Sundaram Finance Ltd. (SFL), one of the leading financial and investment service providers in India, registered a net profit of Rs. 1,126 crores at the end of FY19, against Rs. 563 crores in the previous year. The NBFC reported a 9.8 per cent increase in its disbursements to Rs. 17,170 crores from Rs. 15,632 crores.
The company revenues also increased by about 21 per cent to Rs. 3,398 crores and the gross receivables stood at Rs. 33,447 crores at the end of FY19. The Board has recommended a final dividend of Rs. 12.5 per share, including a special dividend of Rs. 5 per share.
Commenting on the company’s performance, Mr. T.T. Srinivasaraghavan, Managing Director, Sundaram Finance Ltd., said: “In what was a challenging year for the financial services sector, SF achieved a reasonable growth in disbursements in FY19, driven by ICV, construction equipment and used vehicle segments. We have built a strong base in each of these segments and expect that they do well this year.”
He said the commercial vehicles sector recorded a runaway growth during the first half of FY19, but reversed during October and kept dipping until March. This was attributed to the increase in diesel prices, overcapacity and liquidity squeeze in the NBFC sector.
The LCV and MCV sector registered reasonable growth, along with the construction equipment and the tractor segment, which also recorded moderate growth during the past year. The passenger car sector is also expected to have a grim rate of growth, according to the MD.
Commenting on the outlook for the upcoming FY, Mr. Srinivasaraghavan said: “With a new government in place, we hope that the thrust on infrastructure would continue. However, the uncertainties such as liquidity, interest rates, introduction of BS-VI emission norms render forecasts difficult. We have taken these factors into account in drawing up our plans for the year, without losing sight of our main markets and segments.”