Piramal Enterprises is scouting for further acquisitions to scale up its financial services business, even as the firm is targeting a mid-to-high teens growth in its assets under management (AUM). It will also continue further monetisation of investments in Shriram Group at an “appropriate time”.
“We will continue to explore lucrative inorganic opportunities, ensuring value creation for all stakeholders and stay on our stated path of implementing renewed strategies to drive sustainable growth,” Piramal Group chairman Ajay Piramal said at the company’s annual general meeting on Friday.
He, however, did not elaborate on the firm’s acquisition strategies.
Further, the company’s mid-term priority is to achieve a mid- to high-teens AUM growth, with a mix of two-third retail assets and one-third wholesale. Piramal Enterprises, which intends to embed technology and analytics into lending business, will focus on lending to ‘Bharat’ markets in retail lending, he said.
Piramal Enterprises will grow its wholesale business by focusing on building a new and granular real estate and corporate mid-market lending book. Its overall AUM was at Rs 63,989 crore with a 50:50 mix of retail and wholesale. Its retail loan book witnessed growth of 49% year-on-year growth and stood at Rs 32,144 crore as of March 31.
On June 21, Piramal Enterprises sold its entire direct investment of 8.34% in Shriram Finance for a gross value of Rs 4,800 crore.
“We continue to own stakes in Shriram General Insurance, Shriram Life Insurance and Shriram Investment Holdings. We will consider monetisation of some of these investments at an appropriate time,” Piramal added.
Piramal Enterprises now has a pan-India platform, following the integration of DHFL. The company had acquired DHFL in a deal worth Rs 34,250 crore, which was completed in September 2021. The company also completed the demerger of its pharma business in the second quarter of FY23.
Talking about FY23, Piramal said the company’s businesses have demonstrated a “resilient” performance as the group navigated through global macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds.
On the India growth story, he said it has been one of resilience, backed by strong domestic macro fundamentals, stable external relations and prudent governance. “India is at the cusp of making a greater impact at a global stage as we progress into the ‘Amritkaal’,” he added.