Bajaj Finance delivered a strong core operating quarter with 23% growth in adjusted profit after tax to ₹5,317 crore, though reported PAT of ₹4,066 crore missed the Street estimate of ₹5,201 crore by 21% due to a voluntary ₹1,406 crore accelerated ECL provision and a ₹265 crore one-time labour code charge. Net interest income of ₹11,317 crore beat expectations, rising 21% YoY. AUM expanded 22% to ₹4.86 lakh crore. Shares fell approximately 2% intraday on February 4, the session following the results announcement, before recovering to trade nearly flat.
About Bajaj Finance
Bajaj Finance Limited (NSE: BAJFINANCE | BSE: 500034) is one of India’s largest and most diversified non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), headquartered in Pune, Maharashtra. Founded in 1987 as Bajaj Auto Finance, the company has transformed into a technology-driven financial services powerhouse serving over 115 million customers across India through an extensive network of 4,052 physical locations and 241,000 active distribution points.
The company operates across consumer finance, MSME lending, commercial lending, rural lending, mortgage (through subsidiary Bajaj Housing Finance), and securities (through Bajaj Financial Securities). Bajaj Finance is renowned for creating the “no-cost EMI” ecosystem that revolutionized consumer durable financing in India.
As of early March 2026, Bajaj Finance commands a market capitalization of approximately ₹5.91 lakh crore (~$69 billion), with a trailing twelve-month P/E ratio of approximately 32-33x, a P/B ratio of 5.73, a dividend yield of 0.59%, and an EPS (TTM) of ₹29.45. The company employs 69,824 full-time employees as of December 31, 2025, and promoter holding stands at 54.7%.
Top Financial Highlights
- Total Income for Q3 FY26 stood at ₹21,214.58 crore, up 17.5% YoY from ₹18,058.32 crore in Q3 FY25.
- Net Interest Income (NII) rose 21% YoY to ₹11,317 crore, broadly in line with Street estimates, driven by sustained loan book expansion.
- Reported Consolidated Net Profit stood at ₹4,066 crore, declining 5.6% YoY from ₹4,308 crore due to one-time charges.
- Core PAT (excluding exceptional items) grew 23% YoY to ₹5,317 crore, reflecting strong underlying profitability.
- Core Profit Before Tax (PBT) grew 23% to ₹7,102 crore from ₹5,765 crore in Q3 FY25.
- Assets Under Management (AUM) expanded 22% YoY to ₹4,85,883 crore (before ECL adjustment), up from ₹3,98,043 crore a year earlier, with ₹23,622 crore added during the quarter.
- New Loans Booked reached a record 13.90 million in Q3, up 15% YoY from 12.06 million.
- Customer Franchise expanded 19% YoY to 115.40 million, with 4.76 million customers added during the quarter.
- Loan Losses and Provisions stood at ₹3,625 crore (including the accelerated ECL provision of ₹1,406 crore). Excluding the ECL charge, provisions were ₹2,219 crore, up just 9% YoY.
- GNPA at 1.21% (vs 1.12% in Q3 FY25); NNPA at 0.47% (vs 0.48% YoY).
- Annualized ROE (core) improved to 19.6% from 19.1% in Q3 FY25; ROA stood at 4.6% vs 4.5% YoY.
- Operating Expenses to Net Total Income improved to 32.8% from 33.1% in Q3 FY25, reflecting AI-driven efficiency gains.
- Capital Adequacy Ratio (CRAR) stood at 21.45%, with Tier-I capital at 20.60%.
- Cost of Funds improved 7 basis points sequentially to 7.45%.
- NIM remained steady at 9.55% on a sequential basis.
Beat or Miss?
Bajaj Finance’s reported numbers came in mixed. While net interest income was broadly in line with consensus, the reported net profit fell significantly short of expectations due to voluntary provisioning and one-time charges. Core (adjusted) profit, however, was broadly in line with the Street.
| Metric | Reported (Q3 FY26) | Estimated/Consensus | Difference/Analysis |
| Net Profit (Reported) | ₹4,066 crore | ₹5,201 crore (CNBC-TV18 Poll) | Missed by 21.8% due to ₹1,406 crore ECL provision and ₹265 crore labour code charge |
| Core PAT (Adjusted) | ₹5,317 crore | ~₹5,200 crore | Broadly in line with consensus |
| Net Interest Income | ₹11,317 crore | ~₹11,300 crore (est.) | In line; 21% YoY growth |
| AUM Growth | 22% YoY | 22-23% guidance | In line with management guidance |
| Credit Costs (annualized) | 3.06% (reported); ~1.91% (core) | ~2.0% | Core credit cost improved to sub-2% for the first time in recent quarters |
| NIM | 9.55% | Stable | Steady on sequential basis |
What Leadership Is Saying?
Rajeev Jain, Vice Chairman and Managing Director (on strategy, vision, and balance sheet resilience):
“The core performance remained pretty strong across all key metrics, namely AUM growth. AUM grew by ₹23,622 crores. OpEx to NTI came in at 32.8%, core profit growth came in at 23%… ROE at a core operating level came in at 19.6%… To enhance balance sheet resilience amidst a volatile global economic environment, the company has further strengthened its provisioning framework by implementing a minimum loss given default floor across all lines of our businesses.
