Despite GST impact, Bajaj Finance net soars 37 per cent

Mumbai: In spite of some impact arising from the GST rollout disruptions, leading non-banking finance player Bajaj Finance on Monday reported a 37 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 557 crore for the quarter to September, as overall advances grew at a healthy pace.

"Overall it was a good quarter for us. We have seen healthy growth in all our segments despite the GST disruptions which saw some impact on our SME book," managing director Rajeev Jain told PTI in a concall.

The SME book constitutes around 34 per cent of the Pune-based NBFC's assets.
The asset under management grew 38 per cent to Rs 72,139 crore from Rs 52,332 crore last year. Gross NPA and net NPA stood at 1.68 per cent and 0.51 per cent respectively, while the provisioning coverage ratio stood at 70 per cent.

The numbers are not comparable as the current quarter the company has reported NPAs from a 90-days past due (DPD) format, while earlier NBFCs were reporting 120 DPD.

Reflecting the higher advances, growth Loan losses and provisions increased to Rs 228 crore as against Rs 165 crorein the year-ago period. The consumer lending grew 42 per cent while small and medium enterprises portfolio increased by 18 per cent in the quarter.

"Our SME portfolio has seen some impact due to GST rollout. We see the pain continuing for at least two more quarters," Jain said. The company has picked up 11 per cent equity in digital payments player One Mobikwik Systems during the
quarter for Rs 225 crore.