India’s Bajaj Finance beats profit estimates as provisions drop

BENGALURU, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Indian shadow lender Bajaj Finance (BJFN.NS) posted a bigger-than-expected rise in third-quarter revenue on Friday, helped by a drop in provisions for dangerous loans and a rise in curiosity revenue.

The corporate’s consolidated internet revenue rose 39.9% to 29.73 billion rupees ($364.8 million) within the quarter ended Dec. 31. Analysts on common had been anticipating a revenue of 29.24 billion rupees, based on Refinitiv IBES.

Credit score off-take has risen in India in current months, at the same time as lending prices elevated with the decide up in financial exercise from pandemic lows, which has pushed strong earnings for lenders.

Bajaj Finance stated its mortgage losses and provision fell to eight.41 billion rupees within the newest quarter from 10.51 billion rupees a yr earlier.

The non-bank lender’s asset high quality improved barely, with gross non-performing belongings as a share of whole loans slipping to 1.14% as on end-December from 1.17% at end-September.

Web curiosity revenue, the distinction between curiosity earned and paid, rose 24% to 74.35 billion rupees.

Earlier this month, the corporate stated it added 3.1 million prospects within the quarter, whereas its new loans booked rose 5% year-on-year.

The corporate’s belongings underneath administration as of end-December was 33% greater than a yr in the past.
($1 = 81.5000 Indian rupees)

Reporting by Nishit Navin and Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Modifying by Savio D’Souza

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