1. At a Glance – Small Bank, Big Pipes, Zero Loans
Fino Payments Bank is that weird kid in the banking classroom who is not allowed to lend money but still makes decent pocket money by moving everyone else’s cash. Market cap sits at ₹1,843 crore, current price at ₹222, while the stock has politely disappointed everyone with –22.9% return over 1 year. Meanwhile, on the ground, Fino quietly processed ₹2.25 lakh crore of digital throughput in FY25, served 1.43 crore customers, and ran 19 lakh merchant outlets covering 97% of India’s pin codes.
PAT for FY25 came in at ₹71.5 crore, EPS at ₹8.33, ROE 13.3%, and deposits climbed to ₹2,091 crore. Capital adequacy is a jaw-dropping 80.5%, which is basically RBI saying: “Relax, this bank will not blow up tomorrow.”
But here’s the masala: most profits come from other income, not traditional banking spreads. The bank earns, but in a very “UPI-with-attitude” way. Curious already? Good. Let’s dig.
2. Introduction – The Bank That Isn’t Really a Bank (Yet)
Fino Payments Bank exists to solve one problem India pretends it has solved but hasn’t: last-mile financial access. This is not HNI banking, not startup credit cards, not flashy BNPL apps burning VC money. This is hardcore Bharat banking – kirana stores, CSCs, rural merchants, migrant remittances, and cash that refuses to die.
Payments banks are legally handcuffed. No lending, no credit risk, no balance-sheet heroics. You take deposits, facilitate payments, earn fees, park money in safe instruments, and smile politely. Many payments banks tried this model and quietly died. Fino didn’t. It survived, scaled, and is now knocking on RBI’s door for Small Finance Bank (SFB) conversion.
That conversion is not just cosmetic. It’s existential. Without lending, growth caps out.
With lending, the entire profit equation changes. Q3 FY26 and recent RBI announcements make this story spicy.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Think of Fino as India’s biggest banking middleman.
- It doesn’t chase customers directly.
- It arms merchants to do banking on its behalf.
- Merchants already have trust in villages and semi-urban India.
- Fino monetises transactions, not loans.
Core pillars:
- Asset-Light Model
115 branches. That’s it. Everything else is merchant-led. - Digitising Cash
Cash comes in locally, gets digitised, moves through the system, and often comes back as cash. RBI cries. Fino smiles. - Ownership & Annuity
CASA balances, float income, repeat transactions. Slow, boring, predictable money.
UPI and digital payment services now form 15% of Q1 FY25 revenues, and Fino’s UPI ecosystem share rose from 0.94% to 1.62% in a single year. For a bank targeting ₹2–5 lakh income customers, that’s impressive plumbing.
4. Financials Overview – The Quarter That Lost Its Charm
Quarterly Comparison Table (₹ crore)
| Metric | Latest Qtr (Dec’25) | YoY Qtr (Dec’24) | Prev Qtr (Sep’25) | YoY % | QoQ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 63 | 49 | 60 | 28.6% | 5.0% |
| PBT | 17 | 28 | 21 | -39.3% | -19.0% |
| PAT | 12 | 23 | 15 | -47.8% | -20.0% |
| EPS (₹) | 1.47 | 2.78 | 1.84 | -47.1% | -20.1% |
Yes, revenue is growing. Yes, profits fell. Why?
Because Fino’s profit engine depends heavily on other income, and Q3
