Godrej rolls out fin-cap arm Godrej Capital

Mumbai: With an aim of scaling up its ambition in the financial services sector, Godrej Industries Limited (GIL) on Monday launched Godrej Capital Limited (GCL), which is a subsidiary of GIL and is the holding entity for Godrej Housing Finance (an HFC) and Godrej Finance Limited (an NBFC).

With the ultimate aim of building a world-class retail financial services business and a near-term aim of building an Rs30,000 crore balance sheet by 2026, GIL has committed to invest Rs1,500 crore in capital in GCL. Godrej Capital currently has its footprint across Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi NCR, Ahmedabad, and Pune and will soon be operational in six new cities, i.e., Jaipur, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Chennai, Indore and Surat.

Pirojsha Godrej, chairman, Godrej Capital, said: "With the benefit of hindsight we should have moved on this opportunity more quickly. I certainly think that it is a big one. As a group, we had a lot of different businesses that we were focusing on. Over the last few years, we have been more focused, as a group, on streamlining our presence and making sure that the business spaces we are in, we have leadership or a very strong position. I think that effort has resulted in very strong results in businesses like our consumer products, real estate, agri business. Godrej Capital will form a key pillar in the overall growth of the Godrej Group."

"We now feel ready and we have the appetite to invest. We believe there is clear logic and path in creating a strong position in this space. And that's why we are now investing in it. We see it as a big opportunity and we will go after with a lot of intent over the next few years," he said.

According to Pirojsha, "we started with home loans in select geographies in 2020. Having seen strong customer acceptance of our offering, we are very optimistic about the prospects of our financial services venture and will be entering new markets and enhancing our reach across key target sectors and consumer segments".

Manish Shah, MD and CEO, Godrej Capital, said, "we have successfully implemented a digital-first approach at Godrej Housing Finance through innovative products such as Design Your EMI and end-to-end contactless solutions delivered digitally. This has inspired us to grow our footprint and to broaden our service offerings to different customer segments through affordable housing loans and unsecured loans. We envision Godrej Capital becoming a new-age, leading retail financial services institution in the years ahead."

The company will continue maintaining focus on the growth of secured loans consisting of home loans and Loans Against Property (LAP). Additionally, to fulfill business and geographic aspirations, the business aims to grow its team by 50 per cent to approximately 500 people in this financial year. Godrej Capital, for scalable operations, is investing in building capabilities through talent, technology and analytics that will power business growth.