India's Bajaj Housing Finance posts Q2 profit rise on steady home loan demand

INDIA’S most valuable home loan financier Bajaj Housing Finance posted a 21 per cent rise in its second-quarter profit on Monday (Oct 21) as demand for credit remained robust.

The company, a unit of non-bank lender Bajaj Finance, reported its first quarterly earnings since its US$782 million initial public offering in September that gathered strong investor interest.

Profit after tax rose to 5.46 billion rupees (S$85.2 million) for the three months ending Sept 30 from 4.51 billion rupees a year earlier.

Demand for houses is rising in the world’s most-populous country, boosting demand for home loans.

Residential real estate prices are set to rise steadily over the next few years, driven by demand for premium properties, which form a dominant part of Bajaj Housing Finance’s business.

Its loan assets rose 27 per cent year-on-year to 898.78 billion rupees during the September quarter. Total assets under management rose 26 per cent to over 1 trillion rupees.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and paid, rose 13 per cent to 7.13 billion rupees.

Asset quality worsened, with gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans rising to 0.29 per cent at the end of September, from 0.24 per cent a year earlier.

Bajaj Housing Finance’s shares have fallen 17 per cent since listing and settled about 2 per cent lower ahead of the results.

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Rivals PNB Housing Finance and LIC Housing Finance are expected to report second-quarter results on Oct 24 and Oct 28, respectively. REUTERS