Bajaj Finance Q2 net jumps 30 per cent on retail, SME lending growth

Non-banking finance company Bajaj Finance on Tuesday reported a 30 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 167 crore in the second quarter ended September 30 on higher growth in retail and SME lending.

Non-banking finance company Bajaj Finance on Tuesday reported a 30 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 167 crore in the second quarter ended September 30 on higher growth in retail and SME lending.

The Pune-headquartered NBFC had posted a net profit of Rs 129 crore in the same quarter last year.

"We witnessed a strong growth of 30 per cent in our net profit in the second quarter," said Bajaj Finance CEO Rajeev Jain, who expects the momentum in retail and SME lending to continue because of the festive season.

The company's net interest income rose 32 per cent to Rs 582 crore in the July-September period as against Rs 442 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Total income in the quarter rose 31 per cent to Rs 964 crore from Rs 737 crore in the corresponding period previous year, Bajaj Finance said in a release.

Consumer lending segment grew 26 per cent to Rs 2,652 crore from Rs 2,112 crore in the year ago quarter.

In the SME finance segment, the NBFC notched a 36 per cent increase in lending to Rs 1,922 crore as compared to Rs 1,411 crore in the same period last year.

In line with the gloom on the macroeconomic front, the company's commercial finance business registered a negative growth of 23 per cent at Rs 625 crore in Q2 as against Rs 811 crore in the same period last year. Jain attributed this to a weak growth in construction equipment finance.

Gross non-performing assets (NPA) stood at 1.14 per cent in Q2 while net NPA was at 0.26 per cent, Jain added. Mr Jain said the company does not plan to raise money in this fiscal year.

"We are well capitalised. In February this year we raised Tier I capital of around Rs 750 crore and we do not need further capital for the rest of the fiscal," he said.

The capital adequacy ratio of Bajaj Finance stood at 20.9 per cent. The company acquired nearly 7,000 new customers in the quarter under review, he said.

Shares in Bajaj Finance, on Tuesday, fell 1.79 per cent to end at Rs 1,269 apiece on the BSE.

Meanwhile, the company announced elevation of Sanjiv Bajaj, currently non-executive director, to the post of non-executive vice-chairman.

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