Expecting consumer demand to return in H2: Sundaram Finance MD

Continuity in policy, a favourable monsoon, and a vibrant festive season are expected to bring back consumer demand and momentum during the second half of the current fiscal, said Sundaram Finance Ltd. (SFL) Managing Director Rajiv Lochan.

“The government is continuing, so there will be continuity in most of the policy agenda,” he said during an interaction.

On macro and economic front, Mr. Lochan said the new government was expected to focus on economic growth, ensuring continuity in infrastructure policy, besides containing inflation and creating jobs.

He hoped that driving up consumption, improving exports and bringing back private sector capital investments would remain priorities.

On the medium to long-term prospects, he said, “Our primary objective is getting to a market share in the geographies that we operate in. If the market moves up by 10% in a particular asset class, we want 10% of that growth. If the market plateaus, we still want to hold the same 10%. So, we let the market growth determine our overall growth.”

“Our focus has been on market share which we think is much more controllable than going after a particular growth. This has been the long-standing philosophy for many years and we are just continuing that,” he said.

During FY24, SFL recorded standalone net profit rose 23% to ₹1,334 crore, excluding exceptional item. Disbursements grew 25% to ₹26,163 crore. Assets Under Management increased by 27% to ₹43,987 crore.

Gross non-performing asset declined by 40 bps to 1.26%, while net NPA fell 23 bps to 0.63%. SFL reported capital adequacy ratio of 20.5%.

Talking about the growth, Mr. Lochan said, “In the M&HCV segment, we are on our way back from the pre-COVID phase and are still a bit short. We have regained our share, in the retail CV and passenger cars space. In the tractors and construction equipment segment, we have significantly surpassed our share.”

“We are a long-term sort of marathon runners that set a steady pace and it will continue. We will try and balance growth with quality and profitability. That agenda will continue,” he said.