India Infoline net rises 46%

BS 200 SCORECARD

India Infoline net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2006 rose 46 per cent to Rs 18 crore, compared with Rs 12.36 crore in the same period last financial year.

The growth was on the back of increased equity brokerage, life insurance commissions and commodities business.

For the quarter under review, the consolidated revenues of the company surged 112 per cent to Rs 114.52 crore, up from Rs 54.02 crore in the same period of the previous year.

The company said the robust growth was despite a higher incidence of manpower and administrative costs, on account of rapid expansion of its branch network done in the previous two quarters.

The equity brokerage business shot up 76 per cent during the third quarter to Rs 60.55 crore from Rs 34.27 crore a year earlier. The total share of equity broking business, however, came down to 53 per cent from 63 per cent in the second quarter of this financial year.

Kapil Krishan, chief financial officer, said it was a deliberate strategy adopted by the company to ensure the company was not dependent on one segment for its revenue streams.

The commodities brokerage zoomed 151 per cent to Rs 32 crore from the previous year's Rs 12.7 crore, while life insurance commissions rose to Rs 159.9 crore from Rs 60.7 crore in the third quarter of last year.

Commenting on the future growth prospects, CMD Nirmal Jain said, "The low penetration of financial services products in the country presents a huge opportunity to significantly expand our business. We are aggressively expanding to take advantage of this and expect to reap the benefits of this once our network stabilises and becomes productive."