Arun Alagappan, the executive director of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co. Ltd. (CIFCL), has been elevated and appointed as the MD, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The board of CIFCL approved the appointment for a period of five years with effect from November 15, 2019.
Mr. Alagappan started his career with GE Capital Services India and after a two-year stint there, joined the Murugappa Group in 1999.
He had served in the various businesses of the Murugappa Group — Parryware, part of EID Parry India Ltd., Tube Products of India and Tl Cycles. He was made CIFCL executive director on August 19, 2017.
During his tenure, CIFCL’s assets under management (AUM) grew from ₹37,450 crore to more than ₹64,000 crore while profit before tax grew rose to ₹1,006 crore (₹634 crore).
On Tuesday, CIFCL said it had posted a marginal increase in its standalone net profit for the second quarter ended September 2019 to ₹306.97 crore against ₹304.68 crore registered during the corresponding year-ago period as it had exercised the option of changing the tax rates.
“In the second quarter, we were able to register a growth of 7% in our disbursements over the corresponding year-ago period, in spite of the severe slowdown in the market,” said Mr. Alagappan.
“The growth in AUM was over 20%. In vehicle finance, since there was slowdown in commercial vehicle space, we increased our focus on the refinance and passenger vehicle segments to sustain our growth momentum,” he said.
Asserting the volumes were set to improve over the next few months due to the recent government announcements as well as a slew of festive season offers, he said they were positive on the business outlook for the rest of the year.
During Q2 of FY20, CIFCL’s disbursement grew from ₹6,899 crore to ₹7,381 crore while AUM rose from ₹52,486 crore to ₹64,394 crore.
“Notwithstanding the tight market conditions, we continue to demonstrate strong asset quality and have been able to reduce the non-performing assets from 3.40% to 3.18% with a provision coverage of 34.4%,” said Arul Selvan, chief financial officer, CIFCL.
