Shriram Finance Group plans to list its general insurance and life insurance subsidiaries within two years. Speaking at a press conference, executive vice-chairman of Shriram Finance Group, Umesh Revankar, said the non-banking financial company also aims to raise $750 million in the current financial year. “Both arms are doing very well, profit from inception. Once we reach a certain scale, we will do it,” Revankar said. “Maybe general insurance first and then life,” he added.
The company held a press conference to announce Rahul Dravid, former caption and head of the Indian cricket team as its brand ambassador.
Revankar said that the group is looking to raise $750 million through a mix of bonds and loans. Owing to comfortable liquidity in the banking system, the domestic market is likely to remain a preferred option to raise funds.
“Domestic liquidity is quite good for us. And since we are a priority sector, there is enough demand here. So, we don’t have to really go to the international market,” he added. As the capital market is well placed, the pricing seems comfortable, and a reasonable amount of investment is coming from the capital market.
On September 8, the non-banking finance company expressed its intent to raise around $1 billion from overseas in the next six months to finance the expansion of its operations. However, the plan is dependent on the market condition.
Loans from development finance organisations such as the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC), KfW Development Bank and Asian Development Bank will also be included in the fundraising.
As per its expansion plan, the company is now offering gold loans through more than 600 branches and plans to widen the scope of gold loans and loans to small and medium enterprises over the course of time.
Meanwhile, they are considering gradually converting the existing 600 rural service centres into full-fledged branches, Y.S. Chakravarti, managing director and CEO of Shriram Finance, said on the sidelines of the press conference.