Bajaj Finance posted a consolidated net profit of ₹3,551 crore in Q2 FY24, an increase of 28 per cent y-o-y on the back of strong disbursements and improvement in asset quality.

The consolidated results include the financials of wholly-owned subsidiaries Bajaj Housing Finance and Bajaj Financial Securities. On a standalone basis, Bajaj Finance’s profit after tax (PAT) was up 26 per cent at ₹3,106 crore, led by a similar growth in NII to ₹8,059 crore. AUM was up 35 per cent at ₹2.1-lakh crore.

Consolidated net interest income (NII) grew 26 per cent to ₹8,845 crore. AUM was up 33 per cent at ₹2.9-lakh crore as of 30 September 2023, of which ₹20,167 crore was added in Q2 FY24.

B2B disbursements were up 31 per cent at ₹18,610 crore, the company said adding that new car financing is “ahead of plan” and now present in 85 locations. The company also launched its microfinance pilot from September 1 and the business is now operational in 12 locations with the aim of taking it to 100 locations by March 2024.

Bajaj Finance had 4.2 crore EMI cards-in-force and 38.2 lakh co-branded credit cards as of September 30. Digital app platform users stood at 4.5 crore.

Q2 disbursements

The NBFC booked 85.3 lakh loans in the reporting quarter, an increase of 26 per cent on-year. Customer base of the lender grew to 7.6 crore from 6.3 crore a year-ago, a growth of 22 per cent of which 35.8 lakh customers were added during Q2. The cross-sell customer franchise was at 4.6 crore.

Growth was highest in the two and three-wheeler segment at 63 per cent, albeit on a smaller base. It was followed by commercial loans which grew 46 per cent, and 37-39 per cent growth in urban and rural sales finance, SME lending and loans against securities. The mortgage book was up 28 per cent at ₹90,934 crore.

“Risk metrics across all businesses were stable except rural B2C business. The Company has taken risk actions in rural B2C business resulting in muted AUM growth in first half of FY24,” it said.

Gross NPA ratio improved to 0.91 per cent from 1.17 per cent and net NPA to 0.31 per cent from 0.44 per cent in the previous year.

Cost of the funds for the lender rose 6 bps sequentially to 7.67 per cent in Q2, with deposits comprising 21 per cent of consolidated borrowings. Deposits for the company crossed the ₹50,000 crore milestone, growing to Rs 54,821 crore as at the end of September.

Loan losses and provisions were at ₹1,077 crore as against ₹734 crore in the year ago period, with provision coverage ratio on stage 3 assets at 66 per cent. The NBFC held a management and macro-economic overlay of ₹740 as of September 30 after “releasing” ₹100 crore in Q2.

On Monday, the company announcing acquiring up to 26 per cent stake in Pennant Technologies for ₹268 crore. The transaction is expected to be completed by December 30.