Featured in The hindu businessline

Clocks PBT of ₹ 21.8 crore against a loss of ₹ 129.7 crore in previous year 

Agri-value chain financier Samunnati is back in the black for the financial year 2023-24 on higher disbursals to agri enterprises and farmer producer organisations (FPOs). The company reported a profit before tax (PBT) of ₹21.8 crore during FY23-24 against a loss of ₹129.7 crore in 2022-23.  

Disbursements of Samunnati Financial Intermediation and Services were up 27 per cent and touched ₹3,525.6 crore during FY23-24 as compared to the previous year’s ₹2,775.8 crore. Sales of Samunnati Agro, which offers agriculture commerce solutions, were up 31 per cent during the year at ₹2,210 crore from the previous year’s ₹1,694 crore. “It was one  of the best years for us. Coming out of the woods of all Covid years-related stuff, we had a fantastic run rate in terms of gross transaction value (GTV) at ₹5,835 crore, the highest ever for Samunnati as compared to last year’s ₹4,400 crore. PBT was a big recovery and a shot in the arm,” said SG Anil Kumar, Founder and CEO, Samunnati, while stating that the financial performance was in line with the company’s long-term growth strategy. Further, Kumar said Samunnati’s throughput has crossed $3 billion in its 10th year of operations.  

Chennai-headquartered Samunnati, which has a presence in more than 100 agri-value chains spread over 23 States across the country, saw significant improvement in the quality of its assets, attaining a Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) rate of 2.4 per cent, well below the industry average of 5.6 per cent, Kumar said. Assets under management saw an increase of 35 per cent at ₹1,350 crore during the year, he said  

Investor backing  

During FY23-24, Samunnati has strongly established itself as sought after company in this sector, as investors has backed it, in terms of equity infusion and debt equity. Net worth (Net Equity) has improved to ₹7,66.5 crore as of 31 March 2024 from ₹5,60.1 crore in 31st March, 2023, Anil Kumar said.  

During FY23-24, company received equity commitment of $10 million from existing investor Elevar and new investor Equitane. Additionally, the debt strategy has been aligned to focus on liquidity for the FY23-24 with a diversified mix of instruments and institutions. Debt raised has doubled to ₹1,097 crore in line with the outlook, he said  

Samunnati launched FPO Next, a platform for FPOs and farmers and has onboarded some 6,600 FPOs from across the country. It also launched Unnati, a mobile first loan origination system for the partner-driven lending, which is fully compliant with RBI’s digital lending guidelines.  

The company, which has beefed up its leadership team significantly in the recent months, is looking for deepening its engagements in the  climate and sustainable agriculture and the FPOs, while eyeing a run-rate of ₹9,000 crore during the current financial year, Kumar said.