GIC Housing Finance Ltd is a subsidiary of General Insurance Corporation of India. The company is engaged in the housing finance activity. They operate in the retail loan segment. They provide loans to individuals and to persons/ entities engaged in construction of houses/ flats for residential purposes. The company has their presence in 27 locations (24 Business Centers & 3 Collection centers) across the country for business. They have got a strong marketing team, which is further assisted by Sales Associates (SAs). They have tie-ups with builders to provide finance to individual borrowers. The company also has tie-ups with corporates for various housing finance needs. GIC Housing Finance Ltd was incorporated on December 12, 1989 with the name GIC Grih Vitta Ltd. The company was formed with the objective of entering in the field of direct lending to individuals and other corporates to accelerate the housing activities in India. The company was promoted by General Insurance Corporation of India and their erstwhile subsidiaries namely, National Insurance Company Ltd, The New India Assurance Company Ltd, The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd and United India Insurance Company Ltd together with erstwhile UTI, ICICI, IFCI, HDFC and SBI, all of them contributing to the initial share capital. HDFC, SBI, ICICI and SUUTI sold off their holding in the company and ceased to be the promoters of the company. During the year 1989-91, the company started their operations in 8 locations. During the year 1991-92, they launched Employee and Builder Scheme Housing Scheme. During the year 1992-93, the name of the company was changed from GIC Grih Vitta Ltd to GIC Housing Finance Ltd with effect from November 16, 1993. During the year 1994-95, the company started new services centres in Navi Mumbai, Vizag and Coimbatore. During the year 1996-97, they started the process of branch interlinking and computerization. During the year 2000-01, the company opened a service centre at Madurai in Tamilnadu. During the year 2001-02, they opened three service centres at Trichy (Tamil Nadu), Thane (Mumbai) and Noida (Delhi). During the year 2009-10, the company opened their branches in tier two cities namely Baroda, Nagpur and Nasik. With this, the total number of branches as on 31st March, 2010 stood at 27. They sanctioned Rs 77757 lakh under 'Apna Ghar Yojana' during the year. The company had taken 'Special Contingency Insurance' with The New India Assurance Company Ltd, which covers Accidental Insurance and Mortgaged property Insurance of the borrowers of the company. Also, the company made a tie up with Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Ltd for getting insurance cover on the life of the borrower to the extent of the 'outstanding home Loan'. In December 2010, the company sold their investments in LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management Company Ltd and LIC Mutual Fund Trustee Company Pvt Ltd.