Finance
Bajaj Finance shares fall as Q1 earnings miss estimates, here’s what brokerages say
Shares of Bajaj Finance fell over 2% in early deals on Wednesday after the NBFC reported its Q1 earnings. Net profit in the June 2024 quarter climbed 14% rose to Rs 3,912 crore in Q1 against Rs 3,437 crore in the June 2023 quarter. Revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 16,098 crore in Q1 against Rs 12,497 crore in the June 2023 quarter.
The stock slipped 2.55% to Rs 6560 on Wednesday. Market cap of Bajaj Finance slipped to Rs 4.08 lakh crore. Total 0.40 lakh shares of the firm changed hands amounting to a turnover of Rs 26.23 crore on BSE.
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Bajaj Finance’s relative strength index (RSI) stands at 35.4 which signals the stock is neither oversold nor overbought. A level below 30 is defined as oversold while a value above 70 is considered overbought. Bajaj Finance stock has a one-year beta of 0.9, indicating low volatility during the period
Motilal Oswal has maintained its neutral stance post Q1 earnings. It assigned a price target of Rs 7,500 , up 11% against the previous close.
“We cut our FY26 PAT estimate by 3% to factor in higher steady-state normalized credit costs. We estimate a CAGR of 27%/24% in AUM/PAT over FY24-FY26 and expect Bajaj Finance to deliver RoA/RoE of 4.2%/22% in FY26. Despite a healthy PAT CAGR of 24% over FY24-FY26E and RoA/RoE of 4.2%/22% in FY26E, we see limited upside catalysts. Consequently, we maintain our Neutral rating on the stock with a price target of Rs 7,500 (premised on 4.2x FY26E BVPS),” said the brokerage.
Global brokerage firm Jefferies retained its ‘Buy’ rating on Bajaj Finance but trimmed its price target to Rs 7,780 from Rs 9,260 earlier. Jefferies said profit missed street expectations. A sharper rise in credit costs, climbing to 2.3% of average AUM (adjusted for the utilisation of reserves) was a major drawback.
Citi also cut its price target on Bajaj Finance to Rs 8,275 but retained its ‘Buy’ rating on the stock.
Bajaj Finance’s core earnings missed expectations as NIMs fell 23 basis points as against 30-40 bps guided for the first half. Additionally, the credit cost was elevated at 2%, compared to 1.75-1.85% guidance, said Citi.
Meanwhile, total expenses climbed to Rs 10,839.48 crore in the last quarter against Rs 7951 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Assets under management (AUMs) climbed 31% to Rs 3.54 lakh crore in Q1 compared to Rs 2.70 lakh crore in Q1 of FY24.
New loans booked climbed 10% to 1.09 crore against 0.94 crore in the June 2023 quarter.
The company resumed sanction and disbursal of loans under ‘eCOM’ and ‘lnsta EMI Card’ and issuance of EMI cards after the RBI removed the restrictions on these businesses on 2 May 2024.
Customer franchise stood at 88.11 million as of 30 June 2024 as cornpared to 72.98 million as of 30 June 2023, a growth of 21 %. The company’s customer franchise grew 4.47 million in Q1 FY25.
Net interest income increased by 25% in Q1 FY25 to Rs 8,365 crore from Rs 6,717 crore in Q1 FY24.
Gross NPAs and Net NPAs as of June 30, 2024 stood at 0.86% and 0.38% respectively as against 0:87% and 0.31 % as of June 30, 2023. The company has provisioning coverage ratio of 56% on stage 3 assets.
Disclaimer: Business Today provides stock market news for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Readers are encouraged to consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Finance
Low-income Chinese girl aces gaokao, inspires live-streamers offering help
A girl from a disadvantaged rural family in central China topped this year’s gaokao, attracting numerous live-streamers eager to finance her education, which she declined.
The home of 18-year-old secondary school graduate Han Yaping in a Henan province village was recently bustling with live-streamers.
