L&T Finance still looking to get into banking
L&T Finance Holdings (L&TFH) on Wednesday said that the company would look for the opportunity to venture into banking and await RBI guidelines before taking a step further. N Sivaraman, president and whole-time director at L&TFH said the company did not getting a bank licence and it would wait for the next opportunity as and when it comes.
Higher provision costs hit the consolidated profit after tax of L&TFH (excluding exceptional items). The consolidated profit after tax, in FY 14, grew 7% to Rs 597 crore from Rs 558 crore last year. Sivaraman pointed out that the gross non-performing assets have increased from 2.29% of loans to 3.18%. He adds that a stable government with good investment philosophy will be good for the economy and the company. The NPAs are in mainly corporates who are into development of infrastructure projects. Also, in the construction and commercial vehicle segments the defaults are quite high. He adds that the economic environment is quite challenging and the company shall continue to focus on building a quality portfolio by being cautious in credit selection and containing credit costs.
Source: The Times of India
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