L&T Finance net income rises over two-fold to Rs 531 crore in Q1

L&T Finance on Wednesday said its net income more than doubled to Rs 531 crore in the April-June quarter, driven by robust loan sales along with higher margins.
 

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 262 crore in the year-ago quarter.
 

Its net income from retail loans jumped 176 per cent on year to Rs 533 crore with steady net interest margins of 11.71 per cent from 11.57 per cent, pulling down its credit cost to 2.78 per cent.
 

In a statement, the L&T Group company said its retail portfolio jumped to 82 per cent of the total loan book, up from 54 per cent in Q1FY23 and 75 per cent in Q4FY23.
 

The company attributed rise in retail portfolio to robust disbursements which jumped to Rs 11,193 crore, up 25 per cent on-year driven by strong growth across all retail segments.
 

The company, which had burned a lot of cash some years back in the wholesale lending, has been on an accelerated route to cut the wholesale book, which in the reporting period declined by 65 per cent on-year -- or as much as Rs 25,992 crore since plan started in FY20 and reducing it by Rs 5,548 crore in Q1FY24 itself, Dinanath Dubhashi, managing director & chief executive said without disclosing the asset under management of the wholesale book.
 

The quarter saw retail disbursements of Rs 11,193 crore, up 25 per cent in from Rs 8,938 crore in Q1FY23, taking the overall retail book to Rs 64,274 crore, up 34 per cent on-year from Rs 47,794 crore in the year-ago period.
 

The company also saw marginal improvements in retail asset quality with gross NPAs inching down to 3.21 per cent from 3.41 per cent, and net NPAS to 0.70 per cent from 0.71 per cent. The provision coverage ratio also dipped to 79 per cent and the capital adequacy ratio stood at 25.75.
 

The company's retail franchise is led by its distribution presence in around 2 lakh villages served by over 1,700 rural branches and over 150 branches across urban centres, servicing over 89 lakh active customers.
 

The micro-finance firm registered its highest ever quarterly disbursements at Rs 4,511 crore, a growth of 18 per cent.
 

Its farm equipment finance disbursements grew 15 per cent to Rs 1,757 crore; two-wheeler finance grew 14 per cent to Rs 1,726 crore and consumer loans continued to scale up with Rs 1,162 crore disbursements, up 15 per cent.

Housing loans and loans against property rose 39 per cent to Rs 1,299 crore; and SME loans grew almost 10 times to Rs 607 crore from Rs 68 crore in Q1FY23.