Bajaj Finserv — Q3 FY26
Bajaj Finserv reported a strong Q3 FY26 with consolidated total income growing 24% YoY to ₹33,978 crore and PAT (before exceptional items) rising 32% YoY to ₹2,936 crore.
bullish
high
✓ Verified against BSE filing
Claim Ledger
Did management answer the analysts?
Every material analyst question, graded on whether management actually answered it — with the verbatim exchange and quantitative claims checked against filed numbers.
60%Questions answered2Evaded / deflected10Questions audited
Partial answer
High priority
What drove strong institutional growth and has agency bottomed out?
Asked by Nischint Chawathe, Kotak Securities
Gave color on institutional but avoided naming partners; agency growth acknowledged but no clear bottoming-out signal.
no specific partner namesvague on agency growth trajectory
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Question
Just maybe to begin with, on the life side, there has been a fairly strong and impressive growth in the institutional business. If you could give some color and texture... Secondly, I think on the agency side, after multiple quarters, we are able to see some positive growth there. So is it fair to say that now we have bottomed out?
Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited
Institutional, suspected questions, suspected answers. I'd say that the growth in institutional is widespread. It is not necessarily coming from the big partners... For agency, yeah, while the growth has been good... we've seen a doubling of their VNB in this nine-month period.
Evasive
Medium priority
Will agency be more traditional/protection-heavy and institutions bank-heavy?
Asked by Nischint Chawathe, Kotak Securities
Did not confirm or deny the product mix split; instead described agency's unique approach.
no clear yes/noreframed to uniqueness
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Question
And just extending from here in terms of product mix, is it fair to say that agency will probably be more traditional and protection-heavy, and the institutions will be banker-heavy?
Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited
No, not necessarily. Not necessarily. Our agency is unique... The ULIPs we used to sell earlier weren't necessarily very profitable. Now our ULIPs themselves are looking quite healthy.
Partial answer
High priority
What is VNB margin guidance and impact of GST?
Asked by Nischint Chawathe, Kotak Securities
Provided GST mitigation details but avoided giving a specific VNB margin guidance.
no explicit margin guidancedeferred to trajectory
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Question
Just quickly on VNB margins, if you would want to kind of re-highlight your guidance because I think mathematically, as I see it here, VNB margin would have been closer to around 23% but for the sorry, 21% but for the GST hit. A, how do we see this going forward?
Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited and Vipin Bansal, CFO, Bajaj Life Insurance
I think that number largely holds good. What is reflected in this quarter's P&L is a mitigation of about 1.75%. ...as we exit next quarter, another we would have mitigated close to about so on aggregate basis, we would have mitigated by about 325 basis points...
Evasive
High priority
Why grow motor OD at 21% when loss ratio is elevated?
Asked by Nischint Chawathe, Kotak Securities
Did not justify the growth decision; deflected to industry-wide phenomenon.
no direct answer on why growattributed to industry
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Question
If I look at motor OD loss ratio, it remains sort of elevated this quarter as well. Now, in this backdrop, why really grow at 21%?
Ashish Panchal, MD and CEO, Bajaj Finserv Direct
Overall, if you look at the situation, the elevated loss ratio is not something that is just experienced by our organization. It is something that is experienced across the industry... Within this backdrop, we continue to grow with our long-term view, which is sustainable growth.
Partial answer
Medium priority
How is competition in motor and health? Retail health loss ratio? Motor TP release?
Asked by Satvik Kanabar, Jefferies
Answered industry context but withheld specific loss ratios and competition details.
refused to discuss competitiondeclined to give exact loss ratio
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Question
Just on Bajaj General, wanted to get a sense on how competition is actually playing out in motor and both the group and retail health segments. And second, could you please help us with your retail health loss ratios for 3Q versus 3Q last year? And the last one, how has a motor TP release been this year versus last year?
Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited
We don't talk of competition. We respect all our competitors... Industry as a whole, if I look at it, it is intense right now... On the retail health perspective, we don't give exact loss ratios, but we can tell you that it is better compared to what it was in the same period last year.
Answered
High priority
Is motor TP loss ratio low due to reserve releases? Why underwriting loss increased despite better combined ratio?
