Bajaj Finance Limited (BFL), a subsidiary of

Bajaj Finserv Bajaj Finserv Limited is an Indian non-banking financial services company headquartered in Pune. It is focused on lending, asset management, wealth management and insurance. History The financial services and wind energy businesses were trans ...

, is an Indian

non-banking financial company A non-banking financial institution (NBFI) or non-bank financial company (NBFC) is a financial institution that does not have a full banking license or is not supervised by a national or international banking regulatory agency. NBFC facilitate ba ...

headquartered in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

History

Originally incorporated as Bajaj Auto Finance Limited on March 25, 1987, as a non-banking financial company, primarily focused on providing two and three-wheeler finance. After 11 years in the auto finance market, Bajaj Auto Finance Ltd launched its initial public issue of equity share and was listed on the

Bombay Stock Exchange BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange. It is located on Dalal Street in Mumbai. Established in 1875 by cotton merchant Premchand Roychand, a Jain businessman, it is the oldest stock exchange in ...

and

National Stock Exchange of India National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) is the leading stock exchange under the ownership of various group of domestic and global financial institutions, public and privately owned entities and individuals. It is located in Mumbai, Mah ...

. At the turn of the 20th century, the company ventured into the consumer durables finance sector and started offering small-size loans at zero interest rates. In the subsequent years, Bajaj Auto Finance diversified into business and property loans as well. In the year 2006, the company's assets under management hit the Rs.1,000 crore mark and are currently at Rs.52,332 crore. 2010 saw the company's registered name change from Bajaj Auto Finance Limited to Bajaj Finance Limited. As of March 2022, the company deals in consumer lending, SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) lending, commercial lending, rural lending, deposits, and wealth management. And, has 294 consumer branches and 497 rural locations with over 33,000+ distribution points. The company reported a pre-tax profit of Rs.626 crores and a post-tax profit of Rs.408 crores at a ROA of 0.8% and ROE of 5.1% in Q2 FY17. As of June 2022, Bajaj Finance has been working with

RBL Bank RBL Bank, formerly known as Ratnakar Bank, is an Indian private sector bank headquartered in Mumbai and founded in 1943. It offers services across six verticals: corporate and institutional banking, commercial banking, branch and business bank ...

and

DBS Bank DBS Bank Limited, often known as DBS, is a Singaporean multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at the Marina Bay Financial Centre in the Marina Bay district of Singapore. The bank was previously known as The Dev ...

to issue co-branded credit cards. But, after the

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for ...

opened the door for non-banking financial companies to enter the credit card industry, the company plans to introduce its credit card products by the beginning of the first quarter of 2023.

Funding and investments

The parent company, Bajaj Finserv Limited, holds 57.28% of the total shares and has a controlling stake in the subsidiary. Other major investors include Maharashtra Scooters Limited,

Government of Singapore The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of Singapore to mean the executive branch of the state, which is made up of the president and the Cabinet. Although the president acts in their personal discretion in the exercise ...

, Smallcap World Fund INC, and AXIS Long Term Equity Fund. According to an exchange filing in 2022, the company's assets under management surpassed Rs 2 lakh crore, a 31 percent increase.

Investments

In 2017-18, Bajaj Finance acquired a 12.6 percent interest in the mobile wallet company

MobiKwik MobiKwik is an Indian payment service provider founded in 2009 that provides a mobile phone-based payment system and digital wallet. Customers can add money to an online wallet that can be used for payments. In 2013 the Reserve Bank of India aut ...

. Bajaj Finance and Sequoia Capital India had planned to sell MobiKwik shares worth around Rupees 69 crore and Rupees 95 crore, respectively, through an Initial Public Offering in 2021, which has been postponed due to the poor economic conditions. In November 2022, Bajaj Finance announced its intention to acquire Mumbai-based SnapWork Technologies for ₹93 crores through a combination of primary and secondary transactions. The acquisition is anticipated to be completed before 31 December 2022.

Regulatory

In September 2022, the

(RBI) has included Bajaj Finance as one of the 16 NBFCs that are part of the NBFC-Upper Layer list. This means that the RBI has requested that the company must develop and implement a board-approved policy for the adoption of the more stringent regulatory framework that is applicable to it.

References

{{BSE Sensex Financial services companies of India NIFTY 50 BSE SENSEX 1987 establishments in Maharashtra Financial services companies established in 1987 Indian companies established in 1987 Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange