Regional Credit Manager

Role overview

The Regional Credit Manager will lead regional underwriting and credit-risk operations for Aditya Birla Housing Finance Limited (ABHFL), a part of Aditya Birla Capital Limited. ABHFL is registered with the National Housing Bank as a housing finance company under the National Housing Bank Act, 1987 and provides a wide suite of housing finance products including home loans, home improvement loans, home construction loans, balance transfer and top-up loans, loans against property, and construction finance. The company obtained its licence on 9 July 2014 and is pursuing ambitious growth plans.

ABHFL has delivered steady growth with strong asset quality even in a challenging market environment. The organisation is targeting 5X growth to INR 40,000 Cr over the next 5 years, which would place it among the top 5 percentile of HFCs in the country.

Business context

The risk function is central to ABHFL's business health, sustainability, and credit quality. It works in a dual structure alongside the Sales/Sourcing teams, with mapped positions across the organisation, and is responsible for controls and process checks that support business performance.

Along with controlling exposure through robust underwriting and risk management, the function also supports expansion by jointly evaluating market and product growth proposals with the Sales team.

This role is expected to help establish and maintain underwriting and risk frameworks that enable sound creditworthiness assessment and reliable input for loan approval, rejection, and business expansion decisions.

Key challenges

The business also carries construction-risk exposure, especially for under-construction properties that may not be completed as planned, so the role must account for this while designing controls and reviewing proposals.

As ABHFL is still in its early growth phase, the function must balance business acceleration with prudent risk management, avoiding higher sub-prime exposure or damage to long-term business quality.

Housing finance is shaped by state-specific norms, local business practices, and differing interpretations of regulations. The role requires staying current on these variations and working within compliance boundaries while still supporting growth.

Accountabilities

• Run regional credit and underwriting activities in line with approved frameworks and principles across ABHFL business lines.
• Coordinate with Sales and Operations teams, escalate issues where needed, and support timely decision-making on individual proposals and exceptions.
• Guide team members on case-specific and exception-based decisions, including technical factors and state/property-specific considerations.
• Review and approve proposals within the delegated approval matrix and support the team on approval-related cases.
• Track bounce rates and delinquency buckets against defined thresholds and identify early defaulters.
• Ensure post-disbursal documents are collected within the assigned timelines.
• Improve process efficiency across risk operations without weakening risk controls.
• Promote structured coordination with Sales and Operations for effective problem-solving and business support.
• Handle escalation and exception cases, including escalation to the Zonal Head – Risk when required.
• Manage external vendors to maintain report quality and turnaround time.
• Monitor costs and keep them within budget.
• Review MIS, reports, and escalation documents regularly and on need basis to ensure adherence to risk principles and controls.
• Maintain a systematic maker-checker process with Sales and Operations for exception approvals, collateral valuation, post-disbursal document completion, cheque bounce collections, and related activities.
• Minimise critical audit observations and close all observations within the required turnaround time.
• Identify early warning signal cases and analyse them appropriately.
• Work with Collections and Operations teams to monitor delinquent accounts and support efficient recovery actions.
• Intervene in recovery, delinquency, and NPA-avoidance cases as needed and escalate to the Zonal Head – Risk when necessary.
• Track delinquent portfolios, liaise with key delinquent customers, and support collection resolution efforts.
• Report fraud cases to the Risk Monitoring team and the Zonal/National Risk Head.
• Partner with Sales and Operations teams on case-based decisions that support sustainable business growth.
• Coach and develop team members to improve underwriting quality, risk assessment, stakeholder management, and technical understanding.
• Nominate team members for technical and behavioural training or seminars and support self-development initiatives.
• Maintain strong internal stakeholder relationships to ensure smooth cross-functional coordination and alignment with business goals.

Requirements

• Chartered Accountant or MBA in Finance.
• 8 to 12 years of total experience in a bank, NBFC, or HFC.
• At least 4 to 5 recent years of experience in risk and underwriting within an HFC.
• Strong business and commercial judgement.
• Strong analytical ability and problem-solving skills.
• Effective stakeholder management and presentation skills.
• Capability to manage teams and drive execution.

Additional information

The role requires familiarity with legal and technical documents, property market practices, state-wise housing norms, and regulatory guidelines relevant to housing finance operations.

Success in the role depends on maintaining a balance between growth enablement, robust credit control, compliance, and portfolio health.