THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC) has recorded an all-time high portfolio of R4,700 crore in the 2020-21 financial year. The provisional figures show an increase of R1,349 crore over the previous year’s R3,351 crore. Loan approvals and repayments increased significantly over the previous years.
During 2020-21, loan approvals amounting to R4,139 crore were issued. This is an improvement of 244 per cent over the previous financial year’s sanction figure of R1,659 crore. Loan disbursement went up from R1,447 crore to R3,729 crore, that is an increase of 258 per cent.
Even during the pandemic crisis, loan repayments increased by 262 per cent, up from R1,082 crore in the previous year to R2,833 crore. Interest income rose by 131 per cent, from R334 crore to R436 crore. This was achieved through a decision to share defaulters’ information with CIBIL and by tightening recovery procedures.
“Our goal for the year was a complete overhaul of KFC. Rather than being an ordinary financial institution, KFC has remodelled itself to become an institution that offers customised loans and exemplary services to varied business sectors,” said Tomin J Thachankari, chairman and managing director, KFC.
Centralisation of the credit process and providing clients the opportunity to interact directly with top officials, including CMD, has expedited the growth, he added.
During the year, the corporation sanctioned new loans worth R256 crore to 419 industries affected by the Covid crisis. Furthermore, 1,937 new ventures were assisted under the Entrepreneurship Development Scheme. Loans up to R1 lakh were provided under this scheme without any collateral. The corporation also introduced various other schemes providing assistance without any collateral requirement.
They included schemes for startups, loans for electric vehicles, loans for converting buses to CNG, special loans up to Rs 50 lakh to hotels and the facility of discounting bills for government contractors. The corporation had reduced the base lending interest rate to eight per cent as it was able to raise funds at 6.5 per cent.