This attention came after Han achieved an impressive score of 699 out of 750 in the gaokao, China’s national college entrance exam.
She has received offers from China’s two leading universities, Tsinghua University and Peking University.
Han’s accomplishment is particularly remarkable given her family’s impoverished circumstances.
Her mother suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory arthritis affecting the spine, preventing her from working. Her father, who earns a living through farming and odd jobs, serves as the family’s sole provider. Han also has a younger sister.
Finance
UK financial regulator publishes landmark AI review
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a landmark review on Monday that proposes recommendations to regulate the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the financial decisions made by consumers.
The review, titled the Mills Review, anticipates that both consumers and firms will start delegating “more financial decision-making to AI systems,” including for agreements, initiating transactions, and executing decisions “within agreed parameters.” One of the key findings of the review outlined that while AI can help bridge advice gaps and “support growth,” there remain risks “associated with fraud, cyber security, and consumer harm.” Conducting the review, Sheldon Mills highlighted that “AI can also amplify risks: bias, discrimination, exclusion, opaque decision-making (particularly when multiple AI models interact), misleading or hallucinatory advice and erosion of consumer trust.”
The review stated that presently, one in five adults in the UK are “already open to AI making decisions for them,” particularly when decisions feel “complex or high stakes.” It found that roughly 26 percent of the population “trust general-purpose tools such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini for financial advice” with little awareness that such platforms provide no “formal routes to recourse” or protections.
Overall, the Mills Review identified four areas that it anticipates will be impacted by AI in the financial sector: “the transformation of firms,” “new consumer journeys,” “a reshaped competition landscape,” and “amplified financial crime and cyber risk.” The FCA projected the shift in how consumers and firms consult AI to take place by 2030.
The Mills Review put forth seven “priority” recommendations to be considered by the FCA Board. It recommended that any transitions to autonomous AI models be monitored and that regulatory frameworks and perimeters be adapted and secured. The review called for the strengthening of “system-wide coordination and oversight,” the scaling up of the FCA’s AI Lab to enable it to support AI models and innovation for agentic finance, and an “AI-enabled agentic supervisory model” to be built and adopted. Finally, it recommended that a trusted “public-interest AI-enabled financial capability service” be developed.
The FCA announced, in the press release, that it will launch an AI “good and poor practice publication” in late 2026.
Finance
Fayette County Public Schools Board of Education approves audit contract, new finance director position
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – The Fayette County Public Schools Board of Education approved a one-year audit contract capped at $131,750 plus $225 per hour during a virtual meeting Monday, along with a new finance director job description.
The contract is with Mauldin & Jenkins Certified Public Accountants, an Atlanta-based firm, and covers the 2025-26 fiscal year and the restatement of the 2024-25 fiscal year and ancillary services through FY 2029-2030. The work is set to be completed by Nov. 15.
The board approved the contract in a 5-0 vote.
Audit contract details
Interim Chief Financial Officer Kyna Koch said the cost is already accounted for in the district’s budget.
“And is actually less than we expected given our current situation — we were thrilled with the bid,” Koch said.
Koch said she believes this is Mauldin & Jenkins’ first school district audit in Kentucky, but that the firm works with school districts of more than 100,000 students throughout the Southeast.
“Quite frankly when I spoke to the folks at KDE they were thrilled because we’re running kind of short of auditors who want to do school district audits — so all around I think this was a win-win for everyone,” Koch said.
New finance director position
The board also approved a new job description for the position of Director of Finance. Acting Superintendent Dr. Bill Bradford said the title will replace two associate director positions.
“Which will not only save the school district money but it’s also going to streamline our work and align internal controls to make room for a more efficient unit,” Bradford said.
Koch said the position will be posted as soon as possible following the board’s approval.
Closed session
The board went into closed session for more than an hour to discuss pending investigations that could lead to employee discipline. When the board returned, it took no action and adjourned the meeting.
Copyright 2026 WKYT. All rights reserved.
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