CreditAccess Grameen Limited

Financial Services — Credit Services · NSE

₹1,237.60−₹24.80 (−1.96%)

DalalBaazaar Score

66 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

Driven by negative free cash flow, small-cap size, which brings sharper price swings.

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, with both sales and profits growing well. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:10 pm

Caution warranted. Multiple fundamental metrics — flagged in red below — point to either valuation stretch, leverage risk, or weakening profitability. This doesn't mean avoid the stock outright, but it does mean the burden of proof is on the growth story to justify the current price.

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

The 60-second version of CreditAccess Grameen Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

CreditAccess Grameen Limited, a non-banking financial company, provides micro finance services for women from poor and low-income households in India.

IndustryCredit Services

SectorFinancial Services

Employees21,941

Annual revenue₹5,833 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹5,833 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹13 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹49 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 21,941 employees supports ₹26.6 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

EBITDA margin48.9%

Net margin13.3%

Revenue / employee₹26.6 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are BAJAJ FINANCE LIMITED, STATE BANK OF INDIA, HDFC BANK LTD, ICICI BANK LTD.. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

BAJAJ FINANCE LIMITEDP/E 30.2x · ROE 17.8%

STATE BANK OF INDIAP/E 10.3x · ROE 15.2%

HDFC BANK LTDP/E 15.9x · ROE 13.8%

ICICI BANK LTD.P/E 18.1x · ROE 16.5%

What is its competitive advantage?Not assessable from these ratios

For a lender, returns on capital are shaped by leverage and funding cost rather than by pricing power, so the usual financial signature of an advantage does not apply. Judge this one on deposit franchise, cost of funds and asset quality — none of which are in this data.

ROCE6.3%

ROE16.4%

Peer median ROE16.5%

What is the outlook?

15 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 19.1% and earnings to grow about 16.0% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+19.1%

Est. earnings growth+16.0%

Analysts15

What has been driving growth?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 3 years revenue moved +77% while net margin moved -47% relative to itself. What this cannot tell you is which products, customers or geographies did the work — that lives in the segment disclosures of the annual report.

Revenue effect+77%

Margin effect-47%

DalalBaazaar Score

66/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✓ Beta of 0.06 — historically steadier than the index
✗ Small Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ Profits have swung sharply from year to year — earnings are hard to forecast
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

67/ 100

Good

How good the business is, ignoring the share price entirely.

Valuation

67/ 100

Fair

What you are being asked to pay, ignoring how good the business is.

A reasonable business at a reasonable price — neither the quality nor the valuation stands out in either direction.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

16.4x

3Y Median

27.8x

40 monthly readings · mean 26.9x · range 9.8x–47.9x

Sector Median

17.0x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 41% below its 3y median of 27.8x. Cheaper than its own history, which is worth a reason too: the market may be pricing in something the backward-looking numbers do not show.

🟡Against its sector it is priced broadly in line with the peer median of 17.0x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

27.8x median over 40 months · -41%

vs. sector peers

Fair

17.0x median of 4 peers · -3%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

P/E (Trailing)

16.4x

P/B

2.53x

EV/EBITDA

14.8x

PEG

—

Dividend Yield

None

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 46.0% to 48.9% over 3 years.
Valuation below its historical average
At 16.4x the stock trades 41% below its own median of 27.8x.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 16.2% to 9.9% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 9.3% to 6.3% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

No automated checks triggered

None of the automated financial checks below were triggered on the years of data available. That is not the same as a clean bill of health — see what could not be checked.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 46.0% to 48.9%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 41% below its own median multiple. If the business performs as it has and simply re-rates back to normal, that gap is return on its own.
Earnings have proved durable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years. Consistency lowers the risk that any single bad year is structural rather than cyclical.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 16.2% to 9.9%. Each rupee of equity earns less than it did, so profit growth increasingly depends on raising more capital rather than on the existing base working harder.
Earnings are hard to forecast
Profit has swung sharply from year to year, so any single year — good or bad — is a weak guide to the next. Cyclical earnings deserve lower multiples for that reason.
Size brings its own risk
Small Cap businesses are thinly traded, so exits are harder in a falling market and single events move the price more than they would for a larger company.

