Mumbai: With a view to strengthen its distribution, LIC Housing Finance (LICHFL) plans to launch a financial services subsidiary in this quarter, a top company official said.

“We are launching our financial services subsidiary called LIC Housing Finance Financial Services which will help us improve our disbursement of loans and other financial products, during the quarter,” LICHFL’s Director and Chief Executive, R R Nair, told PTI here.

The first office would be operational in Mumbai and subsequently the company plans to open offices pan-India, he said.

The company had already opened an office for its 100% financial services subsidiary, Nair said, adding “the office will be operational by end-this month or by mid- February.”

Presently, the state-owned LICHFL disburses loans through agents and around 7,000 marketing intermediaries, he said.

LIC Housing Finance clocked a net profit of Rs134.33- crore in Q3 FY 09, a growth of 27% as against Rs106.62-crore in the year-ago period.

The company posted a growth of 39% in its total income including other income at Rs767-crore during the period as compared to Rs 550-crore in the same period last year.

“The third-quarter was most difficult and challenging but we have outperformed the industry. The improvement in profitability and asset quality helped us in the period,” Nair said.