IFCI Limited

Financial Services — Credit Services · NSE

₹66.75−₹1.54 (−2.26%)

DalalBaazaar Score

62 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

Driven by small-cap size, which brings sharper price swings, a very high earnings multiple, which leaves little margin for disappointment, falling profits.

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, but sales are shrinking. Valuation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 8:28 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

IFCI Limited provides non-banking financial services to the public sector in India.

IndustryCredit Services

SectorFinancial Services

Employees114

Annual revenue₹1,350 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,350 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹13 reaches shareholders as profit. Each of its 114 employees supports ₹11.85 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹11.85 Cr

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.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

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.

Peer median ROE16.5%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +39% while net margin moved -163% 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+39%

Margin effect-163%

DalalBaazaar Score

62/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ P/E of 104.3x is demanding — it needs sustained high growth to justify
• P/E is close to its own historical median of 102.5x

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

67/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

41/ 100

Expensive

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

A good business, but the price already reflects that. The quality is real; the question is whether you are overpaying for it today.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

104.3x

2Y Median

102.5x

28 monthly readings · mean 113.4x · range 73.7x–178.4x

Sector Median

17.0x

median of 4 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 2y median of 102.5x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

⚠️Against its sector it trades 514% above the peer median of 17.0x.

vs. its own history

Fair

102.5x median over 28 months · +2%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

17.0x median of 4 peers · +514%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

—

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from -5.5% to 2.0%.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

1 item require attention · 1 watch

🟡Shareholders have been dilutedOwnership
Shares outstanding are up 23% over 3 years — each existing share owns a smaller slice of the company.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

No clear supporting case emerges from the available numbers.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

A premium to the sector to defend
It trades 514% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.
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 9% a year✓ 11.5% CAGR
Latest reported year was -6.3%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2Return on equity stays above 8%✗ 2.0%
For a lender this is the cleanest single read on whether the book is being grown profitably.
3Valuation vs its own median of 102.5x✓ 104.3x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

4 / 9 checks passed

✗ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✓ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✓ Generates positive free cash flow
✓ Manageable leverage (Debt/Equity < 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
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

3 good · 4 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹17,985 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

104.3x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

1.97x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹0.64

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

2.0%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

Not meaningful

N/A for lenders

Banks and NBFCs don't report capital employed the way other businesses do

Debt/Equity

0.23x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-6.3%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

-20.0%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

None

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

Free Cash Flow

₹221 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

19.0x

Improving

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

Operating Margin

24.1%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

12.7%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.67

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

33%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

70.2 / 78.3

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

35.4

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹975 Cr	₹1,445 Cr	₹1,421 Cr	₹1,350 Cr	+11.5%
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹208 Cr	₹104 Cr	₹171 Cr	₹181 Cr	—
EPS	₹-0.95	₹0.42	₹0.65	₹0.69	—
ROE	-5.5%	2.3%	2.0%	2.0%	—
Total Debt	₹6,020 Cr	₹5,368 Cr	₹3,714 Cr	₹3,523 Cr	-16.4%
Free Cash Flow	-₹401 Cr	-₹32 Cr	-₹1,031 Cr	₹221 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 11.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has turned positive, from -₹208 Cr to ₹181 Cr.

🟢 EPS has turned positive, from ₹-0.95 to ₹0.69.

🟢 ROE has risen from -5.5% to 2.0% over 3 years (+7.5 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 16.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹401 Cr to ₹221 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹26,570 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹11,065 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹8,162 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹280 Cr

Capex

-₹59 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

3.5%

Insider Holding

73.1%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

17 Feb 2016

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

4 mixed2 general

IFCI share price jumps 14% in 3 sessions - Can the stock rise further? Tech experts decode?

Livemint, 12 OctPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move, which is not by itself a change in the business. Worth finding the cause before reading it as either good or bad.

IFCI shares slide 7% after stellar 30% monthly surge amid NSE IPO buzz

The Economic Times, 08 SeptPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move, which is not by itself a change in the business. Worth finding the cause before reading it as either good or bad.

IFCI Share Price Jumps 9% Despite Weak Market: What Lies Ahead?

Univest, 08 OctPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move, which is not by itself a change in the business. Worth finding the cause before reading it as either good or bad.

'Unclean Hands': Delhi High Court Dismisses PIL Challenging IFCI's NSE Share Divestment, Imposes ₹5 Lakh...

Live Law, 25 Aug

IFCI, NIACL fall up to 4.5% as NSE stock slips below IPO price: Here's why

Moneycontrol.com, 28 Sept

IFCI shares jump 9% despite weak stock market | What lies ahead?

TradingView, 08 OctPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move, which is not by itself a change in the business. Worth finding the cause before reading it as either good or bad.

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-6.3%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
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

StrongBusiness Quality · Financial Health

MiddlingGrowth · Profitability · Valuation · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Good business, demanding price

The quality is real and the price already reflects it. Buying here is a bet that the business keeps compounding for long enough to grow into the multiple — which good businesses often do, but it removes the margin for error that a lower price would have given you.

1 of 3 tripwires tripped — Return on equity stays above 8% · see Key things to watch ↑