Religare Enterprises has bought a part of Citigroup India's home loan portfolio for an amount of Rs 500 crore. The part of portfolio sold by Citi amounted to 5% of the total home loan book of the company.

Citigroup said that it has not made an exit from home loan business and has only sold a part of its portfolio so as to enable it to lend on a fresh note. The acquisition would be done through Religare Finvest, the non banking finance wing of Religare. The process is expected to be completed by October.

"We have entered into an agreement to acquire part assets of Citigroup India's mortgage portfolio for Rs. 500 crore. The deal would be completed in the next three months," Religare Finvest chief executive Kavi Arora said.

He also said that the acquisition would be a major leap for Religare Finvest which has been in the housing finance industry since the past three years.

Citi South Asia chief financial officer Abhijit Sen said, "This sale is of a small pool of mortgages representing less than five per cent of our total mortgage portfolio. Citibank routinely sells small tranches of its portfolio to optimise returns on capital and such assets sold are substituted by fresh loan."