Bajaj Finance Q2 Profit Up 29% to ₹6,367 Crore, Plans ₹17,500 Crore Raise

Bajaj Finance Q2 profit rose 28.7% year-on-year to ₹6,366.57 crore on a consolidated basis for the September quarter, the non-banking lender said on October 19, as assets under management grew 26%.

The company also announced plans to raise up to ₹17,500 crore. This includes up to ₹11,700 crore through a qualified institutions placement (QIP) and up to ₹5,800 crore through preferential warrants to promoter Bajaj Finserv, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.

Net interest income grew 23.6% to ₹13,335 crore from ₹10,785 crore a year earlier. Consolidated profit in the year-ago quarter was ₹4,947.76 crore.

Pre-provision operating profit rose 23% to ₹10,699 crore, while net total income increased 23% to ₹15,974 crore.

Pune-based Bajaj Finance is a subsidiary of Bajaj Finserv. Its products range from consumer durable and personal loans to small business loans, gold loans and home loans through its listed subsidiary Bajaj Housing Finance.

Bajaj Finance AUM crosses ₹5.8 lakh crore

Assets under management stood at ₹5,84,624 crore at the end of September, up 26% from about ₹4.62 lakh crore a year ago. The lender added ₹37,680 crore to its book during the quarter.

New loans booked rose 11% to 13.45 million. The customer franchise grew 16% to 128.85 million, with 4.42 million customers added in the quarter.

Return on equity rose to 20.6% from 19.1%, and return on assets edged up to 4.6% from 4.5%, according to the company’s investor presentation. Operating expenses were 33% of net total income, in line with last year, as the company relies more on digital and AI-based platforms to serve customers.

Asset quality improves as lender adds buffer

Gross NPA fell to 1.06% from 1.24% a year earlier, while net NPA declined to 0.42% from 0.60%. Loan losses and provisions totalled ₹2,166 crore for the quarter.

That figure includes a ₹337 crore macro-economic provision. Excluding it, loan losses fell 12% year-on-year to ₹1,829 crore.

Stage 2 and 3 assets rose to 2.02% from 1.87% in the June quarter. Management attributed this mostly to a transition in its gold loan book and said the adjusted figure was 1.88%.

The capital adequacy ratio was 20.33%, with Tier 1 capital at 19.43%. Cost of funds fell 9 basis points from the previous quarter to 7.31%.

Bajaj Finance Q2 profit: standalone numbers and guidance

On a standalone basis, net profit rose 30.2% to ₹5,536.10 crore from ₹4,250.77 crore, and revenue from operations increased 22.9% to ₹20,890.66 crore, according to the company’s exchange filing.

The fresh capital comes as the loan book grows faster than the company had earlier expected. Bajaj Finance raised its FY27 AUM growth guidance to 26–27% from 23–25%.

For FY27, it expects to book 60–62 million loans and add 18–20 million new customers, while keeping return on assets above 4.6% and return on equity above 20%. It also plans to take its gold loan branches to 2,700–2,800 by the end of the year from 2,022 now.

What it means for lenders and investors

As one of India’s largest NBFCs, Bajaj Finance is widely seen as a proxy for consumer lending. The Bajaj Finance Q2 profit, backed by healthy AUM growth and lower adjusted credit losses, points to steady demand, even as the company builds extra provisions.

The planned Bajaj Finance QIP and promoter warrants would give it more capital to grow over the coming quarters, though they will dilute existing shareholders to some extent. The promoter’s decision to put in money through warrants signals its support for the expansion.

Investors will look at the price at which the QIP is done, the timing of shareholder approval and whether asset quality holds up through the festive season, when consumer loan demand usually peaks. The October–December update will show how much festive lending added to the book.

The numbers add to a strong set of September-quarter results from lenders, including ICICI Bank’s Q2 results. Details are available on the Bajaj Finance investor relations page.