Bajaj Fin net rises 52%

Net income of the Pune-based company stood at Rs 108 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal

Non-banking finance company Bajaj Finance reported a 52 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 164 crore for the March quarter boosted by sound growth in disbursements and core income growth. Net income of the Pune-based company stood at Rs 108 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Total income grew 35 per cent to Rs 843 crore compared with Rs 623 crore reported a year ago. For the whole financial year, net profit rose 46 per cent to Rs 591 crore against Rs 406 crore in FY12.

“Rise in profits during the fourth quarter was due to healthy growth in loan book along with sound core income,” Chief Executive Officer Rajeev Jain said.

According to Jain, net interest income (NII) grew 33 per cent to Rs 517 crore compared with Rs 389 crore reported a year ago. Total deployment of the NBFC increased 23 per cent to Rs 19,367 crore against Rs 15,797 crore reported in FY12.

“We hope to grow our loan book by 20-25 per cent in the current financial year with major growth coming from retail and SME lending,” Jain said.

While the consumer finance segment grew 39 per cent to Rs 9,783 crore by the end of the quarter, SME business grew higher at 49 per cent to Rs 6,573 crore. However, commercial business witnessed a degrowth of 31 per cent to Rs 3,011 crore.

“We will cautiously grow our business in commercial line of business, that comprises commercial equipment finance, infra finance, among others. However, growth will be more in SMEs and retail segments in this financial year,” Jain said.

Net NPA stood at 0.19 per cent against 0.12 per cent reported in the year-ago period. Similarly, loan losses and provisions rose by 18 per cent at Rs 182 crore against Rs 154 crore in FY12. Referring to capital adequacy, Jain said after raising of Rs 743.52 crore through the rights issue in last financial year, the company was having comfortable capital to support business growth.