(Reuters) -Bajaj Finance beat analysts’ estimate for quarterly profit on Thursday, as healthy loan growth countered a decline in the non-bank lender’s asset quality.
The non-banking financial company said its consolidated net profit rose 20% from a year earlier to 47 billion rupees ($544.16 million) for the April-June period.
Analysts on average estimated 46.61 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Its assets under management rose 25%, which Jefferies said was encouraging at a time when sales for consumer durables slowed.
Analysts said the lender’s asset growth was boosted by segments such as small- and medium-enterprise loans.
New loan bookings jumped 23% from a year ago.
Bajaj Finance said in a presentation it was a good quarter for AUM and profitability, but credit cost remained elevated.
The company’s net interest income — the difference between interest earned and paid out — rose 22% to 102.27 billion rupees.
It has been grappling with higher loan losses in the last few quarters, especially in the unsecured segment.
Loan losses and provisions grew 26% on-year to 21.20 billion rupees, while gross non-performing asset ratio deteriorated to 1.03% from 0.96% in the previous quarter and 0.86% a year ago.
($1 = 86.3720 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nishit Navin; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Shilpi Majumdar)
