Bajaj Finance Q3 net jumps 58% at Rs 120 cr

Non-banking lender Bajaj Finance today posted 58% jump in net profit at Rs 120 crore for the quarter ended December 31.

The company's net profit for the corresponding October-December period of 2010 was Rs 76 crore.

The jump in profit was due to the overall business growth and the company's ability to bring down the non-performing assets, the company's Chief Executive Rajeev Jain said.

Bajaj Finance is observing stress on margins and expects it to be in the current state of being compressed for the current quarter as well.

"Liquidity is under pressure. The current quarter will be reasonably tough on the cost of borrowing and for the next two quarters, our margins will be stable," he said.

As a conscious strategy, the company has decided to keep away from financing construction equipment due to the slowdown in the real estate and infrastructure sectors, he added.

The company's net non-performing assets (NPA) ratio came down to 0.25% against 1.10% in the year-ago period, Jain said, adding that it was down in absolute terms as well.

The total assets under management of the company grew 74% during the period, and Jain said the company is targeting a growth of up to 25% in AUM during 2012.

Bajaj Finance's fund deployments during the quarter were up 68% to Rs 4,649 crore during the quarter, he said.

Its total capital adequacy ratio stood at 14.7% as on December 31, and it will not be looking for any fresh fund raising till the close of the next fiscal, Jain added.

Shares of the company closed at Rs 676.65 today, up 4.10% from its previous close on the BSE.