Power Finance may lower lending rates

Power Finance Corporation may soon lower lending rates if Reserve Bank continues with easy montary policy bias, the company said on Friday. PFC's spread and margin improved in the second quarter due to the monetary policy easing by the RBI.

During the quarter under review, PFC's spread grew 53 basis points to 2.74% from the same period last year. The company's net interest margin (NIM) increased from 3.97% to 4.28%, registering a growth of 31 basis points.

"Our spreads and margins have improved given the shift of RBI monetary policy from upward bias to neutral or downward bias of interest rates," PFC chairman Satnam Singh said. He hinted that the company may soon lower lending rates if the current trend in monetary policy continues.

PFC reported a 147% growth in its profit after tax (PAT) for the second quarter over the corresponding period previous year. The high PAT is due to the company's lower PAT in the same period of the previous year due to the mark-to-market forex loss suffered by PFC. Excluding the forex loss impact, PFC's PAT grew 33% to R1,084 crore during the period. The company's net income grew 37% to R1,475 crore in the latest quarter.

PFC's loan sanctions doubled to R30,550 crore while its disbursements rose 19% to R9,672 crore. Durng the same period, the company's loan assets 28% to R1.4 lakh crore.

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