Sundaram Finance net rises 5% to Rs 477 cr

Non-banking finance company Sundaram Finance has recorded a five per cent rise in its net profit for the financial year ending March 31, 2016 at Rs 477 crore.
The Chennai-based company had recorded a net profit of Rs 454 crore in the previous year.
Disbursements for the company for the year ending March 31, 2016 grew by 14 per cent to Rs 11,444 crore from Rs 10,012 crore registered during previous fiscal.
Net profit for the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2016 went up by 34 per cent to Rs 122 crore from Rs 91 crore registered during same quarter of last fiscal.

Disbursements in January-March 31, 2016 quarter increased by 11.5 per cent to Rs 2,893 crore from Rs 2,594 crore during same period of previous year.
"The Board (of Directors) today approved the results for the financial year ending March 31, 2016. Our disbursements for the year ending March 31, 2016 grew by 14 per cent fuelled by medium and heavy commercial vehicle business.", Sundaram Finance Managing Director T T Srinivasaraghavan told reporters.

He said the company also moved to adopt the stringent three-month NPA norm two years ahead of the RBI's proposal to implement it in 2018.
"We have switched to the three-month norm, normally referred to as 90-day norm. We have moved to that norm two years ahead of the regulatory requirement," he said.

Sundaram Finance's net NPA stood at 0.92 per cent as on March 31, 2016.
"We are proud that despite the big challenges in the industry over the last few years, we have been able to achieve a best in class net NPA of sub 1 per cent also considering that we have moved to the 90 day norm in FY16, 2 years ahead of the regulatory requirement.", he said.
On the company's growth, he said, there has been an uptrend in the second half of last year in financing the medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment.
"We have seen a robust growth in the M & HCV space. The operator's viability has been improving because of stable diesel prices. The overall scenario is definitely better than what it was a year ago," he said.

On the outlook, he said, the trend is "upbeat" and positive while macro economic indicators were sound and inflation was "under control".
"Outlook is generally positive. Diesel prices may remain at current levels. And the general belief is that that the oil prices will stay benign most of this year. That is a big positive", he said.
The Board also gave its approval for elevating Director-Strategy and Planning, Wholetime Director, Harsha Viji as Deputy Managing Director of the company with immediate effect, he said.