Indus Finance Limited

Financial Services — Credit Services · BSE

₹387.20+₹18.40 (+4.99%)

DalalBaazaar Score

66 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

High

Driven by negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity, a very high earnings multiple, which leaves little margin for disappointment.

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, 6:07 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 Indus Finance Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Indus Finance Limited provides lending and financial services as a non-banking financial company in India. The company invests in and offers loans to the wind and solar; infrastructure and property development; and agriculture and food processing sectors.

IndustryCredit Services

SectorFinancial Services

Employees8

Annual revenue₹4 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹4 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹49 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹-75 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 8 employees supports ₹51.6 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

EBITDA margin-75.4%

Net margin48.6%

Revenue / employee₹51.6 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.

ROCE-1.8%

ROE11.2%

Peer median ROE16.5%

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 +253% while net margin moved +45% 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+253%

Margin effect+45%

DalalBaazaar Score

66/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ P/E of 138.3x is demanding — it needs sustained high growth to justify
✗ P/E is 190% above its own historical median of 47.7x — expensive by its own standards
✗ P/B of 14.92x is a steep premium to book

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

79/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

28/ 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

138.3x

3Y Median

47.7x

40 monthly readings · mean 63.5x · range 28.9x–178.4x

Sector Median

17.0x

median of 4 sector peers

⚠️Current valuation is approximately 190% above its 3y median of 47.7x. Paying more than usual needs a reason — faster growth, a better balance sheet, or a re-rating you believe in.

⚠️Against its sector it trades 714% above the peer median of 17.0x.

vs. its own history

Expensive

47.7x median over 40 months · +190%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

17.0x median of 4 peers · +714%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

P/E (Trailing)

138.3x

P/B

14.92x

EV/EBITDA

—

PEG

1.92

Dividend Yield

0.15%

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from -92.1% to -75.4% over 3 years.
Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from 2.1% to 8.7%.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention1

Valuation above its historical average
At 138.3x the stock trades 190% above its own median of 47.7x.

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 -92.1% to -75.4%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
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?

The price already assumes success
The stock trades 190% above its own median multiple. At this level the business has to deliver just to stand still, and a stumble is repriced twice — lower earnings on a lower multiple.
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
Micro 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 39% a year✓ 52.2% CAGR
Latest reported year was 75.3%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above -77%✓ -75.4%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Return on equity stays above 9%✓ 11.2%
For a lender this is the cleanest single read on whether the book is being grown profitably.
4Valuation vs its own median of 47.7x✗ 138.3x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

6 / 11 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
✓ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

3 good · 4 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹358 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

138.3x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

14.92x

Rich

Steep premium to book — needs high, durable returns to justify

EPS (TTM)

₹2.8

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

11.2%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

-1.8%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.68x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

75.3%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

11.1%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.15%

Modest

Small cash return — most of the return has to come from the price

Free Cash Flow

-₹3 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

CMP

₹387.2

ROA

6.4%

Average

Average asset productivity

Operating Margin

20.6%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

34.7%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

151.38

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

1.05

Market-like

Moves roughly in line with the market

52W Range Position

100%

Near high

Near its 52-week high

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

323.2 / 269.1

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

79.6

Overbought zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹1 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹3 Cr	₹4 Cr	+52.2%
EBITDA	-₹1 Cr	-₹1 Cr	-₹1 Cr	-₹3 Cr	—
EBITDA Margin	-92.1%	-24.8%	-32.5%	-75.4%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹0 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹2 Cr	+72.2%
EPS	₹0.42	₹0.81	₹1.16	₹2.17	+72.9%
ROE	2.1%	3.1%	4.7%	8.7%	—
ROCE	-2.0%	-1.0%	-0.6%	-1.8%	—
Total Debt	₹5 Cr	₹14 Cr	₹20 Cr	₹11 Cr	+34.3%
Free Cash Flow	-₹0 Cr	₹11 Cr	₹10 Cr	-₹3 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 52.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from -92.1% to -75.4% over 3 years (+16.7 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 72.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 72.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 2.1% to 8.7% over 3 years (+6.7 pts).

🟡 ROCE has held roughly flat at -1.8% over 3 years.

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 34.3% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹34 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹12 Cr

Total Debt

₹11 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹3 Cr

Capex

—

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

87.1%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹0.6

Ex-Dividend Date

03 Jul 2026

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

Indus Finance seeks approval for 5:9 bonus share issuance

scanx.trade, 16 Oct

Indus Finance Ltd. Shareholding Pattern – Promoters, FIIs & DIIs

Value Research, 04 Sept

Indus Finance Bonus Issue: 5:9 Ratio and Voting Schedule

Kalkine India, 16 OctCapital return

🟢Potentially positiveCash or shares returned to holders. A buyback is only good value if the shares were cheap when bought.

Indus Finance Ltd. Upper Circuit Streak: Day 2 Price and Data

Univest, 01 Oct

Indus Finance Ltd. Upper Circuit Today: Price, Data and Peers

Univest, 30 Sept

LIVE: Canara Bank Q2 quarterly results announced, share price jumps - All eyes on BHEL, Groww, Tata Tech, RIIL, MRPL

Livemint, 14 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

Trading very close to its 52-week high — momentum-driven entries here carry more mean-reversion risk.
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.
RSI is in overbought territory — momentum entries here carry more short-term pullback risk.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

🟡Business QualityAdequate12.1/20

🟢Financial HealthStrong17/20

🟢GrowthStrong18.5/20

🟢ProfitabilityStrong11.4/15

🔴ValuationDemanding3.3/15

🔴RiskHigh3.7/10

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.

This thesis breaks if

✓Revenue growth stays above 39% a year52.2% CAGR
✓EBITDA margin holds above -77%-75.4%
✓Return on equity stays above 9%11.2%
✗Valuation vs its own median of 47.7x138.3x today