L&T Finance's Q3 Net Profit Jumps 39% To Rs 454 Crore

L&T Finance Holdings Ltd. on Friday reported a 39% jump in net income to Rs 454 crore for the December quarter, driven by record retail loan sales.

The city-based non-banking lender said the highest-ever quarterly retail loan sales had its retail portfolio mix rising to 64% of the total loan book, up from 58% in the year-ago quarter, Dinanath Dubhashi, the managing director and chief executive of the company, said in a statement.

Of the total net profit, as much as Rs 394 crore came in from the retail book, which rose a full 76%, on a loan book of Rs 57,000 crore—a growth of 34% led by rural business, farm equipment finance and two-wheeler finance. During the quarter, retail disbursements rose 13% to Rs 11,607 crore.

Its wholesale book declined 24% to Rs 31,010 crore from Rs 37,597 crore.

The key profitability gauge net interest margin and fee income rose 70 bps to 8.80% due to changing portfolio mix towards retail. Retail NIM and fees reached 11.38%, up 25 basis points.

Gross bad loans stood at 4.21% or Rs 3,723 crore, down 248 basis points from 6.69% or Rs 5,623 crore, bringing down net NPAs to 1.72% or Rs 1,487 crore, down by 145 basis points from 3.17% or Rs 2,565 crore as of December 2021.

Commenting on the results, Dubhashi said the company is progressing well on its journey towards mission 2026 to become a digitally-enabled retail finance company.