Product strategy helping steady growth: L&T Finance Holding

L&T Finance Holdings reported a net interest income (NII) growth of 19 percent and profit growth of 18 percent for the September quarter. It was the product strategy that helped the company keep its growth steady, says YM Deosthalee, CMD of the company.Speaking to CNBC-TV, Deosthalee says: “We had good growth in loans, advances and disbursements.” In the business-to-customer segment, the company focuses on two-wheelers, micro finance and housing segment, he says, adding that the small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) lending has helped significantly in the infrastructure sector. He believes the renewable energy and operational assets segment will be the key drivers in its second half and next year’s performance. Below is the edited transcript of YM Deosthalee's interview with CNBC-TV18Q: It was a steady quarter for the company this quarter with net interest growth of 19 percent and profit growth of 18 percent, is this a run rate that is sustainable in the H2 of the year?A: This was a very steady quarter. We had good growth in loans and advances, disbursements also there was a steady growth. All this happened because of the product strategy we adopted over the last one year. In the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment we focus on two-wheelers, micro finance, housing, SME lending has helped us. In addition, in the infrastructure sector the product lines that we are focusing on, the renewable energy and operational assets has helped us. In the second half or in the next year, we believe that these sectors are going to provide us growth.Q: Your loans and disbursements were up around 18-19 percent for the quarter led by the retail segment which is two-wheelers, housing and microfinance. What kind of demand trend did you see in Q2 and is sustainable, your guidance for the fiscal?A: In some of these businesses our size is small therefore the demand drivers do not really impact us. For example housing, our book is around Rs. 5,000 crore and the home loan industry is very large so on this base to grow is not going to be a challenge for us. In addition to that we have just made a beginning in the area of construction funding and I think that is one area which will provide us growth in the second half of this year as well. So demand wise, the products of our focus will continue to provide us enough growth opportunities.