After loans against MFs, Jio Financial eyes LAP, loans against securities

Mumbai: After launching the loans against mutual funds and auto insurance businesses in July, Jio Financial Services Ltd is now looking to expand its secured lending portfolio through the launch of loans against property (LAP) and loans against securities in the coming months.

“We will continue to expand our product suite in the coming quarters with a few more launches across all our businesses—the bank, NBFC (non-banking financial company) and insurance solutions, and also build interesting engagement layers to keep our customer experience best in class,” MD and CEO Hitesh Kumar Sethia said in the post earnings analyst call.

During the quarter, the company undertook the beta launch of the ‘JioFinance’ mobile application which has seen 500,000 downloads as of 14 July. The number of current account savings account (Casa) customer accounts stood at over 1 million.

In July, the NBFC also beta launched its home loans business. This adds to the earlier business verticals of vendor finance launched in May 2024 and enterprise solutions for device financing in June 2024. Going forward, the company also plans to expand the insurance business, both by increasing the number of partner insurance companies and by offering more insurance products. It is also waiting for regulatory approvals for the launch of its two joint ventures (JVs) with BlackRock for asset management, and wealth management and broking.

Further, Jio Payments Bank has received regulatory approval to add 16,000 business correspondents, which will be done in a phased manner.

The management said the focus is on creating a comprehensive product portfolio across financial services sectors by leveraging the Group’s internal ecosystem to drive low acquisition costs, and leveraging emerging technology to expand the digital footprint, drive innovation and elevate efficiency to help improve margins in the coming quarters.

Jio Financial Services posted a consolidated net profit of ₹313 crore for Q1 FY25, lower than ₹332 crore in the year-ago period but marginally higher than ₹311 crore in the previous quarter.

The 6% on-year fall in profit after tax was largely on account of a fall in interest income for the quarter to ₹162 crore from ₹202 crore a year ago, and a rise in total expenses to ₹79 crore from ₹54 crore. Staff expenses rose to ₹39 crore from ₹12 crore from the previous year.

On 11 July, the NBFC received the Reserve Bank of India’s approval to operate as a CIC (Core Investment Company). The consolidated results include the financials of subsidiaries—Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings, Jio Insurance Broking, Jio Finance, Jio Payment Solutions, and Jio Leasing Services. It also includes joint ventures Jio Payments Bank and Reliance International Leasing IFSC, and associated companies Reliance Services and Holdings and Petroleum Trust.