It’s purely done as a proactive and voluntary measure… and it’s a permanent change to further bulletproof our balance sheet… We foresee that we will be a 200 million customer company in the next three to four years’ time. We want to be clearly a technology leader in financial services in India. And we want to clearly be the lowest risk business in India.”
Sandeep Jain, CEO and CFO (on provisioning framework and financial resilience):
“We redefine the loss given default metric by defining a floor across businesses and ensure that it is uniformly applied across all the stages… For example, for a business, we defined LGD floor at 80%, which means the moment a customer goes into NPA, we would have at least 80% provisioning coverage done…
This will have a cascading impact… all goes well in the next year, the number could range between ₹300 crores to ₹400 crores of additional provisioning, which will ensure that not only are we taking action in the current year, we are also continuing to take the similar action as we go along from here. The incremental impact will not be significant.”
Historical Performance
The table below compares Bajaj Finance’s Q3 FY26 (October-December 2025) performance against Q3 FY25 (October-December 2024) on key financial metrics.
| Category | Q3 FY26 | Q3 FY25 | Change (%) |
| Total Income | ₹21,214.58 crore | ₹18,058.32 crore | +17.5% |
| Net Interest Income (NII) | ₹11,317 crore | ₹9,382 crore | 20.60% |
| Net Profit (Reported) | ₹4,066 crore | ₹4,308 crore | -5.6% |
| Core PAT (Adjusted) | ₹5,317 crore | ₹4,308 crore | +23.4% |
| Loan Losses & Provisions | ₹3,625 crore | ₹2,043 crore | +77.4% (includes one-time ₹1,406 crore ECL) |
| Provisions (Core, excl. ECL) | ₹2,219 crore | ₹2,043 crore | +8.6% |
| AUM | ₹4,85,883 crore | ₹3,98,043 crore | +22.1% |
| New Loans Booked | 13.90 million | 12.06 million | +15.3% |
| Customer Franchise | 115.40 million | 97.12 million | +18.8% |
| OpEx to NTI Ratio | 32.80% | 33.10% | Improved by 30 bps |
| ROE (Core, Annualized) | 19.60% | 19.10% | +50 bps |
| GNPA | 1.21% | 1.12% | +9 bps |
| NNPA | 0.47% | 0.48% | -1 bps |
| CRAR | 21.45% | N/A | Comfortable capital buffer |
Competitor Historical Performance
Bajaj Finance vs Shriram Finance vs Muthoot Finance
| Metric | Bajaj Finance Q3 FY26 | Bajaj Finance Q3 FY25 | YoY Change |
| Total Income | ₹21,215 crore | ₹18,058 crore | +17.5% |
| Net Profit (Reported) | ₹4,066 crore | ₹4,308 crore | -5.6% |
| NII | ₹11,317 crore | ₹9,382 crore | +20.6% |
| AUM | ₹4,85,883 crore | ₹3,98,043 crore | +22.1% |
| Metric | Shriram Finance Q3 FY26 | Shriram Finance Q3 FY25 | YoY Change |
| Total Income | ₹12,197 crore | ₹10,705 crore | +13.9% |
| Net Profit (Reported) | ₹2,530 crore | ₹3,249 crore | -22.1% (high base from SHFL sale gain) |
| NII | ₹7,641 crore | ₹6,579 crore | +16.1% |
| AUM | ₹2.91 lakh crore | ₹2.54 lakh crore | +14.6% |
| Metric | Muthoot Finance Q3 FY26 | Muthoot Finance Q3 FY25 | YoY Change |
| Total Income | ₹7,269 crore | ₹4,433 crore | +64.0% |
| Net Profit (Standalone) | ₹2,656 crore | ₹1,363 crore | +94.9% |
| NII | ₹4,467 crore | ₹2,721 crore | +64.2% |
| Loan AUM | ₹1.64 lakh crore | ₹1.11 lakh crore | +47.7% |
Bajaj Finance leads among large NBFCs in absolute scale with the highest AUM and customer base, while Muthoot Finance posted the strongest growth rates driven by surging gold prices and gold loan demand. Shriram Finance’s reported profit decline was distorted by a one-time SHFL sale gain in the base quarter, with adjusted PAT actually growing 21% YoY.
How the Market Reacted?
Bajaj Finance shares had closed 6.68% higher at ₹964.75 on February 3, ahead of the results announcement. On February 4, the first trading session after the earnings release, the stock fell approximately 2% intraday to an intraday low of ₹943.45 as investors reacted to the earnings miss caused by higher-than-expected provisions, before recovering to trade nearly flat at around ₹964.65 by afternoon. The initial negative sentiment was driven primarily by the ₹1,406 crore accelerated ECL provision, which dragged reported profit 21% below consensus expectations.
However, multiple brokerages including JPMorgan (upgraded to “Overweight”, target ₹1,150), Nomura (“Buy”, target ₹1,195), Jefferies (“Buy”, target ₹1,270), Morgan Stanley (“Overweight”, target ₹1,195), and CLSA (“Outperform”, target ₹1,200) maintained or upgraded their positive ratings, viewing the provisioning as a proactive move that strengthens the balance sheet for the long term. As of March 8, 2026, Bajaj Finance trades around ₹950, roughly flat on a year-to-date basis.
