Bajaj Finance Shares Hit Record High On Positive Quarterly Results

Bajaj Finance reported a 61 percent rise in its net profit to Rs 721 crore for the fourth quarter ending March 2018 from Rs 615 crore in the year-ago period. It is its best quarterly profit in over six years.

Following the announcement, Pune-based consumer finance lender's share price rose by over 8.79 percent to hit a record high of Rs 2,088.80.

In a regulatory filing, it said that the non-banking finance lender's net interest income for the fourth quarter was up by 40 percent at Rs 2,365 crore from Rs 1,686 crore in the previous year.

Its asset quality saw an improvement in gross NPAs (non-performing assets) at 1.48 percent, up from last quarter's 1.67 percent. Net NPAs stood 0.38 percent of the total assets. It was 0.53 percent in the December quarter.

With provisioning coverage ratio at 75 percent, its loan losses and provisions for the quarter in review were Rs 274 crore compared to Rs 287 crore in the year-ago period. In a press release, Bajaj Finance said that it continues to provide for loan losses in excess of requirements set by the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI).