01 — At a Glance
The Fintech That’s Having the Most Eventful Quarter Since Its IPO
- 52-Week High / Low₹339 / ₹165
- Q3 FY26 Revenue₹63 Cr
- Q3 FY26 PAT₹12.25 Cr
- Annualised EPS (avg Q1–Q3 × 4)₹7.39
- Full-Year EPS (FY25)₹11.12
- Book Value₹90.5
- Price to Book2.03x
- Dividend Yield0.00%
- Debt / Equity3.93x
- SFB In-Principle Approval✓ Dec 2025
The Audit Bulletin: In a quarter where Fino delivered ₹63 Cr revenue (+27.6% YoY), posted ₹12.25 Cr PAT (-37.6% YoY), and watched its stock crater 37.1% in three months, the company also managed to get RBI’s in-principle approval to become a Small Finance Bank, got raided by GST authorities, saw its MD arrested on Feb 27, 2026 — and then issued a press release saying “operations remain normal.” The optimism is almost admirable.
02 — Introduction
Welcome to India’s Most Dramatic Payments Bank
Let’s set the scene. You run a payments bank. Your business model involves collecting small deposits from rural India, routing cash through a network of 19 lakh merchants, and somehow making money in a world where UPI is free. Respectfully, this is not an easy job. It is, however, an eventful one.
Fino Payments Bank started life as “Financial Inclusion Network Operations” — a noble-sounding enterprise born to bank the unbanked. The pitch was simple: go where HDFC won’t go. Serve the rickshaw-wallah, the ASHA worker, the migrant labourer sending money home. Build 19 lakh outlets, earn tiny margins on enormous transaction volumes, and compound quietly into India’s financial infrastructure.
And it mostly worked. From ₹16 Cr revenue in FY18 to ₹237 Cr in TTM, from perpetual losses to consistent profitability since FY21. The company IPO’d in 2021, RBI recently gave it the golden ticket to convert into a Small Finance Bank, and its CASA base has grown to 1.68 crore accounts with average deposits of ₹2,496 crore.
But Q3 FY26 arrived with the energy of a DGGI raid — which, coincidentally, also arrived. Revenue grew nicely. Profit fell hard. The MD got arrested. GST authorities came calling. And yet, the concall in February 2026 was calm, professional, and full of plans for a ₹8,000–10,000 crore loan book by FY30. Investors sitting on a -37% three-month return stared at their screens wondering if they accidentally invested in a thriller novel.
Concall Note (Feb 2026): “RBI in-principle SFB approval is the most significant development till date… we are the first and only payments bank to reach this milestone.” — Fino Management. Nothing like burying the lead while your quarterly profit is doing a limbo competition with zero.
03 — Business Model: WTF Do They Even Do?
They Bank People Who Don’t Have Banks. Mostly.
Think of Fino as the middleman that the entire Indian banking system quietly relies on but never invites to award ceremonies. The company operates as a Business Correspondent (BC) for several banks — meaning it provides banking services on behalf of actual banks, at locations actual banks refuse to open branches in. That’s 97% of India’s pin codes, by Fino’s own count.
The model is asset-light by design and by compulsion — RBI regulations prevent payments banks from giving loans. So Fino makes money the old-fashioned way: transaction fees. You send ₹500 home via a Fino merchant, they clip a small fee. You open a CASA account, they earn float income. You pay a bill, they earn a commission. Repeat 237.5 crore times a year (that’s their transaction count for FY25).
Their revenue mix in FY25 was roughly: Digital Payments (30%), CASA including float income (28%), Domestic Remittances (18%), Cash Management Services (8%), BC Banking (7%), AePS (5%), Micro ATM (5%), Treasury (6%). Sounds diversified. In reality, the parts that are growing (CASA, digital) are also the lowest-margin segments, and the parts that are dying (remittances, AEPS, MATM) were historically profitable. This transition is the entire Fino story right now.
Pin Codes97%India Coverage
Merchants19 LakhFY25
CASA Accounts1.68 CrQ3 FY26
Avg Deposits₹2,496 CrQ3 FY26, +32% YoY
The Conversion Bet: The entire investment thesis is now pivoting to the SFB conversion. Once Fino can lend, it unlocks 10% NIM on a secured loan book, targets 20% ROE over time, and stops being a rounding error in the financial sector. Target: loan book of ₹8,000–10,000 crore by FY30. SFB operations expected to start Q4 FY27 / Q1 FY28. That is 18-24 months away. A lot of quiet waiting ahead.
💬 Drop a comment: Have you ever used a Fino merchant for a money transfer? Did you know that ₹2 from your transaction helped fund an SFB ambition?
04 — Financials Overview
Q3 FY26: Revenue Up, Profit Down, Confusion Up More
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