Mumbai, March 17 -- Affordable housing lenders are increasingly luring borrowers with promises of future reductions in loan repayments as competition intensifies in the January-March quarter and firms rush to meet year-end credit targets, according to analysts.

According to analysts, affordable housing lenders are at a disadvantage, as policy interest rate cuts by the central bank have not translated into a meaningful reduction in their borrowing costs. Moreover, competition for small home loans has risen, pushing some of these financiers to adopt aggressive marketing strategies. Industry leaders said the aggressive push is not limited to affordable housing finance companies (HFCs), while some acknowledged there could be instances of mis...