Sundaram Finance Q3 profit up 45% to Rs 242 cr, disbursements up 8%

Non-banking finance company Sundaram Finance Ltd (SFL) has registered a 45 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 242 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2020, from Rs 167 crore in the corresponding period last year. 

Disbursements during the quarter under review rose 8.5 per cent to Rs 4,307 crore, from Rs 3,968 crore a year ago.

Net income for Q3FY21 went up by around seven per cent to Rs 1,045 crore from Rs 976 crore in the same period last year. 

Assets under Management stood at Rs 31,226 crore as on December 31, 2020 compared to Rs 30,502 crore a year ago. 

Net NPA (Stage III) stood at 1.59 per cent (2.79 per cent) as on December 31, 2020. 

The Supreme Court of India, vide an interim order dated September 3, 2020, ruled that borrowers who have availed moratorium benefit and were not declared Non-Performing Assets (NPA) till August 31, 2020 shall not be declared as NPA till further orders. Accordingly, accounts that were not NPA as of August 31, 2020 have not been classified as NPA for the nine months ended December 31, 2020, in line with this directive. Had the Company classified such borrower accounts as Stage III on December 31, 2020, the Stage III / Stage III (net of ECL) would have been 2.47 per cent and 1.51 per cent respectively.

Deposit base stood at Rs 4,112 crore on December 31, 2020, versus Rs 3,722 crore a year earlier.

T T Srinivasaraghavan, MD, Sundaram Finance Ltd, said, “Compared to the scenario in the first two quarters of the year, Q3 saw a revival in most of our business segments, except M&HCVs. Passenger Cars, Tractors and Construction Equipment segments did particularly well in Q3.”

He said, “With the strong infrastructure push announced in the Budget, we expect growth momentum to pick up in the next few quarters.”

Rajiv Lochan, director of strategy, will assume the role of MD, effective April 1. Srinivasaraghavan, the current MD, completes his term on March 31 and is retiring after 38 years with the company, the last 18 years as MD.

Harsha Viji, deputy MD, will assume the office of executive vice chairman and take charge of the overall strategy and direction of Sundaram Finance and other group companies in financial services.

A N Raju, director of operations, will assume the role of deputy MD while Srinivasaraghavan will remain on the board and play the role of a mentor.

Lochan and Viji have said while they have strong portfolio and got enough head rooms to grow in the existing business, equally they need to maintain caution.

They said the big mandate is "continuity", while preserving the culture of organisation, prudency and customer centirc.

Plenty of opportunities are available, but conservatism, value and prudency will not change, said Lochan.