Fino Payments Bank Hits Upper Circuit After Claiming Strong Growth In Lending Ops

Shares of Fino Payments Bank surged today to hit upper circuit after closing yesterday’s trading locked at the lower circuit. As of 15:22 PM, the troubled company’s shares were locked at an upper circuit of 9.99% at ₹122.75 on the BSE. The company’s market capitalisation stood at $108.8 Mn (₹1,021.51 Cr) at the time of the publication.

The spike in its stock today came after the company claimed that it was seeing a strong growth in its referral lending business in the ongoing fourth quarter of FY26. In a press statement issued today, Fino claimed that its disbursements in the ongoing quarter have already touched ₹540 Cr. Further, it is expecting to close the quarter with ₹630 Cr disbursements, nearly 90% of the ₹700 Cr disbursed in the first nine months of the fiscal. 

For the full fiscal year, it expects close to ₹1,300 Cr in disbursements.

The company said that it is seeing growth in demand for its referral lending business with an increased adoption in the rural and semi-urban markets. In these markets, Fino said that its merchant network and NBFC partnerships have helped expand access to credit facilities. 

The current lending portfolio of the bank includes secured products such as home loans, gold loans and loans against property, along with business loans for merchants.

Fino also noted that it recently recorded its highest-ever deposit balance, signalling improving business momentum. 

The rally today comes against the backdrop of a sharp correction in the stock in recent times. Important to highlight that the company’s shares hit a fresh all-time low of ₹110.1 earlier today before the rally. Yesterday, the company’s shares tanked 20% to end at ₹111.6. 

The stock has come under selling pressure after its MD and CEO Rishi Gupta was arrested by the Hyderabad unit of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) in a probe into alleged tax evasion of over ₹840 Cr linked to online betting platforms at the end of February. 

Investigators have alleged that Gupta was part of a network that routed funds from illegal gaming platforms through shell entities. In response, Guptar approached the Telangana high court seeking relief in the first week of March. The HC dismissed his plea on Monday (March 23).

Amid the developments, the bank maintained that its operations have not been affected. It said customer balances and transaction volumes remain stable, and it continues to add around 10,000 CASA accounts daily. Fino also appointed its CFO Ketan Merchant as interim CEO.

Notably, it had earlier appointed KPMG to probe complaints of fraudulent investment schemes linked to employees. The probe found that 19 employees ran unauthorised schemes between December 2021 and April 2023.

On the business front, Fino is pushing to build its credit vertical as part of its plan to transition into a small finance bank (SFB). It had received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India in December 2025 for the conversion. The company claims that the SFB transition is on track despite the troubles. 

The company has also been under pressure on the financial front. For the third quarter of the ongoing fiscal year, the company’s net profit plunged 47% YoY to ₹12.3 Cr in Q3 FY26 and was down 20% sequentially. Total income also declined 15% YoY to ₹394.4 Cr, largely due to a drop in its core transaction business.

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