Dewan Housing Finance

DHFL is a housing finance company that provides lower and middle income groups an easy access for affordable housing. On April 11, 1984, DHFL was established to enable access to affordable housing finance to the lower and middle income groups in semi-urban and rural parts of India. DHFL is the second housing finance Company to be established in the country, however, with a unique mission, which is today benchmark as a model of financial inclusion in the Indian financial services sector. It was established by Late Shri Rajesh Kumar Wadhawan (16th April, 1949-30th September, 2000), a visionary Indian businessman. The Founder Chairman observed the sad truth that most Indians couldn’t get a housing loan on fair terms. He believed that owning a home is a critical element to the building of an identity for every Indian. He thus set out on a mission to manage this social need. While most experts lauded Shri Rajesh Kumar Wadhawan’s altruism, they posed pragmatic apprehensions on the possibility of this Vision becoming a reality. However, that did not influence the visionary’s mission. DHFL disbursed funds from its own equity contribution and had a return of less than 8% at a time when interest rates were about 18%. But, what DHFL ascertained was the difference between those who see things as they are and the visionaries who see things as they can be.