World's Best Consumer Finance Firms to Gain From India Vote
- Government boosts spending around election time in India
- Bajaj Finance has returned most to investors over past 5 years
Photographer: Vivek Prakash/Bloomberg
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Indians increase purchases of refrigerators and TV sets around election time as the government puts more money in the hands of voters, which stands to benefit some of the world’s most profitable consumer finance companies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is following his predecessor in boosting spending before polls due early 2019, a practice that has sparked surges in stocks of consumer finance firms. Bajaj Finance Ltd. -- with a world-beating return of about 70 percent over the past five years compared with 30 percent for Mastercard Inc. and 3.5 percent for Samsung Card Co. -- saw its best performance during this period in the 2014 election year.