Piramal Capital & Housing Finance adds 1,000 employees in Uttar Pradesh; aims to further grow branch count and retail loan look

by Suman Gupta

• The company has 21 branches in U.P.; aims to roughly double the number of branches over the next 3 years

• The current loan book size is ~Rs. 2,100 crore in Uttar Pradesh

• PCHFL is among the largest NBFC’s in India post the acquisition of Dewan Housing & Finance Ltd (DHFL)

• Ensured no job losses post DHFL’s acquisition; created dedicated and new roles across verticals for employees of DHFL

Lucknow, May 11, 2022: Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Limited (PCHFL), the wholly owned subsidiary of Piramal Enterprises Limited, is steadily increasing its employee strength and branch presence across Uttar Pradesh. Under ‘Project Sangam’, a program focused on the cultural and business integration of Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) with PCHFL, the company has successfully integrated around 1,000 employees in Uttar Pradesh.

At present, the company has a loan book size of around Rs. 2,100 crore in U.P. and 21 branches covering key markets like Lucknow, Kanpur, Meerut, Varanasi, Jhansi, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Noida, Faridabad, Prayagraj, among others. The company plans to roughly double the number of branches in the state over the next 3 years and grow the loan book through multi-product retail offerings.

Over 90% of the branches in U.P. are in tier-2 and tier-4 towns to cater to the needs of the unserved and underserved population in the state. PCHFL’s expansion focus is majorly in micro markets which are hubs for housing finance and MSME’s.

PCHFL is among the largest NBFCs in the country and offers a variety of loan products, including housing and MSME loans, to cater to the customers of Bharat in medium and small towns in India. The company acquired DHFL and successfully integrated around 3,000 employees of the erstwhile lender across India, resulting in no job losses. Over the last 6 months, the company extensively leveraged technology for hiring and created around 4,000 new jobs and roles across various verticals – thereby taking the overall employee count to over 7,600 across 300 branches in India.

Jairam Sridharan, MD, PCHFL, said, “We have successfully integrated and onboarded over 1,000 employees into PCHFL in Uttar Pradesh and aim to roughly double the number of branches over the next 3 years. We not only ensured there are no job losses post the acquisition of DHFL, but also created new roles and opportunities for employees to grow. The integration involved assimilation into Piramal’s culture and values and infusing the ethos of people, practices and processes, which is at the core of the Piramal group.

The integration also helped us establish presence in key markets across U.P. and we are well positioned to cater to the credit needs of customers of Bharat in the Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, through our multiproduct retail offerings. We have a strong retail loan portfolio in U.P. and the opportunities for MSME and Housing growth in the state are immense. We will continue to build on this, as we expand our presence to deepen relationships and attract new customers across the region.”

As a part of the ’Project Sangam’, PCHFL conducted an independent survey to connect with employees and seek feedback after completion of 100 days since the integration. The insights reveal that over 95% of the employees reveal positive sentiment stating that process has been smooth, technology has made their job easier, communication by the senior leadership is inspiring, among others.

The company has identified niche roles across various verticals, including MSME lending, used car loans, underwriting, operations and credit to support the growth trajectory. It has recruited talent pan India, under multiple verticals, with extensive hiring across levels to support and grow the housing finance business. Further, the new origination of affordable housing loans has been restarted at all 301 branches across the country.

In the light of the pandemic, a significant part of the hiring and onboarding process has been completed virtually. The guiding imperative is to build a robust organizational structure with the right mix of human and technological capabilities, to resonate with the growing business.

With the acquisition of DHFL, PCHFL is one of the leading players in the retail lending segment with access to over 1 million lifetime customers, presence in 24 states with a network of over 300 branches. PCHFL plans to expand its operations to about 1,000 cities, with physical presence in about 500-600 cities, over the next five years. The company leverages the “phygital” lending platform driven by Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), including the new mobile app.