Equitas Holding reported four fold growth in net profit during the quarter ended March 31, 2018, aided by growth in non-micro loans.

During the quarter, the company reported net profit of Rs 34 crore against Rs 7 crore in the same period a year ago. Profit in the March quarter of 2017 was lower because of extra provision.

“As a strategy we have looked to reduce micro-loan portfolio and we have grown our secured loan portfolio to 72%,” said P N Vasudevan managing director Equitas Holdings.

The non-micro loan segment grew 54% while micro-finance dropped by 30%. The non-micro loans includes commercial vehicles finance, micro lap, business loans, agri loans and small corporates. Overall advances grew 15% to Rs 8,200 crore in the last financial year.

Net interest margin remained at 9.5%.

With higher write-offs in the micro-finance segment, the percentage of non-performing loans to total advances declined. Gross NPA was at 2.7% in March quarter down from 5% in third quarter ended December 31, 2017. GNPA for non-micro finance was at 3.4% from 4.1% in December quarter. NPA in micro-finance fell to 0.78% from 6% as company wrote off Rs 140 crore, which was dragging down the balance sheet since demonetization.

“De-growth in the MFI portfolio seems to be over while its non-MFI businesses have witnessed strong growth and improved asset quality,” said Digant Haria analyst Antique Broking. “NII growth remained lackluster at 12% due to lower margins in the non-MFI business. It is a long road to improvement as far as RoAs are concerned.”

Shares of the company rose 3.38% to Rs 155.80 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.