ICICI Bank offers home loan sanctions in 8 hours flat

ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector lender, will sanction home loans for salaried customers in eight working hours, and all customers have to do is to upload their know your customer (KYC) and income documents on the bank's website.

The service is also available to prospective borrowers who are not ICICI Bank customers, said Rajiv Sabharwal, executive director, ICICI Bank.

The bank said under the 'Express Home Loans' offer, customers can now apply, upload relevant documents and receive the final home loan approval anywhere at their convenience.

''Our home loan portfolio is growing at a faster pace than the market,'' Sabharwal said.

While the overall home loan portfolio at ICICI Bank is growing at nearly 25 per cent, Tier-II and Tier-III cities are growing at a faster pace at 30 per cent. Loan growth in metropolitan areas is about 20 per cent.

Faced with sluggish corporate loan demand, most banks are trying to push retail loans like home and auto. According to RBI data, mortgage loans are growing at 18 per cent as compared to overall credit growth of 8.6 per cent till end-November 2015.

Sabharwal also said ICICI Bank's home loan book has crossed Rs1 lakh crore, making it the first private sector bank to achieve this mark. State Bank of India (SBI) – the country's largest lender – has a home loan book of Rs1.7 lakh crore.

Housing Development & Finance Corp (HDFC) – the country's largest mortgage lender – has a book of Rs2.38 lakh crore as of end-September, of which 73 per cent or Rs1.75 lakh crore is from retail lending.

ICICI Bank's home loans consist 24 per cent of its total loan book and is its single largest product, Sabharwal said, while retail lending is 45 per cent of ICICI Bank's total loan book and mortgage consists 55 per cent of its retail loan book.

The bank has also launched an initiative to help individuals taking home loans for under-construction projects to get subsequent disbursements (after the first disbursement) through the bank's 'iLoans' mobile application.

''All the customers need to do is download the 'iLoan' app, scan and upload the demand letter from the builder and proof of own contribution. Once uploaded, ICICI Bank assesses the demand and makes the disbursement,'' the bank said.