Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company's Chief Financial Officer Arul Selvan said diesel availability, rather than its price, remains the key risk to the company's vehicle finance business from the ongoing West Asia crisis.
He said even if diesel prices inched up, the impact would be limited. "If diesel itself is not available, then the vehicle cannot run," Selvan said in an interview with NDTV Profit.
"That will be the only crisis," he said, adding that India has so far managed to source diesel from alternative channels despite heightened regional tensions.
A second risk he flagged was disruption to raw material supply or production activity, which could in turn reduce transportation demand and affect the company's vehicle finance book.
He also clarified that a prolonged period of elevated crude prices alone would not alter Chola's credit cost.
On the monsoon, Selvan said the current financial year was unlikely to see a major impact, since storage and irrigation infrastructure and reservoir levels remained adequate across most states, with the immediate crop unlikely to be affected.
He said the subsequent crop cycle would need to be watched, adding that the monsoon had "picked up a bit" in recent weeks.
He also addressed asset quality, saying the sequential rise in gross Stage 3 assets in the first quarter was seasonal and "much muted" compared with the same period a year earlier, calling it "a good start for the current year."
He said credit quality would remain the company's foremost priority over growth.
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He identified vehicle finance, gold loans, loans against property, and home loans as key growth drivers for FY27, while unsecured lending would be approached cautiously.
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