Our constructive thesis premised on the huge growth opportunity in the housing finance space and the government's push for housing for all'. LICHF's unparalleled distribution network (through agents) further augmented by geographical expansion will be a key growth enabler hereon. Improving margins coupled with better asset quality will boost profitability and crystallize into a RoAA jump of 11bps over FY18-20E. Maintain BUY with a TP of Rs 627 (2x Mar-20 ABV of Rs 314) In a seasonally weak quarter, LICHFs performance was grossly underwhelming. Deterioration in asset quality (despite a large recovery of ~Rs 700mn) was higher than the usual 1Q blip as individual GNPAs spiked (81bps vs 42bps QoQ). Though overall growth (+15%) was respectable, tepid growth in the core segment (up merely 9% YoY) lagged comparable peers. Despite the recent rate hikes (30bps over 1Q) the sequential dip (15bps to 2.34%) was also disappointing.