'We should double in size in 5 years'

Bajaj Finance has recently unveiled its long-range strategy for the next five years, where it has said the company will pivot from financial technology to FinAl. RAJEEV JAIN, managing director of Bajaj Finance, shares the milestones the company aims to achieve in the next five years in a telephonic interview with Manojit Saha. Edited excerpts:

- RAJEEV JAIN

Bajaj Finance has recently announced its next five-year growth road map, which will be powered by artificial intelligence (AI). What was the thought process?

We have unveiled our AI technology transformation strategy. As a firm, we have generally been huge beneficiaries of using technology early.

We have been early adopters of new and emerging technologies, and it has helped us grow from ₹2,500 crore to ₹3.7 trillion by the end of September. So, clearly, we think the time has come for AI to be a central part of our strategic framework to transform the business yet again. Businesses are getting transformed every three years nowadays.

We believe we are in the AI age and should deploy AI at scale. The way we have defined it is: create an AI-enabled technology architecture that is embedded across all our processes. I think that's the most important part, rather than deploying it in a few areas. It should help us grow revenues, improve customer engagement, reduce costs, improve controllership, and, in the process, improve profitability.

What are the milestones Bajaj Finance wants to achieve by the end of this five-year period, i.e., 2029?

So far, we used to think that we wanted to be a 100-million-customer franchise company. We will cross 100 million this year. If you take an organic way to grow the business, you will only reach 160-170 million. As part of the strategy, we have said that strategic partnerships will be one of the ways to reach a 200-million-customer franchise.

As part of 3.0, we aim to be a 200-million-customer franchise company. We should continue to deliver similar profitability ratios and return on equity and more than double in size over the next five years.