Commercial Vehicle financier, Shriram Transport Finance Corporation (STFC) on Friday said its first quarter net profit dropped 14 per cent on a consolidated basis as it went slow on loan disbursements to mitigate the challenging economic environment.

The non-banking finance company logged a net profit of ₹313 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2014 compared to ₹366 crore, a year ago. Consolidated results include the performance of subsidiaries — Shriram Equipment Finance and Shriram Automall.

Explaining the slowdown in growth, Umesh Revankar, Managing Director & CEO, said: “The last four quarters kept getting tougher and tougher because of deterioration in the economic environment.”

Slow improvement “Things have started picking up slowly, but it will not be until the third quarter (October-December) that things will really improve much,” he added.

The company’s total assets under management also recorded a muted year-on-year growth. It grew to ₹57,756 crore as on June 30, 2014 from ₹55,650 crore, a year ago. Finance Costs during the period increased to ₹1,053 crore from ₹938 crore, a year ago.

Revankar also said that while the demand remains good in rural and semi-urban areas, demand in urban areas has to show traction.

Shares of the Mumbai-based non-banking finance company closed at ₹890 per share, up 1.33 per cent on the BSE.

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