Bajaj group firm Bajaj Auto Finance today said its net profit jumped three-fold to Rs 46.8 crore in the April-June quarter on the back of impressive growth in consumer durables and two-wheeler financing. "It (Q1 FY 11) has been an excellent quarter for us and we hope to maintain the momentum in the remaining three-quarters of this fiscal," Bajaj Auto Finance CEO Rajeev Jain told PTI here today. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 15.2 crore in April-June 2009-10. Growth has been secular across all business lines in Q1,he said. The consumer durables financing has been the fastest growing while two-wheeler financing (of Bajaj Auto products) has witnessed a 70-80 per cent growth,he said. On two-wheelers,Jain said that the company has managed to achieve a 24 per cent penetration in the domestic sales of Bajaj Auto's two-wheeler products. On its small business loans,Jain said that the company is present in 16 cities and is amongst the top three originators in these markets. "We are growing this business cautiously as loans here are given as unsecured loans. This year,there has been a negative 20 per cent growth at Rs 215 crore against the year-ago period's Rs 269 crore but this is because there was a portfolio acquisition of Rs 137 crore last year," Jain explained. Bajaj Auto Finance recently launched its home-loans business. So far,it was only giving loans against property. Similarly,another new business launched construction equipment financing - has met with a healthy initial response,he said. "We aim to be among the top 3-4-originators in this segment in the next 2-3 years," he said. The company has managed to bring its delinquencies under control,he said,adding its net NPA stood at 1.8 per cent. "We have managed to bring down our NPAs - our NPA in Q4 about two-years ago stood at 4 per cent," he said. The Bajaj Group company recently raised Rs 800-crore,of which Rs 490-crore constituted longer-tenor borrowings. Asked about a possible bonds issue in the near future,Jain said that the company "is yet to take a view on it. We will take a decision after evaluating market conditions." The company's capital adequacy ratio is healthy at 23 per cent.
