India Equity Analyst - Fundamental & Thematic, Beat the Street

Sudarshan Bhandari

India Equity Analyst - Fundamental & Thematic

Beat the Street

Beat The Street was founded by Nimish Maheshwari and Sudarshan Bhandari, both of whom are Chartered Accountants by Profession, known for their expert analysis in the fields of Business, Sectoral analysis, and Corporate governance.

With a strong social media presence of 45,000+ Subscribers across various platforms, they are considered trusted voices in the industry. Their insights and analysis have been featured in some of India’s most prominent publications, including the Economic Times, Dalal Street Investment Journal, The Morning Context, and The Ken.

Their analysis on Bankrupt & Insolvent companies has been instrumental in saving investors from significant losses. They have a keen eye for identifying red flags and has identified exclusive redflags earlier in Vedanta, Nykaa, Dhani Services, Adani and many more.

Read Business Not Stock Prices

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>Demand outside gold remains soft; co‑funding costs show early easing; asset quality stress is shifting, with vehicle finance and micro‑LAP emerging as pain points.</li>
<li>The divergence across NBFC subsegments (gold, affordable housing, vehicle finance, micro-LAP) is widening, making sector-level staging less helpful - selective bets will matter more.</li>
<li>We remain biased toward affordable HFCs, gold financiers (to ride momentum), and select diversified NBFCs. Vigilance is needed to combat NIM pressure and rising unsecured stress.</li>
</ul>


Demand outside gold remains soft; co‑funding costs show early easing; asset quality stress is shifting, with vehicle finance and micro‑LAP emerging as pain points.
The divergence across NBFC subsegments (gold, affordable housing, vehicle finance, micro-LAP) is widening, making sector-level staging less helpful - selective bets will matter more.
We remain biased toward affordable HFCs, gold financiers (to ride momentum), and select diversified NBFCs. Vigilance is needed to combat NIM pressure and rising unsecured stress.


NBFC Q2FY26 Outlook - Rate Cuts, Credit Stress & Selective Wins in NBFCs

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), Chola Securities

Chola Wealth Direct

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Equity Bottom-Up

<p>Background: Repco Home Finance Limited (RHFL) is a low to medium ticket size home loan financing company predominately based in tier II / III cities of southern India. Promoted by the State-owned Repco Bank Ltd in 2000, RHFL presently has 153 branches and 24 satellite centers of which ~87% are located in the southern market. Repco has shown robust growth in its loan book clocking 21% CAGR (FY13-FY19) and stood at ~119bn at the end 1QFY22. RHFL average loan per unit is...</p><div class="content-highlight"><em>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.</em></div>

Background: Repco Home Finance Limited (RHFL) is a low to medium ticket size home loan financing company predominately based in tier II / III cities of southern India. Promoted by the State-owned Repco Bank Ltd in 2000, RHFL presently has 153 branches and 24 satellite centers of which ~87% are located in the southern market. Repco has shown robust growth in its loan book clocking 21% CAGR (FY13-FY19) and stood at ~119bn at the end 1QFY22. RHFL average loan per unit is...Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

EARNINGS UPDATE- REPCO HOME FINANCE 1QFY22

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Equity Capital Markets

Aptus Value Housing Finance India / Equity Capital Markets

<p>Aptus Value Housing Finance (AVHF) aims to raise around US$375m in its India IPO. The company is backed by a host of investors including WestBridge, Malabar Investments, Sequoia, Madison and Steadview Capital</p><p>Aptus Value Housing Finance India Limited (AVHF) is a retail focussed housing finance company (HFC) primarily serving low and middle income self-employed customers in the rural and semi-urban markets in India. AVHF was one of the largest HFC’s in South India in terms of AUM, as of Mar 21. </p><p>AVHF’s net interest income has grown by 38-55% pa over FY18-FY21, while its Pre-provision operating profit has done even better with 40-63% pa growth. Earnings growth has been driven by its rapid loan growth which has been between 28-58% pa over the past three years.</p><p>Although loan growth has been slowing down and disbursements growth had already declined from 47% YoY in FY19 to just 2% YoY in FY21.</p><p>In this note, we will look at the company’s past performance, run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about pricing</p>

