Asirvad Microfinance eyes loan book of Rs 2,700 cr by March '18

 Non-banking finance company microfinance institution (NBFC-MFI) Asirvad, which is a majority owned subsidiary of Manappuram Finance, aims to achieve a portfolio size of about Rs 2,400-2,700 crore by March 2018. As on August 31, 2016, Asirvad had an AUM of Rs 1,465 crore and a network of 504 branches in 133 districts in 13 states.

Talking to DH, Asirvad Microfinance MD and CEO S V Raja Vaidhyanathan said, “As a strategy, we propose to expand our operations to all states in India. We have at present 500 branches spread across the country. We have launched our operations recently in West Bengal and Rajasthan and we will be launching in Odisha and Maharashtra shortly. The northern market is expected to grow substantially in the days to come. Our target for this FY is Rs 2,000 crore, and we will be achieving the same.”

Asirvad proposes to maintain the same level of growth during the next year as most of the branches opened in North India would be catering to more customers. “Achieving AUM of close to Rs 3,000 crore is not difficult. The year-on-year growth for the last year has been exceptional since we had the equity infusion from Manappuram which helped us in our growth. We have grown from Rs 330 crore as on March 31, 2015, to Rs 998 crore as of March 31, 2016. We have already reached Rs 1,525 crore as of September 30, 2016,” he said. “We expect to grow our portfolio at a CAGR of around 55-65% to achieve our target,” he added.

The company targets women from various sections of society from rural, semi urban locations and in urban slums who are engaged in income generating activity to supplement the family income. Recently, credit rating agency CRISIL has assigned its “A+/Stable” credit rating for Asirvad Microfinance.