Intermission E02: Bajaj Finance

Description

Sell a Bajaj scooter, finance their EMIs. For years, that was the entire purpose of Bajaj Auto Finance. But consumers in India wanted much more. They outfitted their homes with new television sets, refrigerators, and washing machines. They wanted iPhones, hair transplants, fitness equipment and more.Lending for those hinted at a much larger opportunity. And the Bajaj group seized it. Bajaj Auto Finance became Bajaj Finance. A legacy auto-financing arm went on to create India’s consumer credit infrastructure, shaping how millions buy things. Today, Bajaj Finance manages a loan book of over Rs 5 lakh crore, serves more than 119 million customers, and is valued roughly Rs 6 lakh crore. It is twice as large as Bajaj Auto, the parent company it was spun out of.This is the story of how that happened. Tune in!Our team has built an interactive webpage for Bajaj Finance. It’s a research guide to this episode. Check it out here: https://the-ken.com/story/why-you-cant-ignore-bajaj-finances-call/Additional material: Saurabh Mukerjea’s analysis of Bajaj Finance: https://open.spotify.com/episode/70JSD3LIE16jcsGSjhjtr9?go=1&sp_cid=e2ae99a929ea25663dee6c3cf825b11d&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop&si=qTrmTQ0cS-GUeNDEct3COw&nd=1&dlsi=0aa636ff1f8d44f0The Harvard Business case study on Bajaj Finance: https://store.hbr.org/product/bajaj-finance-building-an-omnipresent-financial-services-firm/523040?sku=523040-PDF-ENGInside Bajaj Finance’s aggressive call-to-sell-loan strategy: https://the-ken.com/story/why-you-cant-ignore-bajaj-finances-call/Credits for chapter images: Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Group, Business Today/Bajaj Group, Fortune/Bajaj Group and Wikipedia.Credits: Hosts: Rohin Dharmakumar, Seetharaman GPodcast Producer: Vidhatri Rao Director: Vijay Subramaniam, Video Producer: Vishnu SSound Design and Technical Producer: Rajiv CNLead Researcher: Raghav BatraArt Direction: Kavipriya OGData Visualisation: Anuj DebnathProduction Agency: Nesara FilmsCreative Direction: Sunayana KashyapDoP: Subash KPMotion Graphics:⁠⁠ Karthi