Bajaj Finance Ltd.’s net profit rose in the fourth quarter on higher income and a low base.
The consumer-focused non-bank lender’s profit after tax rose 80% over the preceding year to Rs 2,419.5 crore in the January-March period, according to its exchange filing. That compares with the Rs 2,438-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
Consolidated total income stood at Rs 8,630 crore, up 26% year-on-year.
The lender’s assets under management increased 29% over the year ago to Rs 1.97 lakh crore. In the fourth quarter, the company booked 6.28 million new loans as against 5.47 million a year ago.
The non-bank lender’s deposits book grew by 19% over a year ago to Rs 30,800 crore as of March 31, 2022.
Asset quality improved, too.
Gross non-performing assets ratio fell 13 basis points sequentially to 1.60%. Net NPA fell 10 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 0.68%.
The lender saw traction across a number of key segments.
Mortgages, which makes up the largest share of the consolidated loan book, saw an increase of 24% year-on-year. Consumer lending grew 27% while the small business lending portfolio rose 24%.
The only segment that saw a contraction was auto finance, where the loan book contracted 16% over a year ago.
Bajaj Finance has seen a normalisation of stressed loans across most segments barring auto finance.
The gross NPA ratio for the auto finance book remains at over 11%. For the mortgages business, which its the largest segment, bad loans are at 0.86%.