Muthoot Finance receives RBI’s approval on opening up 150 new branches; company plans to operationalise it in two months

Gold loan NBFC Muthoot Finance has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open up 150 new branches across the country, a company release said.

“The RBI’s nod will give a fillip to growth momentum and it will help the company to further expand its customer base and assist new customers to avail gold loan finance and other services offered by the company,” the company release said.

“With the challenges posed by the pandemic, there was a reported spike in demand for credit. Given the barriers faced by the underbanked to avail credit easily, NBFCs and gold loan financers have emerged as a credible option for borrowers to meet their capital requirement for business needs or personal finance,” the release said.

Muthoot Finance will be opening new branches after a gap of nearly three years and this new expansion will help in deepening reach to the underbanked and underserved customers across India, the release further said.

The company plans to carry out branch expansion across South India and North India, the release said.

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Branch expansion will also aid in creating employment opportunities in the sector as the company

plans to train and hire 600 more people to support this expansion.

“At Muthoot Finance, our aim has always been to make credit accessible to all, and overcome barriers that people often tend to face in the process of availing credit. We would like to thank the RBI in granting us the much awaited approval to expand our operations and open 150 new branches across India,” George Alexander Muthoot, MD, Muthoot Finance, said.

“The RBI’s nod for branch expansion is a positive development for our business and it also reinforces regulatory confidence in the gold loan NBFCs,” he added.

The gold loan demand remains steady and the RBI’s nod for branch expansion reinforces company’s optimism about a growth of 12-15 per cent in gold loan for FY23, the MD said.

The 150 new branches will add to the existing network of 4617 branches the company plans to operationalise these branches by next two months, the release said, quoting the MD.

The company saw a consolidated Assets Under Management (AUM) growth of 11 per cent to Rs 64,494 crores and a profit of Rs 4,031 crores for FY22, the release said.