Q4 Results: Disbursed Fewer Microfinance Loans Due To Election, Says Equitas Holdings
Took a call to be cautious on disbursing micro-finance loans during election season, says Equitas’ Raghavan.
Equitas Holdings Ltd. said it “cautiously” lent fewer microfinance advances due to the ongoing general election.
“Loan disbursements in our high-yielding products such as microfinance and small business loans was slow in the March quarter,” HK Raghavan , the lender’s Senior Vice President for retail assets, told BloombergQuint. “January has always been low historically due to a lot of holidays and we took a call to be cautious on disbursing micro-finance loans as elections were announced.”
Small business loans, he said, had also contributed to lower disbursement as products were usually cross-sold to microfinance borrowers.
Key Highlights (Q4, YoY)
- Net interest income rose 34.5 percent to Rs 333 crore.
- Profit after tax doubled to Rs 68.7 crore.
- Loan growth rose 43 percent—highest in FY19—despite giving fewer microfinance and small business loans during the quarter.
- Net slippages at Rs 1.8 crore versus Rs 19 crore.
Shares of the non-bank lender erased opening losses and rose 1.1 percent to Rs 126.55 apiece in today’s trade.
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