Our net profit soared by 51% to Rs 3,169 cr in FY20: Abhinav Iyer, Muthoot Group

In late June, Muthoot Finance entered into a unique partnership with Red FM to release a campaign, titled ‘Sunheri Soch’, with an aim to break the stigma around gold loans. The campaign comprises a series of inspiring, real-life stories of common people who took a gold loan from Muthoot Finance and moved ahead in life.

These stories were narrated by the Group’s long-time brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. Adding to the impact, the Sunheri Soch anthem was launched with Red FM’s top RJs saluting the courage of these successful people who have achieved their dreams in highly challenging circumstances. The campaign was pegged as a celebration of their achievements.

Read Also: Muthoot Group signs Mr. Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador

In conversation with Adgully, Abhinav Iyer, General Manager, Marketing & Strategy, Muthoot Group, sheds light on the idea behind 'Sunheri Soch', Muthoot Finance's performance during the lockdown period as well as in FY20 and also his future predictions for the Gold Loan sector.

What was the idea behind this campaign and how was it conceptualised?

The idea was simple – to inspire people with some amazing, real-life success stories. Stories of common people who made it big by their sheer determination to chase their dreams and a little support from us at Muthoot Finance. We conceptualised this campaign believing that real-life stories, which can be easily related, will also make a deeper impression in the minds of people and in inspiring them to walk the path.

What was the strategic reason behind partnering with Red FM?

For Muthoot Finance’s ‘Sunheri Soch’ campaign, we primarily needed a radio station offering two competencies: One, a strong and vibrant creative solutions team; and two, a team with an attitude to work with us as a true partner. A partner with an ability to look at this project holistically – over and beyond mere media plans or FCTs or RJs mentions.

Widespread national presence was an imperative. As a brand, though we shared the original idea of doing a testimonial-based campaign in the voice of our brand ambassador, Amitabh Bachchan, we still needed a radio partner with strong creative capabilities to flesh out this idea and develop it into an all-round and effective communication which appeals to people across segments by leveraging radio and digital platforms. On all these fronts, Red FM 93.5 fared very high and hence, we chose to partner with them.

What are the touch points of the campaign?

There are 3 main touchpoints of this campaign:

Primarily Radio - where the campaign is being predominantly launched over a 6-week period

Digital – where the campaign is being amplified extensively across all the Social media platforms of Muthoot Group and Red FM

Activation - across all Muthoot Finance Branches in North, East & West India, where customers can come and share their success stories of how Muthoot Finance gold loans have transformed their lives besides availing our compelling gold loan offerings and move ahead in life. Few lucky customers also stand a chance a chance to win a gold coin or get their story picked to be narrated by Mr Bachchan in our next season.

There is also a dedicated landing page, www.sunherisoch.com, where people could watch all the stories, enjoy the Sunheri Soch Anthem and do much more.

Please tell us about the growth of Muthoot Finance during the lockdown period and the traction that you have seen for gold loans?

We started opening our branches progressively from end-April 2020 after the MHA allowed NBFCs like ourselves to resume operations with an objective to help people by providing early financial assistance. Post lockdown, gold loans have certainly started emerging as a hero product in these challenging times and especially for us, due to some of the most amazing value propositions that we offer such as online interest payment and online top-up facility, free insurance of your gold, free part payment and part release facility, facility to pay interest only on availed loan amount, etc. All these have contributed in a greater uptake for Muthoot Finance Gold Loans. However, currently the growth is gradual and it may take time before we see a real surge in the uptake.

What kind of messaging are you going for as a brand through this campaign?

Muthoot Finance Sunheri Soch is a testimonial based campaign. These are real-life stories of ordinary people making extra-ordinary achievements. Besides being very inspirational, you will find the tonality of the stories very emotive, heartwarming and relatable. We believe this campaign bears the potential to transform the lives of millions of other people. For us, we express Sunheri Soch to reinforce Muthoot Finance as an even stronger trusted financial services brand. To a strengthen our positioning as a dependable and preferred financial partner eager to play the role of a catalyst in transforming the lives of people by ensuring affordable and hassle-free financial assistance in no time.

How has the  gold loan sector grown over the years? How has this sector been performing during the lockdown period? What does the road ahead look like?

As per research reports, there is already nearly 26,000 tons of gold in India and less than 2-3 per cent of this is actually monetised. This shows the huge untapped potential in this sector. Going forward, I strongly feel that gold loans will emerge as a strong, viable and widely acceptable alternative to other lending products. It will gain greater acceptance and people across target segments – be it individuals, families or businesses will start availing gold loans.

And being India’s largest gold loan company amongst NBFCs, we are playing our role of being a category leader by launching path-breaking advocacy campaigns like “Gold Loan is Good” and “Sunheri Soch” – both flagged-off recently, post the lockdown. These campaigns are doing their best to bring about an ‘attitudinal transformation’ amongst loan seekers by dispelling inhibitions and busting myths that are commonly associated with such a great product. We are sure these efforts will create positive impact and help in opening up the gold loan category furthermore and encourage people to unlock the inherent and hidden potential of their emotional asset.

What are the targets that Muthoot Finance is looking at in the upcoming quarters?

We have just announced our Annual Financial Results for FY19-20 and we are glad that our consolidated AUM grew by 22 per cent to Rs 46,871 crore and our net profit soared by a historic 51 per cent from Rs 2,103 crore in FY19 to Rs 3,169 crore in FY20. The year gone by has been unprecedented for us with God’s blessings, visionary leadership and a splendid team effort demonstrated by our cohesive team of 40,000+ group staff members. The current financial year is certainly a very challenging one and has created a situation probably never seen before in living memory. Nevertheless, we are positive and fully geared to sustain our momentum and live up to shareholders’ expectations.

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