Impact of second wave limited to Q1-FY22, says Sundaram Finance Chairman

India’s economic recovery in the current financial year will be marked by a high degree of uncertainty, said S Viji, Chairman, Sundaram Finance Ltd, addressing the shareholders via a virtual conference at the company’s 68th AGM on Monday.

“The country’s ability to mobilise vaccines at scale, maintain the pace of vaccinations, and the speedy containment of the spread of the virus, especially as new variants emerge, will all be determinants of consumer confidence sustaining and consequently of economic recovery.”

Viji said the tapering of the second wave coupled with an aggressive vaccination drive has brightened the near-term prospects for the economy, with the adverse economic impact expected to be limited to the first quarter of FY22. “The agricultural sector has turned buoyant with a near-normal monsoon, robust procurement by the government and improved Kharif sowing.”

To a query, Rajiv Lochan, MD, Sundaram Finance said, “In the CV space, in addition to growth in the M & HCV space, we believe the SCV and ICV segments will continue to offer growth opportunities. As the economic activity revives, we expect the CV segment to come back strongly. In the passenger vehicle segment, we see a long run way as the consumer market matures and grows in India.”

He said the infra and the rural and agricultural sectors are seeing substantial and unprecedented level of investment on the back of Government push and policy reform. “We expect this to open up growth opportunities in the construction equipment and tractor segments in the coming years. ”