MUMBAI: Bajaj Finserv, the holding company of the financial and insurance companies of the Bajaj Group, has reported a muted set of numbers in the December quarter. Its consolidated post-tax profit was marginally up by about 3% to ₹2,231 crore in the quarter, even though income grew at 10% to reach ₹32,042 crore. In the year-ago period.
The Pune-based company, which has announced appointment of Ramandeep Singh Sahni as its new Chief Financial Officer on Thursday, had reported a net profit of Rs 2,158 crore on a revenue of Rs 29,038 crore in the previous corresponding quarter.
Of the total net income, the flagship retail lending arm Bajaj Finance chipped in with Rs ₹4,246 crore, which was 17% more than what it had booked in the same period previous period at ₹3,639 crore; general insurance arm contributed ₹400 crore up from ₹287 crore a year ago, logging in a 39% growth and the life insurance arm chipped in with ₹254 crore as against ₹251 crore a year earlier, the company said in a statement Thursday.
The company said the profit was hit this time because of the provisions set aside for unrealised mark-to-market loss on investments and realised loss of Rs 257 crore on other investments. There was also a 26% increase in provisions to ₹2,043 crore from ₹1,248 crore.
In addition, there was a loan impairment cost of Rs 2,043.33 crore, which was almost doubled as compared to Rs 1,248.35 crore in the previous quarter.
The company's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) and net NPA stood at 1.12% and 0.48% respectively as against 0.95% and 0.37% last year. Provisioning coverage ratio, which reflects the amount of funds set aside to cover potential bad loans, for stage 3 assets stood at 57%. Assets under management stood at Rs 3,98,043 crore as against Rs 3,10,968 crore a year ago, an increase of 28%. This includes the AUM of Rs 1,08,314 crore of Bajaj Housing Finance, which recorded a growth of 26%.
In the Thursday board meeting to review the December quarter results, the company also approved the appointment of Ramandeep Singh Sahni. Sahni will replace S Sreenivasan, who will step down as CFO on January 31. However, Sreenivasan will remain with the company in a leadership role as president for insurance and special projects.