2024: Securing against Emerging Risks

Rahul Mehrotra, MD & CEO of Religare Housing Development Finance Corporation, highlights the company’s approach to growth in 2024:

Ravi Lalwani: Share your organization journey in 2023 and what are the opportunities your organization sees for 2024?

Rahul Mehrotra: The challenges faced by the company in 2023 include sustained high inflation, rising competition, and the need for seamless data deduplication and availability across departments for strategic decision-making. Even scheduled banks are now focusing on affordable housing finance, which presents a challenge for the company. To overcome these challenges, the company plans to implement digital l ending programs and mechanisms specifically designed for unbanked locations while enhancing efficiency by adopting digital tools and leveraging the balance sheet for growth in the book size.

As for the opportunities that the organization sees for 2024, they include enhancing cybersecurity measures, transitioning to digital-driven credit assessment, and transitioning to the cloud. The company also plans to focus on mobility-driven customer acquisition tools and AI-driven fraud detection mechanisms.

What are your plans for 2024? Which additional security measures will your organization adopt?

Rahul Mehrotra: In 2023, the organization faces 3 main risks, namely the high cost of funds due to no reduction in repo rates, efficient data management, and the ever-evolving external digital landscape. To mitigate these risks, we have implemented a robust business continuity plan and enhanced new age tools for customer data protection.

The future of home loans in India is i ncreasingly digital, with a 27% yoy increase observed in the overall real estate market in FY 2023-2024, primarily i n the metro areas. The overall commentary is positive, with expectations of broad-based growth in the economy and the home loan sector. To ensure security, we have implemented rigorous credit assessment models and practical and realistic cash flow assessment-driven fraud detection mechanisms.

Rahul Mehrotra believes that realistic cash flow assessmentdriven fraud detection mechanisms will be a critical security tool in 2024.