

Bajaj Finance is sacrificing immediate profits for long-term safety. Will it succeed?
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Bajaj Finance Ltd’s consolidated profit after tax for the December quarter (Q3FY26) is up 23% year-on-year to ₹5,317 crore if accelerated provisions for expected credit loss (ECL) and exceptional charges due to the new labour codes are kept aside. While these charges are categorized as one-offs, a portion of them could indeed be recurring.
Bajaj Finance recaliberated its loss given default (LGD) policy to be more conservative, resulting in a one-time accelerated provision of ₹1,406 crore for expected credit losses (ECL) in Q3. LGD is an estimate of the eventual loss experienced by a lender after recoveries. The elevated LGD estimate is partially due to excessive consumer leverage or indebtedness, which in turn, is owing to borrowing from multiple lenders.
Management said during the earnings call that competition is now three times what it was before covid, with public-sector banks playing a more active role in retail lending. By adopting a more conservative LGD policy to 'shockproof' its balance sheet, Bajaj Finance expects its annual credit costs to increase by ₹300-400 crore, management said. In addition, staff costs could increase by ₹100-125 crore due to the new labour codes.
Based on Q3FY26’s normalized profit after tax, the overall impact should be a 2-3% drop in quarterly net profit from here. Bajaj Finance's net interest income grew 20.6% year-on-year to ₹11,318 crore in Q3 with steady margin, almost tracking assets under management (AUM) growth of 22% to ₹4.86 trillion. The cost of funds continued to trend down sequentially, dropping 7 basis points to 7.45% as the benefits of the Reserve Bank of India’s rate cuts trickled in.
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