Jio Financial Expands: New Loans Against Property and Securities After Mutual Funds Launch

Mumbai: Jio Financial Services Ltd is set to expand its loan offerings after recently launching loans against mutual funds and auto insurance in July. The company now plans to introduce loans against property (LAP) and loans against securities in the upcoming months.

Expansion Plans

Hitesh Kumar Sethia, MD and CEO, mentioned in a post-earnings analyst call that Jio Financial will continue to broaden its product range across its various businesses, including the bank, NBFC (non-banking financial company), and insurance solutions. They also aim to enhance customer engagement and experience.

New Products and Services

In the last quarter, Jio Financial beta-launched the ‘JioFinance’ mobile app, which has already seen 500,000 downloads by July 14. The number of current account savings account (Casa) customers exceeded 1 million.

In July, the NBFC also introduced home loans on a trial basis. This follows the launch of vendor finance in May 2024 and enterprise solutions for device financing in June 2024. Jio Financial plans to further expand its insurance business by increasing the number of partner insurance companies and offering more insurance products. The company is also awaiting regulatory approvals for its two joint ventures with BlackRock, focusing on asset management and wealth management and broking.

Regulatory Approvals and Future Plans

Jio Payments Bank has received approval to add 16,000 business correspondents in phases. The management aims to build a comprehensive product portfolio across financial services sectors by leveraging the internal ecosystem of the Group to keep acquisition costs low and using emerging technology to expand their digital presence, drive innovation, and improve efficiency and margins.

Financial Performance

For Q1 FY25, Jio Financial Services reported a consolidated net profit of ₹313 crore, down from ₹332 crore in the same period last year but slightly higher than ₹311 crore in the previous quarter. The 6% year-on-year decline in profit after tax was mainly due to a drop in interest income to ₹162 crore from ₹202 crore last year and an increase in total expenses to ₹79 crore from ₹54 crore. Staff expenses rose to ₹39 crore from ₹12 crore the previous year.

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