Sundaram Finance has said that while it will continue the expansion of people and footprint to drive growth in core businesses, it has also identified a few new areas for growth.
The leading non-banking finance company (NBFC) said its business is at least a few quarters away to achieve tge pre-Covid level.
GQP model
The past 3-4 years were one of the most challenging phases in the history of the company on the back of a slowdown in the commercial vehicle industry. However, the company sees huge headroom for growth across asset classes and would continue to pursue its ‘GQP’ (Growth with Quality and Profitability) model.
“Given the unpredictable situation now, SF will continue to rely on its time-tested philosophy of GQP and we have identified four key priorities,” S Viji, Chairman of Sundaram Finance, said while addressing the company’s 69th Annual General Meeting over video conference mode.
Ensuring growth across all asset classes and regions and improving market share across all geographies and resuming the pre-pandemic trajectory of growth of the asset book is one the priorities.
“Expanding the geographic footprint in the regions of operations and growing our new areas of focus – lending to MSMEs, small NBFCs and leasing business will also be one of the priorities,” he said.
Pan-India presence
Elaborating on the future growth, Rajiv Lochan, Managing Director of Sundaram Finance, said: “We see pretty headroom for continued growth across asset classes and geographies. Also, regulatory provisions such as co-lending provide additional opportunities for the company to expand the share it has in many of the geographies and asset classes.”
Lochan pointed out that growth in core businesses will be driven by improving the productivity of existing people and branches, enhancing people’s presence in the existing branches and improving branch networks in existing geographies and entering new geographies in a calibrated manner.
“We do see us becoming truly a pan-India company with strong footprints across non-South regions, which is a priority for us,” he added.
New businesses
On the new business areas, Lochan said the company was seeing a few new businesses. It will lend to small entrepreneurs – outside of the road transport sector. Also, Sundaram Finance sees leasing as a very interesting opportunity in the post-GST era. “We are planning to get back to the pre-GST leasing trajectory we were on,” he added.
It will also provide funding support for small NBFCs in ensuring their reach and access to serve the small customers across a range of sub-segments such as vehicle finance, affordable housing, micro-financing, etc. “We can extend our reach by partnering with small NBFCs,” he added.