L&T Finance Ltd, a subsidiary of L&T Finance Holdings Ltd, today said it is hopeful of clocking at least 30 per cent growth in the 2018-19 fiscal in its mainstay micro loans business catering to the rural sector.
"Micro loans are a significant part of our loan book. The industry is back to 30-40 per cent growth in this category. We should better that," Sunil Prabhune, CEO, Rural Business, L&T Finance Holdings, told reporters here.
The company today opened its 1,000th "meeting centre" or micro finance branch in Kolkata. It has around 6 lakh micro loan customers in West Bengal.
L&T Finance also rolled out an app to facilitate instant loan disbursements for customers including those in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.
The company is keen to tap the new geographies it has recently entered, such as Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Tripura, Prabhune said.
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"About 40 per cent of our customers are new to credit, which means that potential in the market is most certainly there," he said.
The NBFC is also eyeing the rural markets of Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh for growth.
Prabhune said the company was not facing any challenges regarding loan repayments, although there was an "episodic" impact on business post demonetisation.
As of March 31, the micro loans book of L&T Finance stood at Rs 7,549 crore, with a customer base of nearly 38.2 lakh women across 57,500 villages.
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