LIC Housing Finance on Thursday said it expects improvement in net interest margin (NIM) going ahead after the company reported 25.5 percent jump in December quarter profit at Rs 596.31 crore, mainly due to higher interest income.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Vinay Sah, managing director and chief executive officer, said, "NIM for the quarter was 2.33 percent and for Q3FY18, it was 1.92 percent. Company's portfolio growth has been very good. For Q3, LIC Housing Finance grew at about 16.34 percent that is one of the best in the last 8-10 quarters."

Sah said, "The interest income growth from individual side is in the ratio of about 20 percent and on the developer side, the growth rate is 90 percent, but the share is only Rs 300 crore. So overall interest income, LIC Housing Finance is showing a growth rate of about 23 percent. Assets under management (AUM) has grown up by 16.34 percent. The retail portfolio has grown by about 14 percent. Both these percentages are the best in the last so many quarters."

On liquidity position, he said, "LIC Housing Finance did not experience any problem pertaining to liquidity in Q3. The only concern for the company was the rates at which money was available and because of that, our cost of borrowing went up by about 15 basis points (bps) in Q3."

One basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point.