Muthoot Finance Ltd today said it has drawn up plans to institute an Employee Stock Option Plan for its employees by next financial year.

The board of directors has also constituted a committee of directors to approve and finalise the terms of instituting the ESOP for over 22,000 employees, Muthoot Chairman M G George and Managing Director George Alexander Muthoot told reporters here.

This is the first time MFL is launching the scheme and the modalities are being worked out, they said.

MFL claims to be the largest gold financing company in India in terms of loan portfolio.

The company registered a growth of 61 per cent in net profit for the third quarter of FY'12 despite a 2.58 per cent rise in borrowing costs and a 0.43 per cent reduction in net interest margin.

The company's net profit touched Rs 251 crore for the quarter ended December, 2011, as against Rs 155 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

For the nine months ending December 31, its profit stood at Rs 657 crore, as against Rs 355 crore in the previous fiscal.

The company's total income saw a growth of 91 per cent during October-December, 2011, touching Rs 1,231 crore, compared to Rs 645 crore in the third quarter of the previous financial year.

Its profit after tax stood Rs 375 crore during the third quarter, as against Rs 155 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

MFL's bank network touched 3,480 branches in 21 states and four Union Territories in the third quarter, as against 2,391 in the year-ago period.

Thirty-six per cent of its branches are in the North, East and West parts of the country, whereas three years ago, only 20 per cent of them were in these areas, Executive Director K P Padmakumar said.