Bajaj Auto Finance Q4 net dips 78%

New Delhi, May 21 (UNI) Bajaj Auto Finance Ltd today said it has posted a 78 per cent fall in the fourth quarter in the net profit on increased bad debts and operating costs.

The hire purchase and leasing company said it expects its rate of provisioning and bad debts to continue in the next fiscal, due to adverse market conditions in the retail finance industry.

Bad debt and recovery commissions stood at Rs 45.55 crore for the fourth quarter in FY08 as compared to Rs 22.35 crore during the same period a year ago.

Operating costs for Q4 FY08 grew to Rs 39.81 crore as against Rs 34.03 crore during the same period a year ago.

The quarterly net profit fell to Rs 4.57 crore from Rs 21.18 crore.

Total income rose 12 per cent to Rs 141.75 crore.

The company has reviewed its customer segments, credit programs and risk-based pricing to improve its portfolio, it said in a statement.

UNI SR PDT DB1908