Calcutta: A foray into new geographies will fuel the growth in the micro-credit loan book of L&T Finance, a subsidiary of L&T Finance Holdings.

The micro loan book of the company, which is part of the rural finance portfolio, stood at Rs 7,549 crore as on March 31, 2018 against Rs 3,551 crore in the previous fiscal.

"Our growth was fuelled by our willingness to venture out and serve hitherto unbanked customers rather than lending within the same geography," Sunil Prabhune, L&T Finance Holdings chief executive (rural finance) and chief human resources officer, said on Wednesday.

"Last year, we ventured into Assam, Tripura and Bihar. A large part of the business that we booked last year came from the branches that were opened last year itself," he said and added that, in the current year, the non bank finance company has forayed into Jharkhand.

L&T Finance is now present in 14 states. With the stabilisation of disbursements and recoveries in the microfinance segment post demonetisation, the company will now look at opportunities in certain markets such as Karnataka and expand in Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.

According to Prabhune, last year's growth was to a large extent driven by base effect. From the second quarter onwards, the base effect might wear out and it would be difficult for the firm to maintain the kind of growth in the segment registered last year.

Besides micro loans, two-wheeler finance and farm equipment finance are part of the rural finance portfolio of L&T Finance. Housing finance, infrastructure finance, supply chain finance is among the other credit segments of the financial institution.

The company announced the opening of its 1000th meeting centre in Calcutta for its micro loans business and opened 14 new meeting centres in the state in the last two months, taking the number to 126 in the state. The company on Wednesday also rolled out an instant loan sanctioning application.