Bajaj Finance's Q2 profit up by 37% at Rs 557 cr

Net interest income up 41% to Rs 1,958 cr, total income up 33% to Rs 2,341 cr; gross NPAs improve marginally

Bajaj Finance, the lending subsidiary of Bajaj Finserv, has posted a heavy rise in profit in the quarter ended September on the back of rising net interest income (NII) and growth in assets under management (AUM) with new loans booked.

The non-banking finance company’s (NBFC) net profit during the quarter saw a 37 per cent rise to Rs  557 crore from Rs 408 crore in the same period for the previous year.

The NII for the quarter ended September increased 41 per cent, year on year, to Rs 1,958 crore from Rs 1,385 crore. Total income rose by to Rs 3,102 crore, from Rs 2,341 crore in year-ago quarter, up by 33 per cent.

The NBFC’s capital adequacy in September was 25.42 per cent with a tier-I capital ratio of 19.86 per cent. The company has raised Rs 4,500 crore of equity capital through institutional investors during the quarter.

The company’s AUM during the quarter was Rs 72,139 crore, up from Rs 52,332 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous year, up by 38 per cent. This rise was due to year on year growth in rural lending by 137 per cent and commercial lending by 57 per cent. Lending to small and medium businesses continued to be the slowest segment with a growth of 18 per cent over the year-ago period.

Bajaj Finance’s gross non-performing assets ratio during the September quarter stood at 1.68 per cent, a marginal improvement from 1.7 per cent in the previous quarter. The company’s provisioning coverage ratio also improved marginally from previous quarter to 70 per cent. 

The company’s stock closed at Rs 1,888.85 per share, down by 3.35 per cent from previous close of Rs 1,954.85.