BAJAJ ON THE RISE
AT THE END of the last decade, there were many changes in Mumbaibased Bajaj group. In 2008, it demerged its two wheeler and finance businesses and two years later it exited scooter manufacturing to focus on motorcycles. The market valued the Bajaj group companies – Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Electricals, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Holdings & Investment and Mukand – at around ` 54,000 crore in 2010. Thanks to the aggressive market expansion of financial services and auto businesses, the average market value shot up to ` 1.8 lakh crore in 2016. Since then, it has moved up another 76 per cent to ` 3.16 lakh crore till November 23. Flagship business Bajaj Auto registered a 14.5 per cent jump in the consolidated profit to ` 4,800 crore in the last fiscal. Bajaj Finserv’s net profit rose over 24 per cent to ` 3,450 crore, while Bajaj Finance’s profit saw exponential growth, rising 44 per cent to ` 1,840 crore. These three together are valued about ` 2.8 lakh crore in the market now. Analysts expect more upside as demand picks up.