By Siddhi Nayak and Bhakti Tambe
MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s Tata Capital plans to raise 280 billion rupees ($3.38 billion) mainly through debt instruments and bank lines in the current financial year to fund its double-digit credit growth, a top executive at the non-banking finance company (NBFC) said.
“We try to remain granular and well-spread out on our liabilities whether it is bank funding, NCDs (non-convertible debentures), external commercial borrowing or public debt issue,” Rajiv Sabharwal, managing director and CEO, told Reuters in an interview.
“If credit is expected to grow at around 15%, we will try to grow our AUM (assets under management) by more than 25%. Our liabilities will have to match that.”
India’s overall bank credit has been growing at the rate of 15% in recent months, reflecting the steady demand for funds from corporates in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
Tata Capital, backed by Tata Sons, has three NBFC subsidiaries – Tata Capital Housing Finance, Tata Capital Financial Services and Tata Cleantech Capital.
The group’s consolidated loan book was 1.28 trillion rupees at the end of June, with more than three-fourths comprising secured loans.
“Going forward, the contribution from the retail segment could inch up to around 85%, while the remaining 15% will be in corporate. We will continue to show bias towards retail,” Sabharwal added.
Tata Capital will continue to focus on tapping higher-rated companies with no large exposures to a single entity in the corporate lending segment.
“Wherever there is lower risk, we will enter…We choose sectors which are safe, where companies belong to a large group, where they are setting up something new or expanding,” Sabharwal said.
The company will not increase its exposure much to corporates rated AA and below, he said, adding that the bulk of Tata Capital’s lending is towards companies in manufacturing and clean energy like solar and wind.
Meanwhile, the company aims to expand its wealth management business, and foray into education financing this year, Sabharwal said.
It is looking to add 200 more branches this fiscal year to the more than 500 at the end of July.
($1 = 82.7980 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Siddhi Nayak and Bhakti Tambe; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)