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Aditya Birla Finance (ABFL), among the nation’s top five private diversified NBFCs, plans to enter the healthcare financing space, said its CEO Rakesh Singh.
The AAA-rated NBFC, which is wholly-owned by Aditya Birla Capital Ltd, will also look to take lifestyle financing — which it has forayed into through its own digital lending platform — to the next level. It will, in future, cover higher-end consumer durables, smartphones and holidays.
On healthcare financing, Singh said ABFL will look at funding doctors, clinics, diagnostic equipment. “It will be purely an SME play and we are not looking at big hospitals or financing patients. We hope to enter this healthcare financing space from a provider’s side early next year,” he said.
In a span four years, from FY14 to FY18, ABFL’s loan book grew four times to ₹43,242 crore from ₹11,735 crore. Similarly, the profits before tax have seen a four-fold jump to ₹1,109 crore.
What has helped ABFL’s growth? “If you do your customer segmentation properly and get your basics right, you can grow your business. The Indian economy is growing at 7 per cent and there is lot of credit need,” Singh said.
SMEs have been a focus area for ABFL, he said, adding that a lot of focus is now being placed on the retail and consumer segments.
SME growth engine
Emphasising that ABFL will continue to be a diversified player, Singh observed that diversification itself is strong risk mitigation. “We are not dependent on one customer or product product. We are well diversified. Our growth engines will be retail and SME,” he said
Asked if ABFL will look at a listing, Singh replied in the negative.
He also said ABFL is open to inorganic growth and is “definitely” evaluating every possible deal. “So far we have not done any inorganic transaction, but are definitely open to it. Even if we don’t do any inorganic transaction, we are bound to grow organically and sustain our existing growth rates,” he said.
Singh said Aditya Birla Housing Finance Ltd (ABHFL), which recently bagged AAA rating, is looking to grow faster than the market this fiscal. Housing finance in the country is growing at average 20 percent.
ABHFL’s loan book grew four times in the last two years to ₹8,137 crore. Its affordable housing business, launched in June 2017, currently stands at ₹650 crore. “We are building our affordable housing business and look to expand here,” said Singh.
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