Engineering major Larsen & Toubro's financing unit L&T Finance (LTF) plans to foray into the asset management and insurance business in the next 12-18 months, a top company official said today.
"We are planning to grow aggressively in the coming years and will foray into asset management and insurance business. This should take 12-18 months from now," L&T Executive Vice- President (Financial Services) N Sivaraman said.
LTF is comparatively a small player in the country's vehicle financing market with total assets around Rs 5,400 crore. It aims to grow the asset-base by at least 30 per cent in FY10 to Rs 7,000 crore, Sivaraman said.
The company financed around 15,000 tractors in the last financial year and expects to grow this number by at least 20 per cent this year, he said.
LTF's total revenues for the year ended March 31, 2009 stood at Rs 830.28 crore, while its non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 2.04 per cent from around 1 per cent a year-ago.
Sivaraman attributed the sharp rise in NPAs to the economic downturn and subsequent slowdown in business activities.
