Assets managed by Bajaj Finance Ltd. have jumped the most in at least nine quarters, causing its shares to rebound a day after ending in losses on account of a cautious commentary by the head of its parent.
Bajaj Finance's assets under management rose 41 percent year-on-year—the biggest jump since at least the first quarter of financial year ended March 2018—to Rs 1.29 lakh crore in the three months ended June, according to its exchange filing.
In the March quarter, its Bajaj Finance AUMs stood at Rs 1.16 lakh crore.
Bajaj Finance shares on Tuesday jumped as much as 6.2 percent—the most since May 17—to Rs 3,624.05 apiece. The stock closed about 8 percent lower on Monday after Sanjeev Bajaj, managing director and chief executive officer of Bajaj Finserv Ltd., the holding company of Bajaj Finance, said not only the liquidity crisis of non-bank lenders is hurting the rural and SME lending, but the economy is also slowing.
“The economy is slowing down any way whether it is HDFC numbers or whether our own. We have lower growth and this both consumer space, consumer demand is low. This has nothing to do with NBFC' lack of ability to lend in the last couple of quarters. That is probably adding to it, but the slowdown is quite apparent,” he had told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.
To be sure, Bajaj on Tuesday clarified that his comments weren't related to Bajaj Finance's first-quarter numbers. “My comments on TV yesterday on budget & general industry slowdown, isn't related to Bajaj Finance Q1 financials. We are in a silent period. Bajaj Finance out of abundant caution has made an announcement to NSE/BSE today with some data points on its Q1 performance,” he said in a tweet.
India's economic growth has been hit by a consumption slowdown that has affected sales of automobiles, jewellery to consumer durables. Besides, the inability of NBFCs to lend, as they are reeling under the liquidity crisis triggered by payment defaults at the IL&FS Group in September, further worsened the situation.
Customer Base
Bajaj Finance continues to acquire customers at a steady pace.
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