Bajaj Finance shares rallied as much as 4.27% to ₹969.80 on the NSE in opening deals on Thursday, April 30, following the release of the company's financial results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2026. According to reports from Upstox, the results were declared post-market hours on Wednesday, driving immediate investor optimism. Global brokerage Morgan Stanley has maintained an 'Overweight' rating with a target price of ₹1,120, up from ₹1,090 earlier, while domestic brokerage Nirmal Bang reiterated a 'Buy' rating with a target price of ₹1,100, implying an upside of around 18%. The strong market response reflects investor confidence in the company's robust quarterly performance and positive outlook for FY27.
Leading NBFC Bajaj Finance reported a 22% increase in consolidated profit after tax (PAT) to ₹5,553 crore for the three months ended March 2026 (Q4 FY26), compared to ₹4,546 crore in the year-ago period. As reported by The Economic Times, profit before tax rose to ₹7,410 crore from ₹5,647 crore in the same quarter last year, reflecting strong operating leverage. The total income increased by 21% to ₹14,209 crore in the quarter under review from ₹11,755 crore logged in Q4 FY25. The net interest income (NII) or core income grew by 20% to ₹11,781 crore in Q4 FY26 from ₹9,808 crore in the same quarter of the preceding fiscal. The strong earnings were supported by robust loan growth, improving asset quality, and a sharp decline in credit costs.
The gold loan franchise emerged as the standout growth driver, with AUM growing 115% year-on-year to ₹17,831 crore, representing 3.5% of total AUM as of March 2026. According to ET Now, the company has been aggressively expanding its physical footprint, adding 138 new gold loan branches during the quarter, taking the total count to 1,507 branches, a sharp rise from just over 900 a few quarters ago. This rapid scale-up reflects a conscious push to build a deeper presence in semi-urban and rural markets, where gold loans remain a preferred form of credit. The gold loan originations rose sharply to ₹3,900 crore, highlighting strong traction across geographies. According to Nirmal Bang, the segment has emerged as the 'standout growth driver,' with expectations that it could contribute around 5% of total AUM by FY27, up from current levels. The microfinance network remained relatively stable, underlining where the company's immediate priorities lie.
For the entire financial year (FY26), Bajaj Finance's PAT stood at ₹19,332 crore and total income at ₹53,324 crore. According to the company's regulatory filing, the assets under management (AUM) rose to ₹5.09 lakh crore as of March 31, 2026, from ₹4.16 lakh crore as of March 31, 2025, registering a growth of 22%. As reported by The Economic Times, during the quarter, AUM expanded by ₹25,498 crore. The company's board recommended a final dividend on equity shares at ₹6 per share of face value of ₹1 each for the financial year ended March 31, 2026. The customer franchise expanded to 119.33 million as of March-end, up 17% year-on-year, demonstrating strong customer acquisition and business growth. The company booked 12.89 million new loans during the quarter, up 20% from 10.7 million in the year-ago period, with an addition of 3.93 million customers in Q4 alone.
On the asset quality front, the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of the company increased to 1.01% from 0.96% a year ago, as reported by Upstox. However, Net NPAs declined marginally to 0.41% compared to 0.44% year earlier. According to The Economic Times, provisioning coverage on stage 3 assets stood at 60%. The company created a prudent overlay buffer of ₹1.4 billion during the quarter, demonstrating conservative risk management practices. Notably, loan losses and provisions declined to ₹2,008 crore from ₹2,167 crore a year ago, down 41% quarter-on-quarter, indicating improved credit cost management and lower bad loan formation. The vintage credit performance across various time buckets is now tracking below FY20 levels, providing confidence on credit cost normalization in FY27. The annualised credit cost improved to 1.65% from 2.17%, indicating better portfolio quality and collections. The company reported operating expenses at 33.8% of net total income, slightly higher than the previous year, attributed to the dual impact of regulatory changes under new labour codes and the rapid rollout of gold loan branches.
