HDB Financial becomes 8th most valuable NBFC with Rs 70,200-crore market cap

Shares of HDB Financial Services debuted on July 2, listing at Rs 835 apiece on both the BSE and NSE—12.8% higher than its issue price.

Meanwhile, the stock touched a high of Rs 845.75 on listing day, taking the company’s market capitalisation to Rs 70,198 crore and placing it as the eighth most valuable non-banking financial company (NBFC) in India.

Bajaj Finance continues to lead the pack with a market cap of over Rs 5.77 lakh crore, followed by Jio Financial Services (Rs 2.07 lakh crore), and Cholamandalam Investment and Finance (Rs 1.31 lakh crore).

Other major players include Shriram Finance (Rs 1.28 lakh crore), Muthoot Finance (Rs 1.05 lakh crore), SBI Cards (Rs 87,017 crore), and Aditya Birla Capital (Rs 71,324 crore).

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Backed by HDFC Bank, the HDB Financial IPO received over Rs 1.61 lakh crore in bids but institutional interest was higher than that of retail. While the QIB (qualified institutional buyer) portion was oversubscribed over 55x, retail held back at 1.4x. Overall, the IPO was oversubscribed nearly 17 times.

This made HDB's offering the second most subscribed IPO among Rs 10,000+ crore issues, trailing only the record-breaking Tata Technologies listing. However, it did fall short of surpassing the all-time high of Rs 3 lakh crore subscription seen in Bajaj Housing Finance IPO, Prashanth Tapse of Mehta Equities said.

The brokerage has told clients to hold HDB Financial shares for the long term, given that it is strategically positioned to benefit from India’s structural credit growth, especially within the retail and SME financing segments.

Emkay Initiates Coverage with 'Buy'

Emkay Global became the first brokerage to initiate coverage on HDB Financial Services with a ‘Buy’ rating and a target price of Rs 900 by June 2026, valuing the stock at 3x FY27 estimated book value.
The brokerage highlighted three key positives:

Diversified and Scalable Franchise: With over 19 million customers, HDB Financial has built a large-scale, geographically and product-wise diversified lending business. Its top 20 exposures make up just 0.34% of total AUM, demonstrating granularity.

Focused Strategy and Leadership Stability: Around 82% of disbursements in FY25 were sourced directly, with 70% of branches located in tier-4 towns and beyond. Emkay noted that the focus on underserved segments has been driven by an experienced leadership team, many of whom have been with the company for over a decade.

Improving Outlook on Profitability: Emkay expects favourable macro conditions—including front-loaded rate cuts and moderating credit costs—to support margin expansion and earnings growth. The brokerage projects HDB Financial to achieve 2.7% return on assets (RoA) and 17% return on equity (RoE) by FY28, with 20% AUM CAGR and 27% EPS CAGR over FY25–28.

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