🟡 Key Things to WatchMeasurable tripwires, set against where this company stands today

1Revenue growth stays above 16% a year✓ 20.9% CAGR
Latest reported year was 149.5%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 47%✓ 48.9%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Return on equity stays above 14%✓ 16.4%
For a lender this is the cleanest single read on whether the book is being grown profitably.
4Valuation vs its own median of 27.8x✓ 16.4x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

8 / 12 checks passed

✓ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✗ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✓ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✗ Generates positive free cash flow
✗ Manageable leverage (Debt/Equity < 1.0)
✓ Adequate short-term liquidity (Current Ratio ≥ 1.0)
✓ Revenue growing year-over-year
✓ Profit growing year-over-year
✓ Not trading at an extreme valuation (P/E < 40x)
✓ Not buying right at the 52-week high
✓ Analyst consensus isn't majority-sell
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

4 good · 4 neutral · 3 weak

Market Cap

₹19,836 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

16.4x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

2.53x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹75.27

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

16.4%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

6.3%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

3.03x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

149.5%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

715.2%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

-₹2,788 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

CMP

₹1,237.6

P/E (Forward)

9.5x

Improving

Below the trailing multiple — the street expects earnings to grow into the price

Operating Margin

64.6%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

39.8%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.38

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.06

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

24%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

1285.8 / 1390.6

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

40.7

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹3,297 Cr	₹4,905 Cr	₹5,539 Cr	₹5,833 Cr	+20.9%
EBITDA	₹1,517 Cr	₹2,486 Cr	₹2,796 Cr	₹2,851 Cr	+23.4%
EBITDA Margin	46.0%	50.7%	50.5%	48.9%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹826 Cr	₹1,446 Cr	₹531 Cr	₹778 Cr	-2.0%
EPS	₹51.82	₹90.41	₹33.24	₹48.44	-2.2%
ROE	16.2%	22.0%	7.6%	9.9%	—
ROCE	9.3%	11.6%	5.3%	6.3%	—
Total Debt	₹16,312 Cr	₹21,841 Cr	₹20,446 Cr	₹23,641 Cr	+13.2%
Free Cash Flow	-₹3,307 Cr	-₹4,754 Cr	₹1,092 Cr	-₹2,788 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 20.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 23.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 46.0% to 48.9% over 3 years (+2.9 pts).

🟡 PAT (Net Profit) has been broadly flat over 3 years (-2.0% a year).

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 2.2% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 16.2% to 9.9% over 3 years (-6.3 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 9.3% to 6.3% over 3 years (-3.1 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 13.2% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹31,930 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹24,088 Cr

Total Debt

₹23,641 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹1,152 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹2,770 Cr

Capex

-₹18 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

20.7%

Insider Holding

66.1%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

26 Jul 2024

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

15 Buy · 0 Hold · 0 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹1,737.47

+40.4% vs CMP

Target Range

₹1,520 – ₹1,947

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
BAJAJ FINANCE LIMITED	30.2x	17.8%
STATE BANK OF INDIA	10.3x	15.2%
HDFC BANK LTD	15.9x	13.8%
ICICI BANK LTD.	18.1x	16.5%

Recent News

1 positive1 mixed4 general

CreditAccess Grameen Share Price: Price Action and Valuation

Univest, 13 Oct

CREDITACC Forecast — Price Target — Prediction for 2027

TradingView, 25 JunAnalyst view

🟡Mixed / dependsBroker commentary — an opinion about the price rather than new information about the business.

CreditAccess Grameen surges 7%, stock hits 28-month high; here's why

Business Standard, 27 Jul

Stocks in news: HDFC Bank, M&M, Gland Pharma, CreditAccess Grameen and Bharat Forge

The Economic Times, 04 Sept

CreditAccess Grameen Q1 Net Profit Rises to ₹493 Crore, Revenue Reaches ₹1,780 Crore

Sahi, 27 JulResults

🟢Potentially positiveReported improvement. Check whether it came from volume, price or a one-off item before treating it as a trend.

CreditAccess Grameen raises $175 million through syndicated social loan facility

CNBC TV18, 12 Oct

Watch Items

This is a financial-sector business: borrowing is its raw material, not leverage in the usual sense. Debt/Equity and ROCE here aren't comparable to a manufacturer's — read them alongside NIM, GNPA and capital adequacy from the company's own disclosures.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

🟢Business QualityStrong13.9/20

🟢Financial HealthStrong17/20

🟡GrowthModest9.3/20

🟢ProfitabilityStrong10.2/15

🟢ValuationAttractive10.7/15

🟡RiskModerate4.5/10

Good business at a fair price

A sound business at a reasonable valuation. Suitable for a long-term holding, with the valuation and the direction of margins worth watching rather than the business itself.

This thesis breaks if

✓Revenue growth stays above 16% a year20.9% CAGR
✓EBITDA margin holds above 47%48.9%
✓Return on equity stays above 14%16.4%
✓Valuation vs its own median of 27.8x16.4x today