Slowdown post note ban to impact profitability: Bharat Financial

Ashish Damani, Chief Financial Officer at Bharat Financial Inclusion, said on Wednesday that a slowdown in disbursements after the government did away with popular bank notes in November would result in a flat fourth quarter and also impact profitability in FY17.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Damani said the microfinance company primarily dealt with cash disbursements and the note ban had meant that people had limited ability to withdraw large amounts of cash. He said that the company had made efforts to move towards cashless transactions, but the “bigger change in approach would take some time to set up.”

Damani said the cashflow situation was still evolving, especially in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, but there were signs of improvement.

Bharat Financial Inclusion had released its third quarter earnings on Tuesday. It said its net profit rose by nearly 80 percent to Rs 143 crore in the third quarter of 2016-17 financial year. The net profit in the corresponding October-December quarter of 2015-16 stood at Rs 79.50 crore. Total income of the microfinance lender rose by 33.1 per cent to Rs 409 crore for the period under review, compared to Rs 307.25 crore a year earlier, it said in a regulatory filing.For full interview, watch video...