Sundaram Finance eyes tractor segment for wider play

The six-decade old non-banking finance company Sundaram Finance (SF), which is mainly into financing commercial vehicles (CVs) and cars, is looking to scale up its presence in tractor and construction equipment segments.
"There is enough headroom to grow the two new business segments of tractor and construction equipment financing," said T T Srinivasaraghavan, Managing Director, Sundaram Finance.
"From where we were a few years ago, the tractor business has now moved up to 5 per cent of our total book. Going forward, we will continue to look to improve our footprint in the segment," he told PTI today.
CV and car segments contribute over 85 per cent of the business.

Last year, Sundaram Finance increased its market share in all its key areas in the CV space and retained the share in the car segment.
The MD said the company is also hopeful of expanding its presence in the construction equipment segment. Currently, the segment contributes around 7 per cent of its total business.

Srinivasaraghavan said that once infrastructure spending picks up and infra projects kick off, construction equipment business could start to grow.
"In the long run, we will look to grow both these newer segments," Srinivasaraghavan said.
Asked about overall prospects in the CV and car segments, he said that if there is an uptick in the economy and growth in sales of CVs and cars, the company's business will reflect that position.

He added that a good monsoon will improve the overall sentiment and help have a cascading effect.
Srinivasaraghavan is hopeful of a turnaround in the second half of this financial year.
On growth target, he expressed concern on the adverse movement in global crude prices and the behaviour of the monsoon.
Subject to these two factors, "we can realistically look forward to a growth in the high single digit of 8-9 per cent this year"," he added.