The Hindu Business Line : Fullerton India bets big on retail loan market

Mumbai, Dec. 3 Mr Francis Andrew Rozario, the Singapore-based Chairman of Fullerton India Credit Company, probably the fastest growing NBFC in this country, is betting big on Indian retail loan market.

He said that Fullerton India, set up two years ago, would double its branch strength to 1,000 and the loan business to Rs 5,000 crore within next one year. The company has drawn up a new business model to tap the rural market, which is largely catered to by moneylenders.

Mr Rozario, who is also the CEO of the Fullerton Financial Holdings, Singapore, the parent company of Fullerton India, said his company had already invested $150 million (out of the committed $300 million) in India and would bring in the balance next year.

“We have emerged as India’s fastest growing financial service company with 500 branches in 215 locations and employing 10,000 people. We have disbursed Rs 2,500 crore so far and hope to double it in the next one year, “said Mr Raozario.

Fullerton is mainly targeting salaried and self-employed people. “We currently have a customer acquisition rate of 20,000 per month and this is likely to get scaled up over one million customer per annum by the end of next year, “ said Mr Sundararajan, Managing Director and CEO .

According to him, the company has an NPA of 1.5 per cent, which is lower than the average 3 to 4 per cent in the industry. The loan size ranges from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.