Piramal aims to be among top-5 NBFCs in retail space

Mumbai: Piramal Retail Finance on Thursday said it aims to focus on scale and become one of the top five retail non-bank lenders in five years, after the acquisition of mortgage lender DHFL and entering more products which ups the cross-sell opportunities.

The legal and regulatory process for the acquisition of DHFL, bought through a bidding process, is going faster than expected, but a timeline cannot be given by when it will be over, its chief executive Jairam Sridharan told reporters here. It can be noted that the NBFCs space is highly competitive, and despite the reverses witnessed over the last three years, keeps witnessing newer entrants like the entry of deep-pocketed Godrejs and Poonawalas recently.

At present, the loan book of Piramal Capital and Housing Finance, which completely owns PRF, is Rs 45,000 crore and only 11 per cent of it is retail, he said, adding that after the DHFL acquisition, the retail portion will rise to 45 per cent by the end of FY22.

Sridharan said the company's ultimate aim is to take the overall retail share to two-thirds of the book in the medium term, for which it will be launching new products, organically expanding its network and also need more people. "We aim to scale, responsibly….the intent will be to underwrite (loans) appropriately, not for growth," he said. A company statement said it is aiming to disburse Rs 3,000 crore of fresh loans in FY22.

The timing of the move is very opportune, Sridharan said, pointing out that entrenched lenders are caught up protecting their portfolios which are under stress due to which lenders tend to go slow on new lending. "It is the best time to start when things are at the bottom of the cycle. I would rather ride the way up a wave rather than riding the wave down," he said.