Income from operations crossed Rs. 1,000 crores during the year and stood at Rs. 1,083 crores as on March 31, 2009. Disbursements for the year stood at Rs. 4,540 crores. Capital adequacy at 14.65 per cent was well above the statutory requirement of 12 per cent. Net NPA stood at 0.75 per cent as against 0.49 per cent in the previous year.
Net profit for 2008-09 was Rs. 150.73 crores as against Rs. 135.73 crores (excluding the one time profit of Rs. 76.82 crores) for the year ended March 31, 2008, an increase of 11.06 per cent.
The Board has recommended a final dividend of 25 per cent for the year. The final dividend, along with the interim of 40 per cent, takes the total dividend for 2008-09 to 65 per cent.
SFL opened 24 new branches during the year taking the branch network to over 450.
Commenting on the company’s performance in 2008-09, Mr. T.T. Srinivasaraghavan, Managing Director, said: “It has been a difficult year for the global economy, which in turn has had a significant impact on the Indian economy, especially the auto sector. Our philosophy over the years has been ‘Growth with Quality’. What is heartening is that we have improved our market share in all key areas of our business, and our asset quality remains the best in the industry, as evidenced by the numbers.”
Looking ahead to 2009-10, Mr. Srinivasaraghavan observed: “The outlook for the year remains muted, and we don’t see any significant change in the market scenario for at least another 3-6 months. We have to wait for policy directions from the Government which will hopefully emerge when the Budget is presented. Our hope is that things will start improving from the third quarter of this year.”
Set up in 1954, the Sundaram Finance Group’s services include financing for the entire range of commercial vehicles, passenger cars and construction equipment, as well as specially designed working capital products such as fuel and tyre finance, home loans, mutual funds, non-life insurance, IT, BPO, logistics solutions and distribution of a wide range of financial products and services.
