BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian non-bank lender Bajaj Finance Ltd’s fourth-quarter profit beat estimates on Wednesday, led by strong customer addition on the back of demand for loans.
Consolidated net profit rose 30.5% to 31.58 billion rupees ($386.4 million) for the quarter ended March 31, beating analysts’ expectations of 30.93 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
The company’s customers increased by about 3.1 million in the fourth quarter, it said earlier this month.
New loans booked during the quarter jumped 20% to 7.6 million, while the company’s asset quality improved slightly, with gross non-performing assets as a percentage of total loans slipping to 0.94% as of March-end from 1.14% at the end of December.
Net interest income, the difference between interest earned on loans and paid on deposits, rose 28% to 77.71 billion rupees, while interest income jumped 33.6% year-on-year.
The Pune-based company’s assets under management was 29% higher than year ago.
Shares fell 7.9% this year as compared to a 1.6% fall in Nifty 50 index.
($1 = 81.7400 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)