plan, mortgage lender Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) on Tuesday sought a moratorium on repayment of its dues, also saying, however, that the lenders will not have to take haircuts on the principal amount of their loans.

A regulatory filing by DHFL said its board on Tuesday approved the submission of the company's draft resolution plan to its lenders.

The filing said that there "there will be no principal haircuts to any creditors", while adding that the proposed measures are towards aligning the asset-liability mismatch.

In its resolution plan, the company has also sought funding from banks and the National Housing Bank for starting retail funding activity.

DHFL has been one of the companies most severely hit by the ongoing liquidity crisis which came to light after the infrastructure lending major IL&FS first defaulted in its commercial papers last year.

The housing lender's gross non-performing asset (NPAs or bad loans) as on March 31, 2019, rose to 2.74 per cent, as against 0.96 per cent during the like period of the previous fiscal. Besides, DHFL had said on July 13 that it had defaulted on interest payments to the tune of Rs 48 crore on non-convertible debentures (NCDs) that were due on July 6 and 8.

In its quarterly earnings for the January-March quarter announced last month, the company reported a net loss of Rs 2,223 crore.

However, following the announcement of its proposed resolution plan, DHFL stocks have surged. At 2.44 p.m on Tuesday, the DHFL stock was trading higher at Rs 46.65 a share, up Rs 4.70, or by 11.20 per cent, over its previous close on the BSE.