Sundaram Finance net up 11.2% in Q4

The income from operations rose marginally to Rs 547.67 cr

Sundaram Finance Ltd saw its net profit rise 11.19 per cent to Rs 100.24 crore during the quarter-ended March 31, 2014 over  a year ago. Meanwhile, the company’s income from operations rose marginally to Rs 547.67 crore from Rs 542.60 crore. The company also announced that Srinivas Acharya had relinquished his office as director with effect from May 31, 2014, after serving on the board for over a decade.

TT Srinivasaraghavan, managing director, Sundaram Finance Ltd, attributed the growth in net to a tight leash on asset quality, control on operating expenses and an efficient treasury. “We managed the cost side well and that is the reason for the reasonable growth in profit in a slowdown year.”

Disbursements for the year-ended March 31, 2014, stood at Rs 9,719 crore as against Rs 9,991 crore in the same period previous year. Deposits crossed Rs 1,600 crore and stood at Rs 1,666 crore as on March 31, 2014.

He said 2013-14 was  perhaps the most challenging year for the CV industry since the slowdown witnessed in 1997-98, with sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles plummeting 25 per cent or more in two successive years. With dwindling freight offerings and spiralling operating costs, transport operators had been experiencing severe cash flow strains.

“Viewed against this backdrop, the company has been able to maintain a tight leash on its asset quality, enabling it to report a reasonable growth in profits.While overall disbursements were down 3 per cent over the previous year, the company maintained or marginally improved its market share in all its key asset segments. The growth in tractor business was a bright spot for us as we continued to improve our market share in that segment.”  He claimed the company increased share in all segments it operates in and  CV contributed 55 per cent, car finance 35 per cent and tractors and construction equipment the balance 10 per cent to its business.