Bajaj Finance Unveils Five-Year AI Integration Plan to Drive Growth and Cut Costs

Bajaj Finance bets big on AI to drive growth, cut costs

Mumbai: Bajaj Finance, India's largest non-bank consumer financier has unveiled a new business plan for the next five years which envisages integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across all its processes to improve customer engagement, grow revenue, enhance productivity, strengthen controls and reduce operating and credit costs. In chat with ET, managing director Rajeev Jain said the transition to an all-encompassing AI based system will improve customer conversion rates at a much lower cost while ensuring the loan growth remains at current rate or moves to a faster trajectory. "We have already deployed AI in some use cases this year and plan total adopting by December 2026. At the current run rate we are saving Rs 140 crore to Rs 150 crore per year compared to last year. But the possibilities are infinite in terms of significant improvement in conversion rates. Costs will also be lower with growth at a similar or faster rates," Jain said. In a presentation to analysts and investors, Jain said Bajaj Finance targets increasing total customer base to more than 200 million in fiscal ended March 2029 from 92 million now, increasing cross sell customers to more than 115 million from 58 million and improving share of retail credit to more than 4% from less than 3% currently. Jain said adoption of AI will help Bajaj Finance reach out to more customers faster at a cheaper cost and in a more structured way, freeing up at least 25% of the cost of its agents leaving them more time to do more productive activities. "Today we send about 160 million SMS' after curating the data we have. This could potentially go to more than 500 million with targeted AI generated messages which are more engaging, our propensity to make a loan goes up. Right now we can push a personal loan but cannot judge is the same person would be interested in a home loan for example. AI can allow customers to make a choice on what loan they want, book an appointment with a sales manager and also in the future automate the eKYC procedure," Jain said. Jain called the adoption of AI as a mega-megatrend in the market currently and will transform the way Bajaj Finance does business by March 2029. "For example, audit is one area where companies have less staff but it's a high importance function. By using AI we can do an 100% accurate audit which will significantly enhance our assurance functions," he said. Jain said the cost of applying AI to normal business operations has fallen rapidly and will come down further. "In some cases where it used to cost $40 till last year, the cost has come down to $3 to $9 in the last one year. Costs are coming down very fast and will come down further. But to use AI well you need to be fully on cloud which is what we have down in the last five years and where we have the advantage," he said. On Wednesday, Bajaj Finance shares had risen 2.6% higher to close at Rs 7,116 a piece after the presentation was released on the exchanges, the stock built on the gains to end at Rs 7123 a share on Thursday.

Bajaj Finance's five year plan has a deep AI focus

Mumbai: Bajaj Finance, India's largest non-bank consumer financier has unveiled a new business plan for the next five years which envisages integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across all its processes to improve customer engagement, grow revenue, enhance productivity, strengthen controls and reduce operating and credit costs. In chat with ET, managing director Rajeev Jain said the transition to an all-encompassing AI based system will improve customer conversion rates at a much lower cost while ensuring the loan growth remains at current rate or moves to a faster trajectory. "We have already deployed AI in some use cases this year and plan total adopting by December 2026. At the current run rate we are saving Rs 140 crore to Rs 150 crore per year compared to last year. But the possibilities are infinite in terms of significant improvement in conversion rates. Costs will also be lower with growth at a similar or faster rates," Jain said. In a presentation to analysts and investors, Jain said Bajaj Finance targets increasing total customer base to more than 200 million in fiscal ended March 2029 from 92 million now, increasing cross sell customers to more than 115 million from 58 million and improving share of retail credit to more than 4% from less than 3% currently. Jain said adoption of AI will help Bajaj Finance reach out to more customers faster at a cheaper cost and in a more structured way, freeing up at least 25% of the cost of its agents leaving them more time to do more productive activities. "Today we send about 160 million SMS' after curating the data we have. This could potentially go to more than 500 million with targeted AI generated messages which are more engaging, our propensity to make a loan goes up. Right now we can push a personal loan but cannot judge is the same person would be interested in a home loan for example. AI can allow customers to make a choice on what loan they want, book an appointment with a sales manager and also in the future automate the eKYC procedure," Jain said. Jain called the adoption of AI as a mega-megatrend in the market currently and will transform the way Bajaj Finance does business by March 2029. "For example, audit is one area where companies have less staff but it's a high importance function. By using AI we can do an 100% accurate audit which will significantly enhance our assurance functions," he said. Jain said the cost of applying AI to normal business operations has fallen rapidly and will come down further. "In some cases where it used to cost $40 till last year, the cost has come down to $3 to $9 in the last one year. Costs are coming down very fast and will come down further. But to use AI well you need to be fully on cloud which is what we have down in the last five years and where we have the advantage," he said. On Wednesday, Bajaj Finance shares had risen 2.6% higher to close at Rs 7,116 a piece after the presentation was released on the exchanges, the stock built on the gains to end at Rs 7123 a share on Thursday.

