Lockdown impact: Bajaj Finance loses 350,000 customers in 10 days
Takes Rs 4,750-cr hit on assets under management
In a call with analysts on Monday, Bajaj Finance’s management team, led by its Managing Director Rajeev Jain, said that over the past 10 days, the company had lost nearly 350,000 customers, impacting its assets under management (AUM) by Rs 4,750 crore (3.22 per cent of total AUM as of March 31).
This explained why the 27 per cent AUM growth in the March 2020 quarter (Q4) compared weakly against its 7-quarter average growth of 37 per cent. Had the company not lost these customers, AUM for Q4 would have grown 31.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY).
“We are in an uncharted zone. We will be partially flying blind between April 15 and June 30,” Jain warned.
The unprecedented
lockdown has hurt the country’s largest consumer finance company in more than one way. In a more truncated April-June 2020 quarter (anticipated to be a 60-day quarter because of the
lockdown versus the usual 90 days), these performance parameters could come under severe pressure. The most evident impact will be on its business, which may return to normalcy in September if the
lockdown is lifted on April 14. In the worst case, the business may rebound only by the March 2021 quarter.
What this effectively means is that the early months of FY21 may be under severe stress if the Q4 is anything to go by.
Bajaj Finance published some key performance metrics for Q4 on Monday. The new customer addition and the new loans disbursed were the weakest since FY15 — even worse than the demonetisation-hit quarters of FY17. New customers acquired was down 22.8 per cent at 1.9 million, as compared to the December 2019 quarter's 2.46 million figure. It was also less than 1.92 million in the year-ago quarter. Likewise, new loans booked fell 22.7 per cent sequentially to 6 million; this metric was up just 3.5 per cent YoY. While the reasonable estimation of business impact because of the Covid-19 pandemic was well-received by analysts, they feel Bajaj Finance's stock may come under pressure when trade restarts on Tuesday (the markets were closed on Monday on the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti).
Apart from loan growth, the other worrisome aspect is a possible asset quality deterioration. Besides, the company is assessing the adequacy of provisioning for identified large accounts and will consider enhancing provisions for these accounts. It is also considering one-time accelerated provisioning for Covid-19 to further strengthen its provisioning standards.
Covid-19-related asset quality pressures may also lead to one-time accelerated provisioning. Both factors together, investors should brace for an increase of 40-50 per cent in the credit cost computed on FY20’s numbers, though in the worst case credit cost could increase by 80-90 per cent. The credit cost in Q3 stood at 175 basis points (bps), which works to a full-year extrapolated number of 233 bps. However, analysts say one should wait for actuals as the impact of the recently granted moratorium may impair the repayment discipline of borrowers. “Originally, people thought it (moratorium) was a loan waiver,” Jain explained, though borrowers are now informed that it isn’t so. He said the damage has been done and its impact will be known in June or July.
To counter the business impact, the company will keep a check on its fixed operating costs. Accordingly, hiring, travel, and branch expansion have been put on hold, leading to a 7-8 per cent saving on costs. Prolonged stress could lead to further cost cutting. Recovery in operations hinges on when economic activities restart in the country.
For Jain, the immediate focus would be on maintaining sufficient liquidity, with consolidated liquidity surplus at Rs 15,800 crore as of March 31, 2020. Commercial papers worth around Rs 2,000 crore are maturing in the next three months for
Bajaj Finance. “We will continue to carry excess liquidity on our books which will result in the extra cost of carry for the liquidity,” Jain added, hinting at a near-term compression in profitability or net interest margin.
Customer franchise as on March 31, 2020, stood at 42.6 million, as compared to 34.5 million as on March 31, 2019. Deposit book stood at Rs 21,400 crore as on March 31, 2020, as against Rs 13,193 crore a year ago, with the mix of retail and corporate books at 72:28.
Bajaj Finance said it remains well-capitalised with the capital adequacy ratio of approximately 25 per cent as on March 31.
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