Aptus Value Housing Finance (AVHF) aims to raise around US$375m in its India IPO. The company is backed by a host of investors including WestBridge, Malabar Investments, Sequoia, Madison and Steadview CapitalAptus Value Housing Finance India Limited (AVHF) is a retail focussed housing finance company (HFC) primarily serving low and middle income self-employed customers in the rural and semi-urban markets in India. AVHF was one of the largest HFC’s in South India in terms of AUM, as of Mar 21. AVHF’s net interest income has grown by 38-55% pa over FY18-FY21, while its Pre-provision operating profit has done even better with 40-63% pa growth. Earnings growth has been driven by its rapid loan growth which has been between 28-58% pa over the past three years.Although loan growth has been slowing down and disbursements growth had already declined from 47% YoY in FY19 to just 2% YoY in FY21.In this note, we will look at the company’s past performance, run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about pricing

Aptus Value Housing Finance IPO - Valuation Is Too Rich, Especially with an Over-Capitalised Book

Home First Finance / Equity Capital Markets

<p>Home First Finance (HFF) is an affordable housing finance company targeting first time home buyers in low and middle-income groups. The company aims to raise around US$160m in its India IPO. It is backed by True North, GIC and Bessemer and has recently obtained an investment from Warburg Pincus as well.</p><p>HFF has grown rapidly over the past few years, driven by an expansion in its branch network and large number of new customers. Over FY17-20, HFF’s loan grew at a CAGR of 62%, while its earnings grew even faster with NII growing at 68%, PPoP at 117% and PAT at 128% CAGR.  It still remains largely focussed on housing loans and has pristine asset quality.</p><p>However, its funding sources lack diversity and its margin is artificially inflated by its high capitalisation. Furthermore, the company talks a lot about tech but a lot of its functions appear to be still very contact heavy and hence, salesforce/customer service dependent.</p><p>I have covered various aspects of the deal in my earlier notes,  <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/home-first-finance-pre-ipo-riding-on-affordable-housing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Home First Finance Pre-IPO - Riding on affordable housing</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/home-first-finance-pre-ipo-earnings-not-showing-the-covid-strain-but-other-metrics-are" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Home First Finance Pre-IPO - Earnings not showing the COVID strain but other metrics are</a>.</p><p>In this note I’ll run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about recent updates.</p>

Home First Finance (HFF) is an affordable housing finance company targeting first time home buyers in low and middle-income groups. The company aims to raise around US$160m in its India IPO. It is backed by True North, GIC and Bessemer and has recently obtained an investment from Warburg Pincus as well.HFF has grown rapidly over the past few years, driven by an expansion in its branch network and large number of new customers. Over FY17-20, HFF’s loan grew at a CAGR of 62%, while its earnings grew even faster with NII growing at 68%, PPoP at 117% and PAT at 128% CAGR.  It still remains largely focussed on housing loans and has pristine asset quality.However, its funding sources lack diversity and its margin is artificially inflated by its high capitalisation. Furthermore, the company talks a lot about tech but a lot of its functions appear to be still very contact heavy and hence, salesforce/customer service dependent.I have covered various aspects of the deal in my earlier notes,  Home First Finance Pre-IPO - Riding on affordable housing and Home First Finance Pre-IPO - Earnings not showing the COVID strain but other metrics are.In this note I’ll run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about recent updates.

Home First Finance IPO - It’s Not Really Cheap, Banking on Momentum

<div><p>Home First Finance (HFF) is an affordable housing finance company targeting first time home buyers in low and middle-income groups. The company aims to raise around US$200m in its India IPO. It is backed by True North, GIC and Bessemer and has recently obtained an investment from Warburg Pincus as well.</p></div><div><p>HFF has grown rapidly over the past few years, driven by an expansion in its branch network and large number of new customers. Over FY17-19, HFF’s loan grew at CAGR of 70%, while its earnings grew even faster with NII growing at 76.2%, PPoP at 145% and PAT at 160% CAGR.  It still remains largely focussed on housing loans and has pristine asset quality.</p></div><div>
<p>However, its funding sources lack diversity and its margin is artificially inflated by its high capitalisation. Furthermore, the company talks a lot about tech but a lot of its functions appear to be still very contact heavy and hence, salesforce/customer service dependant.</p>
<p>I have covered various aspects of the deal in, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/home-first-finance-pre-ipo-riding-on-affordable-housing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Home First Finance Pre-IPO - Riding on affordable housing</a>. In this note I’ll talk about the updates from the company’s re-filed DRHP.</p>
</div>

