The largest lender of the country, SBI is at par with HDFC Bank in the housing finance segment. The banking major now wants to move ahead and take the lead.

SBI is planning to raise its home loan portfolio by 31% this fiscal. But it is expected that the chunk would be bigger than the target owing to a larger client base.

"We have a client base of more than 15 lakh individuals and we are aiming to add another 4 lakh this year," said a top bank official. "We added about 2.92 lakh last year," the official said.

He however did not reveal about the bank's plans in the teaser loan segement. Teaser loans have been a major contributor in the Rs 17,000 crore rise in the housing finance portfolio of the bank in the last financial year.

The speed at which loans have been sanctioned has also been great. "We have sanctioned loans worth Rs 3,650 crore spread across 31,400 accounts in April and May this year," said the official.

This, if calculated on annual basis indicates amounts to more than Rs 22,000 crore which matches the bank's projections for this fiscal.