Indian non-banking financial company (NBFC) Bajaj Finance reported a smaller-than-expected rise in third-quarter profit on Monday for a second straight quarter, as it set aside more money for bad loans.
The company’s consolidated profit after tax rose 22.4% to 36.39 billion rupees (about $438 million) in the three months to Dec. 31 from the previous year. Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 37.56 billion rupees, according to LSEG data.
Consolidated numbers include the businesses of the lender’s subsidiaries, Bajaj Housing Finance and Bajaj Financial Securities.
Lenders have been expanding their unsecured lending portfolio – personal loans and credit card spends that do not carry collateral and pose a higher risk – as demand for credit has stayed strong and since this business is margin-accretive.
The exuberant lending in the segment led the Indian central bank to increase capital requirements for personal loans and credit cards.
Loan losses and provisions, the money set aside to cover potential defaults, grew more than 48% year-on-year in the quarter to 12.48 billion rupees.
Gross non-performing asset ratio, the ratio of bad loans to total lendings, deteriorated to 0.95% at the end of December, from 0.91% at the end of September.