1. At a Glance – The NBFC That Refuses to Grow Up (Because It’s Already the Boss)
Bajaj Finance is that overachieving kid in class who tops every exam, runs the school fest, and still complains about “scope for improvement.” As of Q3 FY26, this lending behemoth sits at a market cap of ~₹6 lakh crore, trades around ₹964, and casually manages an AUM of ₹4.86 lakh crore like it’s a side hustle.
Quarterly PAT came in at ₹4,066 crore, which looks “meh” only because the company decided to take ₹1,406 crore of ECL provisions and still walked out profitable. GNPA ticked up to 1.24%, NNPA to 0.60%, and Twitter lost its mind while long-term investors barely blinked.
ROE cooled to ~19%, ROA hovered near 4%, and valuation remains unapologetically expensive at ~33x earnings and ~5.8x book. Bajaj Finance is not cheap, not apologetic, and definitely not here to impress value investors hunting for “hidden gems.”
If NBFCs were Bollywood characters, Bajaj Finance is Shah Rukh Khan — ageing, premium, still charging full ticket price, and somehow still delivering blockbusters.
2. Introduction – This Is Not a Stock, This Is a System
Let’s get one thing straight: Bajaj Finance is no longer just a lender. It’s a distribution platform, a data company, a payments stack, and a credit factory disguised as an NBFC.
With 100+ million customers, 26 product lines, 51 product variants, and a presence across urban, rural, SME, commercial, and mortgage lending, the company has built a financial octopus that touches Indians from their first EMI card to their last home loan top-up.
But Q3 FY26 wasn’t a “clean” quarter. There were sale gains, higher ECL provisions, and some margin compression. Cue panic? Not really. Bajaj
Finance has always front-loaded pain, cleaned books aggressively, and then gone back to compounding like nothing happened.
The real story is not the quarter.
The real story is BFL 3.0 — the company’s attempt to weaponise AI, data, and automation at scale.
So the question is simple:
Is this still a compounding machine… or a beautifully engineered monster that’s finally getting too big?
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Explaining Bajaj Finance to a lazy investor is easy:
“They lend to everyone… but with Excel, AI, and a lot of fine print.”
Core lending engines:
- Consumer Lending: EMI cards, gadgets, lifestyle products, personal loans, 2W/3W finance
- SME Lending: Working capital, LAP, medical equipment, business loans
- Rural Lending: Gold loans, microfinance, tractors, consumer durables
- Commercial Lending: LAS, IPO finance, ESOP loans, corporate credit
- Mortgage Lending: Largely via Bajaj Housing Finance
Non-lending engines:
- Deposits: Retail + corporate, lowering cost of funds
- Distribution: Insurance, wealth, broking, mutual funds
- Payments: UPI, wallets, BBPS, checkout gateway
This is not diversification for PowerPoint slides.
This is cross-sell porn.
Customer buys a phone → EMI card → personal loan → insurance → UPI → mutual fund → home loan.
Repeat until lifetime value looks illegal.
4. Financials
