South-based Manappuram General Finance & Leasing, which lends against household gold jewellery, plans to ramp up its presence in the other parts of the country with at least 50 more offices this year. The company, which reported a revenue of Rs 476.96 crore in 2009-10, plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore via QIP in November. VP Nandakumar, chairman of the Manappuram Group, tells FE?s Ajay Sukumaran about the company?s growth plans. Excerpts:

How do you see the jewellery retail business and what are your plans in this vertical?

We see this as a great opportunity like gold loan. We want to list this company at the latest by 2015. This will be a separate company from the same group. We started our operations only six months ago and we have two stores. By the end of this year we will have 10-12 stores and in five years we will have a minimum of 50 stores.

By the end of this fiscal, we expect a turnover of some Rs 50 crore in the jewellery business.

Will you be expanding mostly in the south?

We will be expanding to all the major cities in India and also abroad, in west Asia.

Can you tell us about your growth plans for Manappuram General Finance?

This year we have budgeted a loan book portfolio of Rs 4,500 crore and we have already achieved Rs 5,000 crore in half a year. We have grown almost 100%. We expect to grow beyond Rs 8,000 crore this year. The disbursal (of loans) will around Rs 25,000 crore this year. We will be opening 300 more offices this year, of which 250 will be in all the four states of south India and the balance will be in the east, west and north. Our expansion in percentage terms in the north will go up.

For the gold loan, we have received invitations from a few banks outside India to form a joint venture. We are working on it. Very soon, we are going to have another company to look at the international business.

How soon will this company be set up and do you see a big opportunity abroad?

We have been working on it and are still in the process of discussion. We believe it is a big opportunity. We have not tested the market. We will be starting international operations for Manappuram Gold Loan in 2011.

What are the other sectors do you plan to diversify into?

We are diversifying into healthcare also. In another two years, our major focus apart from our gold loan business will be jewellery retailing . Healthcare will pick up in due course.