Religare Enterprises Limited

Financial Services — Insurance - Life · NSE

₹219.49−₹0.72 (−0.33%)

DalalBaazaar Score

47 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

High

Driven by short-term liabilities exceed short-term assets, small-cap size, which brings sharper price swings, 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, though profits are falling even as sales grow. Short-term liquidity is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:01 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Religare Enterprises Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides various financial services in India. It operates through Investment and Financing Activities; Broking Related Activities; E-Governance; and Insurance segments.

IndustryInsurance - Life

SectorFinancial Services

Employees11,000

Annual revenue₹8,386 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹8,386 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹1 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹1 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 11,000 employees supports ₹76.2 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹76.2 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are HDFC LIFE INS CO LTD, SBI LIFE INSURANCE CO LTD, ICICI PRU LIFE INS CO LTD, ICICI LOMBARD GIC LIMITED. 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 ROE13.6%

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 +127% while net margin moved -56% 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+127%

Margin effect-56%

DalalBaazaar Score

47/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ ROE of 3.0% is weak

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

49/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

26/ 100

Expensive

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

149.3x

3Y Median

38.1x

40 monthly readings · mean 39.1x · range 2.2x–93.7x

Sector Median

47.6x

median of 4 sector peers

⚠️Current valuation is approximately 292% above its 3y median of 38.1x. 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 214% above the peer median of 47.6x.

vs. its own history

Expensive

38.1x median over 40 months · +292%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

47.6x median of 4 peers · +214%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

70.3x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention1

Short-term liquidity is tight
Current ratio of 0.36 — near-term obligations exceed near-term assets.

Red Flags

1 item require attention · 1 high

🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 15.4 points, from 16.7% to 1.3%.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

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?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 16.7% to 1.3%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
The price already assumes success
The stock trades 292% 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
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 24% a year✓ 31.4% CAGR
Latest reported year was 26.0%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above -1%✓ 1.3%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Return on equity stays above 8%✗ 3.0%
For a lender this is the cleanest single read on whether the book is being grown profitably.
4Valuation vs its own median of 38.1x✗ 149.3x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

4 / 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

4 good · 3 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹7,567 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

149.3x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

2.51x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹1.47

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

3.0%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

2.1%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

0.13x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

26.0%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-31.0%

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

₹1,807 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

-2.6%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

0.6%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

0.36

Tight

Tight short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

-0.21

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

28%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

231.7 / 237.4

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

25.6

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹3,693 Cr	₹838 Cr	₹7,327 Cr	₹8,386 Cr	+31.4%
EBITDA	₹615 Cr	₹299 Cr	₹295 Cr	₹106 Cr	-44.3%
EBITDA Margin	16.7%	35.7%	4.0%	1.3%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹87 Cr	₹233 Cr	₹125 Cr	₹86 Cr	-0.4%
EPS	₹94.67	₹7.07	₹3.78	₹2.59	-69.9%
ROE	4.2%	9.9%	5.0%	3.0%	—
ROCE	—	16.2%	6.7%	2.1%	—
Total Debt	₹758 Cr	₹443 Cr	₹233 Cr	₹493 Cr	-13.3%
Free Cash Flow	₹1,466 Cr	₹1,478 Cr	₹1,499 Cr	₹1,807 Cr	+7.2%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 31.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 44.3% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 16.7% to 1.3% over 3 years (-15.4 pts).

🟡 PAT (Net Profit) has been broadly flat over 3 years (-0.4% a year).

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 69.9% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 4.2% to 3.0% over 3 years (-1.3 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 16.2% to 2.1% over 3 years (-14.0 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 13.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 7.2% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹14,506 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹10,628 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹588 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹1,820 Cr

Capex

-₹13 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

5.9%

Insider Holding

49.8%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

30 Mar 2010

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
HDFC LIFE INS CO LTD	58.4x	11.3%
SBI LIFE INSURANCE CO LTD	63.9x	13.7%
ICICI PRU LIFE INS CO LTD	36.7x	12.9%
ICICI LOMBARD GIC LIMITED	33.0x	13.6%

Recent News

2 mixed4 general

Religare Enterprises Share Price: 7 Stock Signals to Watch Now

Univest, 05 Oct

Breakout stock: Religare Enterprises can jump up to 13%, says Bajaj Broking

Business Standard, 22 Jun

Religare Enterprises To Clarify With RBI Following Scheme No-Objection Denial

Sahi, 07 Aug

Ace investor Ashish Dhawan picks up 35 lakh shares in Religare Enterprises; stock jumps 5%

The Economic Times, 01 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.

RIL target price ahead of Jio IPO: 47% upside - Why Religare recommends buying Mukesh Ambani stock before issue launch

Livemint, 13 OctAnalyst view

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

Religare Enterprises subscribes to ₹100 crore rights issue in Religare Broking

scanx.trade, 25 Aug

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.
RSI is in oversold territory — could mean either a bargain or a stock still falling for good reason. Check the 'why' before assuming reversal.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health

MiddlingRisk

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability · Valuation

Points for each in the Score ↑

Unremarkable in both directions

A reasonable business at a reasonable price. Nothing here is alarming and nothing is compelling, which usually means the decision rests on things this data cannot see — the industry's direction, management's intent, and what else is available to you. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

2 of 4 tripwires tripped — Return on equity stays above 8%; Valuation vs its own median of 38.1x · see Key things to watch ↑