Fullerton to double loan disbursement

Fullerton India Credit Company (FICCL), one of the largest capitalised NBFC in the country, is targeting a loan disbursement of Rs 5,000 crore in 2008, a 100 per cent jump from 2007. The company has a loan portfolio of Rs 1,000 crore till date.

"We will disburse Rs 5,000 crore in 2008-09 and will double the branch network. We currently have a customer acquisition rate of over Rs 20,000 a month and this is likely to get scaled up to over one million customers a year by the end of the next year. We hope to break even some time next year," said G S Sundararajan, managing director and CEO, FICCL.

The company has a committed capital of $300 million from the parent company, of which $200 million has already been pumped and $100 million will be infused next year, said Sundararajan.

Fullerton India has 500 branches across 215 locations with over 10,000 employees.

The company started its pilot phase in April 2006 with 24 branches across various locations. The testing phase was completed in November 2006, after which Fullerton India started rolling out its branches in a planned manner across the country.

Over the next 18 months, Fullerton India plans to roll out 700 branches.

"We will be launching the rural strategy. It will start testing the pilots for the rural model in 2008 to cover the rural sector in this country. We plan to enter the second and third level towns and are evaluating how to take the model in semi-urban and rural areas," said Francis Andrew Rozario, chairman, Fullerton India.

The company, besides its own capital, issues commercial paper that is rated AAA. The company will also be coming up with long-term debentures of 2 to 3 years.

The cost of funds is 7.5 to 8.5 per cent. Salaried and self-employed customers constitute 50:50.

The average ticket size of the salaried customer is Rs 35,000, while the average loan size of the self-employed is Rs 1 lakh.