1. At a Glance
Esaar (India) Ltd is that distant cousin who keeps borrowing money at weddings and never returns it, yet still shows up in a new kurta every year. A Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) with 95% of its loan book unsecured (yes, unsecured), a promoter holding of barely 3.1% (blink and you’ll miss it), and “other income” making up 76% of FY22 revenue. Throw in an open offer at ₹8 while the stock runs at ₹17+, and you have a finance company that looks less like HDFC and more like a Netflix crime docu-series.
2. Introduction
Founded in 1951, Esaar should have been the wise grandfather of Indian NBFCs. Instead, it feels like that one old relative who keeps changing his will depending on who brings him sweets.
The company officially provides all sorts of financial services—home loans, gold loans, business loans, MSME financing, microfinance, developer and construction finance, even capital market finance. Basically, everything under the sun except maybe “loan to buy Maggi in the hostel canteen.”
But peel back the glossy list and the numbers scream louder than the board minutes. Secured loans? Just 5%. Unsecured? A whopping 95%. This is not lending—it’s gambling with an Excel sheet. And surprise, surprise, operating profits vanish while “other income” keeps popping up like a magician’s rabbit.
And then the real drama—open offers at ₹8 while retail investors have already chased it to ₹17+. With promoters barely holding anything, it feels like the company is being passed around more than the microphone at a political rally.
So, is Esaar a hidden phoenix or just another penny-stock soap opera? Let’s play detective.
3. Business Model (WTF Do They Even Do?)
Officially: Asset Finance.
Unofficially: Asset-light, promoter-light, and maybe even business-light.
The company’s services portfolio reads like an overenthusiastic pamphlet from a shady coaching class:
- Retail Credit: home, business, personal, vehicle, education, agri, LAP, LAS, project loans—you name it.
- Startup Funding: loans, mentorship, seed funding (because who better to guide startups than a company struggling itself?).
But here’s the twist—revenues aren’t actually coming from these grand services. In FY22:
- Interest income was just 23%.
- Securities trading: 1%.
- “Other income”: 76% (that dreaded line in P&L which investors hate more than Monday mornings).
It’s like a restaurant advertising “50 dishes” but actually surviving on renting out its parking lot.
Loan
