PNB Housing Finance, India's 5th largest Housing Finance Company by loan assets and 2nd largest by deposits, has obtained refinance sanction of Rs 35 billion from the National Housing Bank (NHB).

The funds will be utilised for the specific sector wise disbursements / end uses as per norms of the respective NHB refinance schemes.

Sanjaya Gupta, Managing Director, PNB Housing Finance, said, ''We express our sincere gratitude to the National Housing Bank for their trust and believe in the company's robust operations, with fresh sanction of Rs 35 billion of long term funding. This will not only strengthen the liquidity of the Company but also help in boosting the economic growth. The NHB refinance are of a maturity of up to 15 years hence shall help further enhance our ALM. This is yet another long-term source of borrowings followed to ECB of USD 200 million we raised in the current, challenging environment, driven by our strong fundamentals. With availment of these funds the share of long term borrowings will increase in the overall borrowings and aid our constant endeavour to keep short term money at levels of 12% and below. We wish to again reiterate that as on date the Company is very well placed both on liquidity and ALM position and continue to be cautiously optimistic.''

Shares of the company gained Rs 27.95, or 3.01%, to trade at Rs 957.15. The total volume of shares traded was 28,830 at the BSE (1.08 p.m., Monday).