Chennai, June 14 (IANS) US based financial services major Citigroup Inc. Tuesday said it had made a pre-tax profit of $160 million after reducing its holding in non-banking finance company HDFC Ltd by 1.5 percent to 9.9 percent.

The Mumbai-based HDFC is a major player in the Indian housing finance segment with mortgages worth around $37 billion as of March, 2011.

Citigroup has no plans to further dilute its holdings in HDFC, a company statement said.

Reducing its holdings in HDFC to below 10 percent is part of Citi's mitigation efforts ahead of the adoption of Basel III capital rules, the statement read.

"We have been an investor in HDFC since 2005 and continue to have a very strong and productive relationship with its senior management team," said John Gerspach, chief financial officer of Citigroup.

"This transaction was motivated by our capital planning as we prepare for the implementation of Basel III, rather than strategic considerations," he added.