Kochi, 5th August, 2011: Magma Fincorp Limited today announced its ambitious growth plans for Kerala for the financial year 2012. The company, which disbursed Rs 249 crores in Kerala in FY 11, plans to romp up disbursements by another 50% in retail loans in the state in FY12. Magma, headquartered in Kolkata, already has a footprint in the state with its 6 offices.

Mr Dhrubasish Bhattacharya, Vice President, Magma Fincorp Limited said, "We will continue with our focus on providing asset finance to the economically disenfranchised in Kerala and expect to further grow in the states. This will help in strengthening our market share in each of the segments. For this, we would also increase our manpower strength to suit the challenge of high growth trajectory."

Buoyed by the growth it witnessed across all product categories in the last financial year, Magma has a focused growth plan charted out for the state. The company disbursed Rs 249 crores in FY11, which was 78% higher than FY10. Car, Commercial Vehicle and Construction Equipment finance posted a healthy growth of 114%, 77% & 31% respectively. Suvidha (Refinance), which was launched in the first quarter of the current financial year, had an impressive beginning and will be one of Magma's key growth drivers in the state. The aggressive marketing strategy adopted by the company helped in attaining this phenomenal growth rate and played a major part in the market expansion drive for the company in this region. Company's focus on rural markets also emphasises it's motto of bringing equality of opportunity to the economically disenfranchised.

In the first quarter of the current financial year, the company has already experienced an overall growth of 70% in Kerala, compared to the corresponding period of the last financial year. Car finance, Commercial Vehicle & Construction Equipment finance witnessed a growth of 77%, 54% and 19% respectively.

Magma has 6 branch offices in Kerala in Kochi, Calicut, Trivandrum, Kottayam, Trichur & Malappuram and employs 145 people in the state. One new branch office will be opened in Kannur during the current financial year.

"The primary sales of assets have witnessed robust growth in the past several quarters and we hope the same would continue. This augurs well for our business. With the development of infrastructure further, we hope our products will continue to do well as majority of them cater to the growth in rural and semi urban markets", added Mr Bhattacharya. He also said that the company, apart from consolidating its position for its core products like Car, Commercial Vehicle & Construction loans in the market, will also focus to grow the newly launched higher yield product - Suvidha, which will contribute significantly to the company's business.

The rating agency CARE has recently upgraded the ratings of Magma Fincorp Limited for all its debt obligations. Magma has an established and impeccable track-record towards timely payment of all its debt Obligations. The revised ratings are as under:

Rating for Bank facilities - upgraded from CARE AA to CARE AA+
Rating for Subordinated Debt - upgraded from CARE AA- to CARE AA
Rating for Perpetual Debt Instrument - upgraded from CARE A+ to CARE AA-
Rating for Secured Long Term Debt - upgraded from CARE AA to CARE AA+

About Magma Fincorp Limited

Magma Fincorp Limited ("Magma") is a non-deposit taking non-banking finance company (NBFC), registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as an Asset Finance Company. The Company, having started operations over two decades back, is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited and the National Stock Exchange in India.

Magma provides a bouquet of financial products including financing of Utility Vehicles & Cars, Commercial Vehicles, Construction Equipments, Tractors and SME Loans. Magma has a dedicated base of around 2.5 lac customers and has assets of INR 11030 crores under management. The company has 172 branches in 20 states and 1 union territory and employs about 5050 people.

Magma has signed a joint venture with HDI Gerling, part of Talanx Group, Germany's third largest insurance group to start a general insurance company in India, which since has received R1 license from the insurance regulator.