LIC Housing Finance, the housing finance subsidiary of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India is in plans to enter into the banking business if it is eligible for the position as per the guidelines set by RBI. The RBI guidelines on the same would be coming up in July .

The home loan unit would be foraying into the venture even if the parent company LIC is unable to join it.

"We are interested in applying for a banking licence. LIC may or may not be part of the venture because it is a public sector organisation and has its own regulations to follow. We have not initiated any talks with RBI. We are waiting for the guidelines from the central bank," said R R Nair, director and chief executive officer of LIC Housing Finance.

The HFC would be starting the operations of its real estate venture capital fund in the upcoming six months. The seed capital for the same would be Rs. 500 crore. "About 20 per cent of the capital will be from LIC and the housing finance company and the remaining would be mobilised from HNIs (high net worth individuals) and institutions," said Nair.

The company earlier had plans to enter into a joint venture for this but has finally decided to standalone.

The company also aims to raise capital worth Rs. 20,000 crore this fiscal via non-convertible debentures and public deposits.

The share of home loans for the company has increased to 12% in 2009-10 as compared to 6% in 2008-09. For the year ended March 2010, the company approved Rs 18,043 crore of loans to individuals and real estate developers and disbursed Rs 14,853 crore.