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Informist, Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024

--Shriram Fin Revankar: Hope to list general, life insurance arm 1-2 yrs 

MUMBAI – Shriram Finance Ltd hopes to list its general insurance arm and life insurance arm in the next 1-2 years, the company's Executive Vice Chairman Umesh Revankar said at a press conference today. 

"See, both general and life, we will be looking at listing. Maybe a year or two from now. So, once we reach a certain scale, we will do it. Maybe general first, then life next," he said.

Jointly promoted by Shriram Group and Africa’s Sanlam Group, assets under management of Shriram Life Insurance Co were up 22.22% on year at 118.41 bln rupees as on Jun 30. The insurer registered a profit after tax of 270 mln rupees in Apr-Jun. The solvency ratio was 1.99 as of Jun 30.

The general insurance arm reported a net profit of 1.14 bln rupees in Apr-Jun, up 17% on year. The assets under management were up 8.74% on year to 122.68 bln rupees as on Jun 30.

When asked if non-bank lenders are facing any challenges in terms of fundraising through the bond market, Revankar said, "I'm hearing from smaller NBFCs (non-banking financial companies). They have some challenges. But larger NBFCs, nothing. So all larger NBFCs are very comfortable."

Recently, Press Trust of India reported that Shriram Finance plans to raise $1 bln (about 83 bln rupees) from overseas in the next six months to fund its business growth. "We are planning to raise $300 mln in the next few weeks, may be by October and rest $500-700 mln during the remaining part of the current financial year," Shriram Finance Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Y.S. Chakravarti told PTI.

However, Revankar said that all the options are available for fundraising, but they are not in a  hurry. "Domestic liquidity is good for us. We are quite comfortable. And since we are a priority sector and portfolio is there, there is enough demand here. So we don't really have to go to the international market," he said.

FIDC'S DEMANDS FROM RBI

Revankar, who is also the Chairman of Finance Industry Development Council, said that they are still in talks with the Reserve Bank of India to get the licence to become a self-regulatory body for non-banking finance companies.

The development body had also requested the central bank and the finance ministry to allow non-bank lenders to get membership in the Unified Payment Interface network so that they can offer 'credit on UPI' to their customers, media reports said.

"...what I understand is the ministry is very keen to bring NBFC on par with the bank as far as infrastructure is concerned. Because this is public infrastructure. It should be available to everyone. So I think it is possible," Revankar said.

Today, shares of Shriram Finance closed 1.7% lower at 3,260.05 rupees on the National Stock Exchange.  End

Reported by Kshipra Petkar

Edited by Tanima Banerjee and Deepshikha Bhardwaj

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