India's Bajaj Finance posts 22% profit rise on loan growth, easing provisions (updated)

Bajaj Finance

29/04/2026 13:55

Rewrites throughout, adds details

By Pranav Kashyap, Nishit Navin and Ashwin Manikandan

BENGALURU/MUMBAI, April 29 (Reuters) - India's Bajaj Finance BJFN.NS on Wednesday posted a 22% year-on-year growth in net profit, aided by increased lending and improved asset quality, while tighter underwriting helped rein in credit costs.

The lender said it was optimistic about profits in the fiscal year 2027, and left its long-term profit growth forecast unchanged at 23-24%.

"(Loans to) MSME should start to come back into some growth momentum from the second half onwards... (and) should provide tailwind on the overall growth number," Bajaj Finance Managing Director Rajeev Jain said on an analyst call.

Segments such as gold loan financing and commercial vehicles should aid growth, Jain said.

Bajaj Finance lowered its long-term assets under management growth outlook as it continues to calibrate expansion following a period of elevated stress in segments such as small business lending.

The non-bank lender now expects assets under management (AUM) to grow between 23-25%, lower than its earlier forecast of 25-27%.

The company's credit cost for the March quarter - the expense set aside for potential loan defaults - improved to 1.65% from 2.17% a year earlier. It stood at 1.91% in the previous quarter.

The company estimates credit cost in the range of 1.45%-1.60% for the current fiscal year.

"We are entering the year with tailwinds on credit cost. We have momentum and can navigate the current environment," Jain said.

The quality of its loan book also improved, with gross non-performing assets as a percentage of total loans falling to 1.01% as of March end, from 1.21% three months earlier.

    The company in a separate exchange filing also announced that Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of automaker Bajaj Auto, will step down from Bajaj Finance's board, ending his long-standing association with the lender.

Bajaj will not seek re-election at the lender's annual general meeting on July 30, and will cease to be a non-executive director, according to the filing.

DOUBLING DOWN ON AI

Bajaj Finance said it plans to deploy artificial intelligence across its business, including customer engagement, marketing, onboarding and internal processes.

"We expect 2026/27 to be probably the busiest year from an AI transformation (perspective)," Jain said.

The firm has set up a dedicated AI unit with 203 employees, and plans to expand to about 360 by June, he added.

The company has till date processed around 52 million voice‑to‑data conversions and about 2.3 million text‑to‑data conversions using AI, "leading to significantly better insights on engagements or conversations with customers," Jain said.

($1 = 94.8400 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Nishit Navin in Bengaluru, and Ashwin Manikandan in Mumbai; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Mrigank Dhaniwala)

 ((Nishit.Navin@thomsonreuters.com;))