Bajaj Finserv Q4 net profit up 32% at Rs 839 crore; revenue up 44%

Bajaj Finserv Thursday posted a 32 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 839 crore for the March quarter of financial year 2018-19.

The company had reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 637 crore in January-March quarter of the previous fiscal.

Total revenue grew by 44 per cent to Rs 12,995 crore in the fourth quarter of last fiscal as compared with Rs 9,055 crore in the year-ago period, Bajaj Finserv said in a statement.

"We saw growth in all the parameters during the quarter. Bajaj Finance reported a 57 per cent growth in net profit," Chief Financial Officer S Sreenivasan said.

For the entire 2018-19, the company's net profit increased 21 per cent to Rs 3,219 crore from Rs 2,650 crore in 2017-18.

Income rose to Rs 42,606 crore from Rs 32,863 crore in 2017-18.

The company's subsidiary Bajaj Finance reported profit after tax of Rs 1,176 crore in the fourth quarter as against Rs 748 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year.

Its asset under management increased 41 per cent to Rs 1.15 lakh crore as of March 31, 2019 as against Rs 82,422 crore as of March 31, 2018.

Bajaj Finance's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at 1.54 per cent as against 1.41 per cent, while net NPAs stood at 0.63 per cent as against 0.43 per cent.

Bajaj Finserv's general insurance arm Bajaj Allianz General Insurance's net profit declined to Rs 83 crore in the March quarter from Rs 187 crore in the same period last year.

"The decline in PAT was on account of higher underwriting losses and provision of Rs 20 crore against expected losses from impairment of investments," Sreenivasan said.

Gross written premium for January-March quarter of 2018-19 increased by 23 per cent to Rs 3,402 crore from Rs 2,764 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

The claim ratio stood at 75.5 per cent during the quarter.

As on March 2019, solvency ratio was 255 per cent, which is well above the minimum regulatory requirement of 150 per cent, it said.

For fiscal 2018-19, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance's net profit declined 15.3 per cent to Rs 780 crore.

The private general insurer had earned a net profit at Rs 921 crore in 2017-18.

Another subsidiary Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance's profit after tax (PAT) during the fourth quarter declined to Rs 112 crore as against Rs 171 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal on account of provision of Rs 40 crore against expected losses from impairment of investments.

The total provision as of March 31, 2019 stood at Rs 135 crore, the company said.

New business premium grew 30 per cent to Rs 1,818 crore as against Rs 1,394 crore.

Bajaj Finserv's board has proposed a dividend of Rs 2.50 per share or 50 per cent of face value of Rs 5 each for the financial year ended March 31, 2019.