Bharat Financial shines post strong Q3 numbers, stock up 10 per cent

India’s largest micro-finance company Bharat Financial jumped in trade post beating demonetisation blues and presenting a good set of numbers. The company has delivered an 80 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 143 crore.

It was widely expected that the results would be negatively impacted due to the effect of demonetisation as disbursals and collections both came under stress due to the cash crunch situation.

Important geographies such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, where the company has good amount of presence, were expected to put stress on the asset quality of the micro-lender. However, all the fears were proved wrong when the company reported that collections improved to 97.5 per cent till January 19, 2017 as against the low of 91 per cent between November 11-30, 2016.

The company is also on target to achieve stable disbursements trajectory as cash situation eases further.

Bharat Financial Inclusion, keeping in mind the digital focus of the government, has started paperless and cashless disbursements.

Its gross loan portfolio grew by 38 per cent on a yearly basis to Rs 8531 crore in Q3.

The company announced the phase-wise launch of its Instant Loan Approval project (Aadhar-based eKYC, credit bureau authentication and eSign), with a target date of June 30, 2017 for the complete roll-out.

The stock was trading with gains of 9.7 per cent at Rs 743.45 on NSE.