Mahindra Finance, the non-banking financial services company (NBFC) of auto major Mahindra & Mahindra, on Monday reported a net profit of R228 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, up 45% year on year (yoy).

Ramesh Iyer, the managing director of Mahindra Finance, said, ?We have been able to maintain our profitability as we passed a significant portion of our interest rate increases to customers. Also our asset quality has improved with falling gross NPA levels over the previous year.?

Iyer said that the NBFC’s gross NPA at the end of March 2012 stood at 3% while the net NPA was 0.6%. He added that there would be no need to raise capital this year as the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) position of Mahindra Finance stood at a comfortable 18%.

Iyer said that the NBFC is weighing the option of rate cuts though it has made no decision on this yet. RBI recently cut the repo rates by 50 basis points (bps), which led to several top banks in the country cutting their base rates. As far as the loan demand scenario is concerned, he said that there has been a moderation over the last six months. ?However through winning greater market share and efficient pricing we hope to maintain our growth going ahead as well,? he said.