LIC Housing Finance, the finance wing of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India has big ambitions set for the upcoming fiscal.

With the demand for affordable housing taking a leap, the company is planning for prodigious unfurling of its loan base.

"Last year it was a difficult year for housing finance companies, as we could grow only by 24 per cent and this year our growth is over 60 per cent. So with this trajectory we will be able to make a growth of 30-40 per cent next year. We are planning Rs 18,000 crore of disbursement next year," said R R Nair, chief executive & director at LIC Housing Finance.

While on one hand, the company is harboring big dreams for increasing the loan base, on the other hand, it is looking anxiously towards obtaining a banking license.

Following the announcement made in the union budget 2010-11 that NBFCs and private sector players may obtain bank licenses, many NBFCs are harboring ambitions of turning into banks.

"We recognize it is an opportunity and welcome it, we have to wait for the guidelines and regulatory requirements before taking a call if we are eligible for it and if eligible what are the requirements to fulfill. So after knowing the details we will take a call. We are positive about it," Nair said.

There are many companies in the race to convince RBI for permission to set up banking operations in the country. These include Reliance Capital, the Baja Group, the Tatas and Birlas amongst the big names.