Bharat Financial Inclusion-IndusInd Bank merger may take another 6 months to formalise

KOLKATA: Microfinance company Bharat Financial Inclusion said that it has received clearance from Competition Commission of India for its merger with IndusInd Bank while approvals from Reserve Bank of India and other statutory bodies are still under process.
The merger may take another six months to formalise, the company said, after announcing 14% rise in third quarter net profit. The merger was announced on October 14, last year.

The country's largest microfinance company reported a net profit of Rs 162.6 crore for the quarter to December, compared with Rs 142.8 crore in the year ago period. Its gross loan portfolio grew 34% year on year to Rs 11,466 crore.

It announced improvement in cumulative collection efficiency to 99.8% for loans disbursed after December 2016, which constitutes 89% of its loan portfolio.

The company has written off loans worth Rs 17.7 crore in the December quarter helping it to reduce gross non performing assets to 4.6% from 5.2% in the preceding quarter.

It returned to making profit in the September quarter, reversing the preceding two quarters of losses it suffered due to demonetization-led non repayment of loans.

The MFI, where Reliance Mutual Fund is the largest shareholder with 6.1% interest, has 66 lakhs borrowers and 1,513 branches.

The company announced its profit number after market hours. Its share price Tuesday ended 0.65% lower to Rs 1025 on BSE.