01 — At a Glance
The Kirana Banker That Just Went Public. And The Market Is Still Figuring Out If It Likes Them.
- 52-Week High / Low₹150 / ₹93
- Q3 FY26 Revenue₹443 Cr
- Q3 FY26 PAT₹43 Cr
- TTM EPS₹8.93
- Annualised EPS (Avg Q1-Q3 × 4)₹6.68
- Book Value / ShareNot Disclosed
- AUM (Dec 2025)₹6,028 Cr
- Gross NPA (Jun 2025)4.6%
- 90+ Days Past Due (Sep 2025)5.1%
- IPO Size₹1,450 Cr (Feb 2026)
Flash Summary: Aye Finance went public in February 2026 after ~33 years as a private NBFC. Q3 FY26 PAT of ₹43 crore represents 87% YoY profit growth, but here’s the kicker — asset quality is deteriorating faster than collection efficiency is improving. Gross NPA at 4.6% (Jun 2025), 90+ DPD at 5.1% (Sep 2025). The company says it’s just a speed bump. ICRA says it’s worth monitoring. And the stock, at ₹108, trades at 13.9x P/E with an ROE of just 12% — not exactly premium pricing for a high-growth NBFC. The real question: is this a diamond in the rough, or a rough diamond that’s about to get rougher?
02 — Introduction
Delhi’s Quiet Lender to India’s Forgotten Businesses
Imagine 8 PM on a Monday evening in a small town in Madhya Pradesh. A shopkeeper is sitting outside his kirana store, counting the day’s cash. He needs ₹2 lakh for inventory, but HDFC Bank won’t return his calls. SBI will ask for 47 documents and an affidavit signed by a witness from the Mughal era. So he calls Aye Finance. Forty-eight hours later, ₹2 lakh hits his account. No GST certificate. No ITR. No formal documentation. Just business survival.
This is Aye Finance’s universe. A Delhi-based NBFC-ML (Non-Banking Financial Company – Middle Layer) founded in 1993, lending ₹1–2 lakh tickets to micro-scale MSMEs — the businesses that comprise 98% of all enterprises in India but get zero love from the formal financial system. Think kiranas, dairies, small manufacturers, traders, and service providers. The kind of businesses that make a nation work but nobody knows their names.
The company has grown at a 25% CAGR in AUM since FY20, reaching ₹6,028 crore as of H1 FY26. It just went public in February 2026 with a ₹1,450 crore IPO (₹710 crore fresh, ₹565 crore offer for sale). The stock opened at ₹100, bounced to ₹150, and is now hanging around ₹108. Management is confident about growth. Investors are nervous about credit quality. And the rating agencies are watching like parents at a school report card meeting.
ICRA Rating Note (Nov 2025): [ICRA]A (Stable) assigned to the ₹400-crore NCD programme; reaffirmed for bank facilities. The rating acknowledges comfortable capitalisation and growth plans but flags “deterioration in asset quality and earnings profile” as a key concern. Translation: “You’re growing fast and your balance sheet is fine, but the quality of that growth is getting sketchy. Watch the delinquencies.”
03 — Business Model: Lending to People Banks Won’t Touch
The Underwriting Model That Google Capital Mentored (Apparently)
Members get full access to every article.
