Poonawalla Fincorp reported a strong March quarter performance, with profit rising sharply on sequential improvement in margins, higher lending income and stable asset quality. The non-banking finance company on Tuesday reported a profit after tax of Rs 255 crore for the quarter ended March 2026, compared with Rs 150 crore in the December quarter, marking a 70% sequential jump.Assets under management crossed the Rs 60,000 crore milestone and stood at Rs 60,348 crore at the end of March, the company said in its audited quarterly results.Net interest income, including fees and other income, rose 78% YoY to Rs 1,276 crore during the quarter.Pre-provision operating profit came in at Rs 695 crore, up 109% YoY, reflecting stronger operating leverage and higher business volumes.Net interest margin, including fees and other income, improved to 9.05% in the March quarter from 8.62% in the December quarter, an expansion of 43 basis points sequentially. The lender also reported improvement in asset quality.Gross non-performing assets stood at 1.44% at the end of March, compared with 1.51% in the previous quarter. Net non-performing assets improved to 0.74% from 0.80% in the December quarter.Credit cost as a percentage of average AUM eased to 2.51% in the March quarter from 2.62% in the previous quarter. Stage 1 assets, which represent the healthiest portion of the loan book, stood at 97.5% of on-book assets compared with 97.4% in the previous quarter.The company said its secured-to-unsecured on-book mix stood at 54:46 during the quarter. Capital adequacy ratio stood at 16.83% as of March 31, with Tier-I capital at 15.90%, both above regulatory requirements.Following its recently completed Rs 2,500 crore qualified institutional placement, the company said its simulated capital adequacy ratio would rise to 20.74% based on the March balance sheet, giving it additional headroom for growth.Liquidity buffer stood at Rs 7,590 crore as of March 2026. Cost of borrowing declined marginally to 7.63%, lower by 2 basis points compared with the previous quarter.Commenting on the results, Managing Director and CEO Arvind Kapil said the company had reached an “inflection point” in its growth journey. We have reached a pivotal inflection point in our growth trajectory. By simultaneously expanding our yields and optimizing our operating architecture, we are seeing a powerful expansion in incremental NIMs, he said.Poonawalla Fincorp said it continued to invest in technology, adding 19 new AI projects during the quarter, taking the total number of AI-led initiatives to 76, of which 42 have already been implemented.