Sundaram Home Finance to double SBL branches, to set foot in Telangana

Sundaram Home Finance on Thursday unveiled its plan to double its Small Business Loans (SBL) branches over the next 12 months including setting foot in Telangana.

Telangana will be the company's first expansion outside Tamil Nadu in the SBL segment.

We have made steady progress in the SBL segment establishing a solid presence in Tier 3 and 4 towns in Tamil Nadu. While we will look to strengthen our existing branches, we are now set to foray into locations outside TN in phase two of our expansion, Sundaram Home Finance MD Lakshminarayanan Duraiswamy said on the expansion.

The company is in the process of identifying "pockets of opportunities" in smaller towns in TN and Telangana and expects to finalise them in Q4 this year, he said in a statement and added that the new branches would become fully operational next year.

The company opened 25 exclusive SBL branches in Tier 3 and 4 towns in Tamil Nadu in phase 1 after it forayed into this new segment in October 2022, the release said.

The exclusive SBL branches in Tenkasi, Aruppukottai, Rasipuram, Kovilpatti, Ilampillai, and Sivakasi in the state registered disbursements of Rs 65 crore in the first year.

For the small business segment, Sundaram Home Finance offers loans of up to Rs 20 lakh against house property to small traders, shops, and entrepreneurs.

The company had also recently announced plans to expand into the affordable housing segment and is looking to open 10 branches and hire up to 75 people for that segment in the initial phase, the release further said.

The company registered a net profit of Rs 117 crore on disbursements of Rs 2,307 crore for the half year ended September 30 this year.