The consolidated net profit of L&T Finance rose 11% year-on-year (y-o-y) in January-March due to a growth in its net interest income.

The company posted a bottom-line of Rs 554 crore in the March quarter, below the Rs 678 crore estimated by analysts at Bloomberg. The net interest income of the company rose 14% y-o-y to Rs 1,909 crore in the quarter under review.

The company’s retail book rose 31% y-o-y to Rs 80,037 crore as on March 31. Disbursements rose 29% y-o-y to Rs 54,267 crore in the March quarter. Retail segment comprises 94% of the overall book.

The rural business book rose 32% y-o-y to Rs. 24,716 crore as on March 31 aided by a strong focus on strengthening customer retention coupled with a renewed focus on new customer acquisition. The two-wheeler finance book rose 25% y-o-y to Rs 11,205 crore as on March 31.

The growth in the two-wheeler business is driven by geographic penetration, maintaining a strong focus on customer value proposition and building preferred dealer or original equipment manufacturer relationships to grow market share. Additionally, the company continue to focus on continuously increasing the prime and electric vehicle segment owing to deepening and new tie-ups with leading industry players.

The personal loan portfolio rose 18% y-o-y to Rs 6,440 crore as on March 31. The housing loan and loan against property book rose 38% y-o-y to Rs 18,443 crore. The small and medium-sized enterprises book rose 183% y-o-y to Rs. 3,905 crore.

The strong growth in business volumes in the SME segment was aided by geo-expansion, deepening channel partnerships and its focus on providing superior value to customers.

The company’s gross stage 3 ratio improved to 2.84% as on March 31 from 3.41% a year ago. The net stage 3 ratio improved to 0.62% as on March from 0.71% a year ago.

“Despite the challenging interest rate environment, our borrowing cost remained stable and our portfolio credit metrics continued its improvement journey,” Sudipta Roy, managing director and chief executive officer, L&T Finance said.

“Looking ahead, our focus remains on exceeding the 95% retailisation target while maintaining a robust book growth of more than 25%,” he added.