Padmaja Reddy, founder and former Managing Director of Spandana Sphoorty Financial, has questioned the collection efficiency figures for the second quarter of the fiscal and has claimed that no loans have been disbursed by the microfinance player in November.

Spandana had reported standalone collection efficiency for the quarter ended September 30, at 105 per cent and 113 per cent for the month of September, including pre-payments. Excluding these, the standalone collection efficiency was 97 per cent for the entire quarter and 99 per cent for the month, respectively.

Former Spandana MD Padmaja Reddy questions high salary being paid to new MD and CEO

However, Reddy said the actual collection efficiency, excluding overdue collections (funded by new loan disbursements), even after not considering the demand of 22.6 per cent of the loans restructured, was 92.5 per cent and 92.4 per cent for the second quarter and the month of September, respectively.

“If the demand of restructured loans is considered, collection efficiency for the quarter was 75.7 per cent,” she said.

The company had restructured 5.2 lakh borrower accounts with an outstanding of ₹1,602 crore till September 30, she further said.

Noting that no loans have been disbursed from November 1 till date, Reddy said that if the situation prevails, the collection efficiency, which is less than 80 per cent in November would get further impacted.

She also said processing of insurance claims too has come to standstill.

“We get approximately 3,000 insurance claims a month. Not even a single insurance claim has been sent to the insurance company since November 2,” she said.

Spandana’s response

In response to an e-mail query from BusinessLine , the board of Spandana Sphoorty said it is working diligently to ensure a smooth transition that will continue to build on a fundamentally strong business.

“The board is in touch with all stakeholders to address any concerns. It is unfortunate that Reddy, who resigned as MD on November 2, and continues to be a director, is issuing such communications. While it is possible to assume she is disgruntled at her term as MD not being extended from May when her current employment contract expires, her resigning immediately on being told about the board’s decision not to renew her employment agreement, and then making such statements is, in the company’s opinion, uncalled for and potentially harmful to the company she has built over the past nearly 20 years,” it further said.

It also stressed that one individual’s comments cannot undermine the board’s fiduciary responsibility to all stakeholders.

“If Reddy was really concerned about the company and its future, she as a board member has the ability to constructively participate in all strategic discussions. Unfortunately, she is not doing so in the recent past,” it further said.

The micro finance company is yet to announce its second quarter results, but expects to do so shortly.

Healthy performance

In a business update on November 22, Spandana had said the company has demonstrated healthy performance in the quarter that ended September 30.

“For the partial month of November, till November 16, the company collected approximately ₹400 crore (standalone basis), which includes approximately ₹30 crore of advance collections done at the end of October related to loan instalments due in November,” it had said.

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