Piramal Group charts growth path for financial services business

'We are on track to achieve retail loan disbursements of Rs 2,500 cr-3,500 cr in Q3FY23,' which is 5-7 times of pre-merger levels, says Piramal Group chairman Ajay Piramal

With the acquisition of debt-ridden DHFL, Piramal Group has put in place a growth trajectory and is aiming at loan disbursement of about Rs 3,500 crore in the third quarter of this fiscal.
 

Sharing the growth strategy with shareholders in the annual general meeting on Friday, Piramal Group chairman Ajay Piramal said the financial services arm is planning to expand the branch network further by adding 100 branches in FY23.
 

Piramal Finance is looking to expand its product suite by launching new differentiated higher-yielding products and new partnerships with fintech and consumer tech firms to acquire customers at scale and low acquisition costs.
 

"With all these initiatives, we are on track to achieve retail loan disbursements of Rs 2,500-3,500 crore in Q3FY23, which is 5-7 times of pre-merger levels.
 

"With a scalable, tech-driven lending platform, significant firepower for organic growth as well as acquisitions, given our low debt/equity of the financial services business at 2.7 times and considerable value-unlocking potential (i.e. investments in Shriram), we feel that we are well-poised to become one of the largest, top-quality NBFC in the coming years," Piramal said.
 

The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declined during FY22 to 3.4 per cent from 4.1 per cent in March 2021.
 

Last year, Piramal Group acquired Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL).
 

This was the first resolution under the Insolvency Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in the financial services sector.
 

On the life insurance business side, Piramal said, "through the DHFL acquisition, we also acquired a 50 per cent stake in Pramerica Life Insurance (JV with Prudential-US). Given the company's robust balance sheet (Solvency Ratio of 404 per cent), we aim to drive the growth of this business in the coming years".