Piramal Finance Q3 net profit zooms to Rs 401 crore

Piramal Finance Q3 Earnings

Non-bank lender Piramal Finance on Friday reported that its net profit for the December quarter zoomed to Rs 401 crore from Rs 39 crore in the year-ago period.

The company's managing director and chief executive, Jairam Sridharan, attributed the profit growth to a combination of factors, including growth in assets under management, expansion in net interest margins, control over operating expenses and lower credit costs.

Its AUM jumped by over 23 percent during the quarter, NIMs expanded by 0.50 percent to 6.30 percent, operating expenses grew by just 4 percent and the provisions were up 36 percent, as per a statement.

The core net interest income grew 31 percent to Rs 1,227 crore, while the other income was up 23 percent at Rs 252 crore for the reporting quarter.

The return on AUM stands at 1.9 percent at present, and the company is aiming to take it further up to 3 percent over the medium term, Sridharan said, adding that NIMs will have to expand by 0.30 percent more to achieve the target.

Exuding confidence that the NIMs can expand further, Sridharan said that the recent rating upgrade, coupled with the lower cost of funds driven through borrowings from multilateral agencies recently will help the NIMs going ahead.

From an asset quality perspective, assets unpaid for over 90 days were steady at 0.8 percent as of December-end.

The Piramal Finance scrip closed 1.53 percent down at Rs 1,792.95 apiece on the BSE as against 0.94 per cent correction on the benchmark.