Home First Finance (HFF) is an affordable housing finance company targeting first time home buyers in low and middle-income groups. The company aims to raise around US$200m in its India IPO. It is backed by True North, GIC and Bessemer and has recently obtained an investment from Warburg Pincus as well.HFF has grown rapidly over the past few years, driven by an expansion in its branch network and large number of new customers. Over FY17-19, HFF’s loan grew at CAGR of 70%, while its earnings grew even faster with NII growing at 76.2%, PPoP at 145% and PAT at 160% CAGR.  It still remains largely focussed on housing loans and has pristine asset quality.
However, its funding sources lack diversity and its margin is artificially inflated by its high capitalisation. Furthermore, the company talks a lot about tech but a lot of its functions appear to be still very contact heavy and hence, salesforce/customer service dependant.
I have covered various aspects of the deal in, Home First Finance Pre-IPO - Riding on affordable housing. In this note I’ll talk about the updates from the company’s re-filed DRHP.


Home First Finance Pre-IPO - Earnings Not Showing the COVID Strain but Other Metrics Are

India

Repco Home Finance Ltd. (RHFL) provides financing services. The Company offers loans for construction and purchasing of residential and commercial properties including repairs, renovation, and loans against properties. RHFL operates throughout India.

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Repco Home Finance (REPCO IN)

NBFC Q2FY26 Outlook - Rate Cuts, Credit Stress & Selective Wins in NBFCs

Soft demand outside gold, easing co-funding costs, shifting asset quality stress in vehicle finance and micro-LAP. Divergence in NBFC subsegments...

Sudarshan Bhandari

EARNINGS UPDATE- REPCO HOME FINANCE 1QFY22

Background: Repco Home Finance Limited (RHFL) is a low to medium ticket size home loan financing company predominately based in tier II / III...

Chola Wealth Direct

Aptus Value Housing Finance IPO - Valuation Is Too Rich, Especially with an Over-Capitalised Book

Aptus Value Housing Finance aims to raise around US$375m in its India IPO. It is backed by a host of investors including WestBridge, Malabar...

Sumeet Singh

Home First Finance IPO - It’s Not Really Cheap, Banking on Momentum

Home First Finance is an affordable housing finance company aiming to raise around US$160m in its India IPO. It is backed by True North, Warburg,...

Sumeet Singh

Home First Finance Pre-IPO - Earnings Not Showing the COVID Strain but Other Metrics Are

Home First Finance is an affordable housing finance company targeting first time home buyers. It aims to raise US$200m in its India IPO. It is...

Sumeet Singh

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

NBFC Q2FY26 Outlook - Rate Cuts, Credit Stress & Selective Wins in NBFCs

​Soft demand outside gold, easing co-funding costs, shifting asset quality stress in vehicle finance and micro-LAP. Divergence in NBFC subsegments...

Sudarshan Bhandari

EARNINGS UPDATE- REPCO HOME FINANCE 1QFY22

Background: Repco Home Finance Limited (RHFL) is a low to medium ticket size home loan financing company predominately based in tier II / III...

Chola Wealth Direct

Aptus Value Housing Finance IPO - Valuation Is Too Rich, Especially with an Over-Capitalised Book

Aptus Value Housing Finance aims to raise around US$375m in its India IPO. It is backed by a host of investors including WestBridge, Malabar...

Sumeet Singh

Home First Finance IPO - It’s Not Really Cheap, Banking on Momentum

Home First Finance is an affordable housing finance company aiming to raise around US$160m in its India IPO. It is backed by True North, Warburg,...

Sumeet Singh

Home First Finance Pre-IPO - Earnings Not Showing the COVID Strain but Other Metrics Are

Home First Finance is an affordable housing finance company targeting first time home buyers. It aims to raise US$200m in its India IPO. It is...

Sumeet Singh

Soft demand outside gold, easing co-funding costs, shifting asset quality stress in vehicle finance and micro-LAP. Divergence in NBFC subsegments...