Elcid Investments Ltd Q2 FY26 — The ₹1.26 Lakh Share, ₹12,664 Crore Secret and the Call Auction Circus
1. At a Glance
Elcid Investments Ltd — the company where every shareholder is either a Vakil, a legend, or a lost retail investor waiting for justice since the Asian Paints partition of 1942. As of Q2 FY26 (Sep 2025), this sleepy NBFC, with a market cap of ₹2,520 crore and a stock price of ₹1,26,000, still holds its most glittering asset — a 4.2% stake in Asian Paints, valued at a jaw-dropping ₹12,664 crore. Yes, you read that right: ₹12,664 crore in value, wrapped inside a ₹2,520 crore market cap. If this isn’t a Bollywood-level identity crisis, what is?
The stock trades at just 0.27x its book value (₹4,65,496) and P/E of 33.2x, while delivering PAT of ₹31.7 crore on sales of ₹44 crore in the latest quarter. The OPM? An absurdly rich 94%, because when your only expense is existing, margins tend to behave like Warren Buffett’s smile — stable and smug.
Oh, and in case you missed the meme-worthy moment — BSE finally relisted Elcid in October 2024 through a “special call auction” at ₹2.36 lakh per share. Investors who had once screamed “price discovery” finally got their moment. Now, a year later, the price has cooled, the hype has faded, but the absurdity remains immortal.
2. Introduction
Imagine an investment company so secretive, so ancient, that it feels like a treasure chest locked inside an RBI vault. That’s Elcid Investments Ltd — the quiet custodian of old Asian Paints money and the unsung legend of the Vakil family.
Once upon a time, in 1942, four friends built Asian Paints — and decades later, one of them, Arvind Vakil, built Elcid as the family’s fortress of wealth. Fast forward to 2025, and Elcid is basically a holding company masquerading as an NBFC. It doesn’t sell loans. It doesn’t chase fintech dreams. It simply sits on shares of Asian Paints like a yogi sits on enlightenment.
For years, its story has been financial folklore — a public company with only 40,750 shares, trading at ₹15 while owning assets worth lakhs per share. Investors begged SEBI for price discovery; courts got involved; everyone waited for the “Elcid call auction” — the grand ceremony that finally came in October 2024 when BSE relisted it at ₹2.36 lakh. The internet went nuts.
But here’s the twist — the stock’s now down ~47% from that auction peak. The NBFC’s book is richer than most midcaps, but its ROE of 1.47% makes even a bank FD look adventurous. The company is almost debt-free, owns shares of one of India’s most profitable giants, but refuses to show any hustle. It’s like owning a Rolls Royce and using it as a bookshelf.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Let’s be real: Elcid Investments doesn’t do much. It’s an RBI-registered NBFC under the Investment Company category. That’s fancy talk for “we don’t lend, we just hold shares.”
Through its two wholly-owned subsidiaries — Murahar Investments & Trading Co Ltd and Suptaswar Investments & Trading Co Ltd — Elcid indirectly holds shares in Asian Paints (0.60% and 0.68% respectively), while itself owning about 2.9% directly. Put together, that’s roughly 4.2% of Asian Paints, which makes it one of the most valuable holding companies in India per square inch of paperwork.
Revenue for Elcid comes from two main sources:
Dividend income from its Asian Paints stake.
Capital gains, occasionally recognized when they shuffle holdings.
Operating expenses are microscopic — sometimes less than ₹1 crore per quarter — making the Operating Margin (OPM) a hilarious 94%. It’s like a restaurant that sells only water but reports Michelin-star margins.
So yes, technically it’s an NBFC, but spiritually, it’s a museum of wealth.
Commentary: Elcid’s income swings are like a soap opera of dividends — Asian Paints declares a dividend, Elcid smiles. No dividend, and the quarterly PAT collapses like a midcap IPO. The YoY fall of 27% in PAT simply reflects timing of dividend recognition. For a company whose cost is ₹1 and income is ₹100, every accounting quarter is either “peace” or “boom.”
EV/EBITDA = 23.5x → inline with holding peers (20x–25x). Thus, EV-based range = ₹1.1–₹1.5 lakh per share.
Method 3: Book Value Approach
Book Value = ₹4,65,496 per share.
P/B for investment cos = 0.25–0.5x.
Fair Range = ₹1,16,000 – ₹2,32,000 per share.
✅ Educational Fair Value Range: ₹1.1 lakh – ₹1.6 lakh per share. This fair value range is for educational purposes only and not investment advice.
6. What’s Cooking – News, Triggers, Drama
Oh, there’s always drama when the Vakils are involved.
RBI Registration (Sep 2025): Elcid and its two subs finally received RBI’s Type-I NBFC-ND license — formalizing their investment company status. Basically, RBI said, “You’re not lending, but at least you’re legal.”
Block Deal Madness (Sep 2025): Hydra Trading Pvt Ltd sold its 9.04% stake (18,082 shares) to Upnishad Trustee Advisory Services Pvt Ltd via a block deal. Translation: One secretive investor handed over the golden ticket to another.
Leadership Shuffle (May 2025): Ragini Vakil resigned as CEO, stayed on as Executive Director. Amrita Vakil stepped in as Whole-Time Director. Clearly, even the boardroom is a family WhatsApp group.
Re-listing (Oct 2024): The big one. BSE introduced a special call auction mechanism to fix Elcid’s price. It relisted at ₹2,36,250 — an unprecedented event for India’s holding
