Sundaram Finance sheds ‘south India’ tag

Rajiv Lochan, Managing Director, Sundaram Finance | Photo Credit: Jyothy R@Chennai

Sundaram Finance is no longer a south-centric company and is now a pan-India player as North of Vindhyas makes up half of the disbursements of the Chennai-headquartered non-banking finance company.    

In exact terms, the south accounted for 51.3 per cent of ₹13,275 crore disbursements in FY22, while the rest was accounted for by the north (29.9 per cent), the west (14.1 per cent) and the east (4.7 per cent). About 5 years ago, the south accounted for about 67 per cent of its disbursements.

“North of Vindhyas has done phenomenally well for the company, and the business in the Northern and Western regions has grown 50 per cent year-on-year in FY22,” Rajiv Lochan, Managing Director of the company, said.

Of the 30 new branches added in FY22, a majority were opened outside South India. The company has also hired people in good numbers in the north and west as part of its growth plans.

Lochan said a combination of factors helped the company graduate to a pan-India brand. While branch expansion across States in the Central, Northern, and Western regions was one key element, productivity increased with better coordination among the teams, better market coverage, and improved presence in key counters across asset classes also helped.

AN Raju, Deputy Managing Director, Sundaram Finance, pointed out that the Northern and Western regions bounced back better than the Southern market from the second wave of the pandemic. This helped the company take advantage of the business potential with an increased branch network and team strength.

Impressive growth in the West and North

The most important factor was the strengthening of the leadership in numbers and capabilities. The success in the Western region, covering Maharashtra and Gujarat, was driven by a 130 per cent growth in medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) and intermediate commercial vehicle (ICV) segments last year. The other asset classes too grew well, registering growth of between 20 and 30 per cent. With the addition of close to 15 branches in the last 12 months, the company has 66 branches in the Western region.    

In the Northern region, the company has 60 branches in the States such as Delhi/NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand with a presence across asset classes such as commercial vehicles, cars and utility vehicles, and used vehicles. This region registered 52 per cent growth in FY22. It plans to add 8–10 new branches in the region going forward. 

MP & Rajasthan – Consistent Performance    

Also, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have been consistent performers in all aspects of Growth, Quality and Profitability (GQP) over the past few years. In FY22, MP grew by nearly 20 per cent and Rajasthan by almost 30 per cent. The asset class mix is well-balanced in both regions across commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles, tractors, farm equipment and construction equipment.

The company has close to 110 branches across the two States and is looking to increase the branch network with the further addition of 15 branches in these regions. Recently, Sundaram Finance also entered Chhattisgarh with a branch in Raipur and is expected to add four more branches this year.

The eastern region is also key to its growth. The company has 40 branches across West Bengal and Odisha and is looking to expand further in both these States. While the company is predominantly into CV, construction equipment, and tractor segments in the East, it is targeting to increase its focus in the car financing segment there.

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