Asked by Uday Pai, Investec
Explained TP release dynamics and provided specific reasons for underwriting loss including INR 42 crore hit.
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Question
First, if I look at your motor TP loss ratios, they have been on for the first three quarters, it is comparatively very low compared to the last year... So is there any impact of reserve releases, or this is the normalized loss ratio for motor TP going forward? The second question is on the underwriting profit. While our combined ratio has improved... but our underwriting losses have actually increased.
Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited
Now, if you look at TP... the release per claim settlement... it's a continuous process... In terms of your NEP, it is because we have a whole account treaty... Also, the underwriting loss for the quarter will have an impact of the labor wage code one-time hit of about INR 42 crore.
Answered
Medium priority
What caused the spike in annuity mix and muted retail protection growth?
Asked by Shobhit Sharma, HDFC Securities Limited
Explained annuity spike due to product changes and retail protection moderation due to base effect.
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Question
This quarter, we have seen a very sudden spike on the annuity mix. So what has led to this? Have we done some product interventions on this side? ...on the retail protection side, we have seen this growth has been kind of muted, I would say, 18%-19% for you for this quarter. So what has led to that moderation?
Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited
I think on the product mix, I would say if you look at our mix for last 5-6 quarters, it's largely stable... Last quarter, we actually changed our product proposition on annuity, brought in newer products. And that actually increased the annuity mix to about 9%-10%... In respect of retail protection... once the base kicks in, the growth will obviously come down.
Answered
Medium priority
Is motor OD loss ratio spike an industry phenomenon and will it be new normal?
Asked by Shobhit Sharma, HDFC Securities Limited
Explained industry-wide causes (GST, inflation) and indicated correction will happen.
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Question
So on motor OD loss issue now, if I see you mentioned that for the peers also, motor OD loss ratio has been rising. So is there an industry-wide phenomenon, or is there something which has changed all across the industry which has contributed to this spike? And should we expect this to be a new normal now?
Vipin Bansal, CFO, Bajaj Life Insurance
If you look at with the GST corrections, IDV dropped. And motor OD is calculated as a percentage to IDV... Also, with inflation, the cost of repairs goes up... the industry would look at correcting it as it progresses.
Answered
Medium priority
What is pricing intensity in fire and commercial lines?
Asked by Divij Punjabi, Banyan Tree Advisors
Provided specific answer on fire pricing softening and explained cyclical nature.
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Question
I had one question on the general insurance side. What does the pricing intensity look like on the fire and the other commercial lines of business, and how is it expected to be going ahead?
Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited
So right now, to answer your question specifically on the Fire portfolio, the price has softened, which it did there because, again, if you look at the results earlier, the commercial line of businesses had a better loss ratio... So because of good loss ratios and no major catastrophe even this year, obviously, the prices are right now moving down.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Why have OpEx to NWP cooled off? Is growth slowing?
Asked by Raghvesh Sharan, JM Financial
Claimed cost control and growth but did not explain the specific ratio movement.
did not directly address OpEx to NWP ratiodeflected to compliance
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Question
First, on the general insurance side, so are OPEX to NWP have materially cooled off as compared to all the peers... So do we think of it as maybe you are going slow on the new business and focusing more on the older business because we have also seen OD, at least on the motor side, the OD loss ratio go up?
Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited
The OpEx, they're getting controlled, but the claims ratio are pretty primitive... Bajaj General has been complying with it very well. It has managed its cost... we've been growing heavily on the new sales, both on retail health and motor.
Answered
Low priority
Is AMC focusing on mutual funds or alternatives like SIF?
Asked by Raghvesh Sharan, JM Financial
Clearly stated continued focus on mutual funds and plans for alternatives by FY27.
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Question
So now that we are at a scale of around INR 30,000 crore AUM, are we still looking to be focused on the mutual fund space, or are we looking at alternates SIF and all of these asset classes to grow incrementally?
Ramandeep Singh Sahni, CFO, Bajaj Finserv Limited and S. Sreenivasan, President of Insurance and Special Projects
For us, in the last couple of years, we've actually been focused on building out the mutual fund product suite... But there's also additional opportunities that come up, particularly with regard to SIS, PMS, as well as GIFT City... We will be looking some time towards the end of FY 2027... to start off a set of one or two alternative funds and possibly a PMS operation.