Muthoot Finance Q4 results: Standalone net profit drops 4% YoY to Rs 960 cr

Muthoot Finance Limited on Thursday reported 3.6 per cent drop in standalone net profit at Rs 960 crore for the fourth quarter ended 31 March, 2022. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 995.66 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income during January-March 2021-22 declined by 5 per cent to Rs 2,678.37 crore, as against Rs 2823.85 crore in the same period of last fiscal, Muthoot Finance said in a regulatory filing.

Interest income during the quarter was down 5.3 per cent from a year ago at Rs 2640.95 crore.

However, India's largest gold financing company, by loan portfolio, said that during this quarter, it was able to achieve consolidated assets under management (AUM) of Rs 64,494 crore, registering a growth of 11 per cent YoY.

"As the economy is gradually recovering, the demand for gold loans has been steady and we remain optimistic for the coming financial year. Gold prices have been steadily rising over the last three years and this has attracted new customers towards the product and has positively helped the sector," noted the company.

Gold Loan AUM grew 11 per cent during FY22 and we remain optimistic about a growth of 12-15% in Gold loan AUM for FY23 as well, the company added.

The company also stated that it had disbursed fresh loans to 4 lakh new customers amounting to Rs 4,664 crore and to 4.89 lakh inactive customers amounting to Rs 4,759 crore.

Commenting on the results, George Jacob Muthoot, Chairman stated, “Despite the ongoing geo-political crisis and COVID-19 related base challenges, Muthoot Finance has delivered a consistent performance in this quarter. We achieved landmark level of consolidated profit after tax of Rs 4031 crore for FY2022."

"With Indian Households owning the world’s biggest private stock of gold, and only about ten percent in the organized gold loan market space including gold loan companies, there is huge untapped opportunity in gold loan sector. We aim to keep innovating and maintain our leadership in the gold loan sector," he added.

Moreover, George Alexander Muthoot, Managing Director said, “Since we are witnessing signs of recovery in the economy, the RBI rate hike may not dampen overall demand scenario and we are expecting borrowing cost to go up gradually during the year. Gold loans are a great option both, in times of rise and drop in economic activities. As the economy recovers and overall economic demand revives, our focus will be to make the most of the opportunities and keep innovating further..."

"The digital initiatives like AI-powered Voicebot platform enabling real time conversation with customers , launching of a new & improvised Muthoot WhatsApp experience and facilitating digital repayments through PayTM, PhonePe, Google Pay, WhatsApp etc. are enabling factors towards growth. We have recently also revamped our Gold Loan@Home services and plan to expand the service across 4600+ branches in India.”

He further added, “The Q4 FY22 results highlighted a steady performance in this quarter...With respect to our subsidiaries, following the rise in demand in the economy, the collections from microfinance, vehicle finance and home loans have improved. We aim to further improve our collections in these segments. However, we will continue to adopt a balanced growth strategy and given the ongoing macro-economic environment we continue to be cautious on the microfinance and vehicle finance business.”

Shares of Muthoot Finance on Thursday closed 1.28 per cent higher at Rs 1,137.30 apiece on BSE.