Bajaj Finance shares in focus as co bets big on AI to drive growth and cut costs

Bajaj Finance is implementing a five-year AI integration plan to boost customer engagement, revenue, and productivity while reducing costs. Managing director Rajeev Jain projects significant cost savings and improved conversion rates. The company aims to expand its customer base to over 200 million by 2029 and increase its share of retail credit.Bajaj Finance shares will remain in focus on Friday after India's largest non-bank consumer financier has unveiled a new business plan for the next five years which envisages integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across all its processes to improve customer engagement, grow revenue, enhance productivity, strengthen controls and reduce operating and credit costs. In chat with ET, managing director Rajeev Jain said the transition to an all-encompassing AI based system will improve customer conversion rates at a much lower cost while ensuring the loan growth remains at current rate or moves to a faster trajectory. "We have already deployed AI in some use cases this year and plan total adopting by December 2026. At the current run rate we are saving Rs 140 crore to Rs 150 crore per year compared to last year. But the possibilities are infinite in terms of significant improvement in conversion rates. Costs will also be lower with growth at a similar or faster rates," Jain said. Also Read: Pharma, Capital Goods stks new darlings of fund houses In a presentation to analysts and investors, Jain said Bajaj Finance targets increasing total customer base to more than 200 million in fiscal ended March 2029 from 92 million now, increasing cross sell customers to more than 115 million from 58 million and improving share of retail credit to more than 4% from less than 3% currently. Jain said adoption of AI will help Bajaj Finance reach out to more customers faster at a cheaper cost and in a more structured way, freeing up at least 25% of the cost of its agents leaving them more time to do more productive activities. "Today we send about 160 million SMS' after curating the data we have. This could potentially go to more than 500 million with targeted AI generated messages which are more engaging, our propensity to make a loan goes up. Right now we can push a personal loan but cannot judge is the same person would be interested in a home loan for example. AI can allow customers to make a choice on what loan they want, book an appointment with a sales manager and also in the future automate the eKYC procedure," Jain said. Jain called the adoption of AI as a mega-megatrend in the market currently and will transform the way Bajaj Finance does business by March 2029. "For example, audit is one area where companies have less staff but it's a high importance function. By using AI we can do an 100% accurate audit which will significantly enhance our assurance functions," he said. Jain said the cost of applying AI to normal business operations has fallen rapidly and will come down further. "In some cases where it used to cost $40 till last year, the cost has come down to $3 to $9 in the last one year. Costs are coming down very fast and will come down further. But to use AI well you need to be fully on cloud which is what we have down in the last five years and where we have the advantage," he said. Also Read: Stocks to buy today: Ultratech, DMart, Bajaj Auto on investors' radar On Thursday, Bajaj Finance shares closed at Rs 7,123.05, up 0.1% on the BSE, while the benchmark Sensex declined 0.29%. The stock has declined 2% so far in 2024 and 5% over the past three years, with the company's market capitalization now at Rs 4,40,914 crore. (Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)