CSL Finance Q2 FY27 results: net profit up 2.0% to ₹24.95 crore, revenue up 20.6%

How did CSL Finance perform in Q2 FY27?

CSL Finance reported standalone revenue from operations of ₹76.78 crore in Q2 FY27, up 20.6% from ₹63.67 crore in Q2 FY26 and 9.7% from ₹69.97 crore in Q1 FY27. Total income was ₹77.35 crore, up 21.2% year on year and 10.0% sequentially. The company did not report EBITDA or an EBITDA margin for the quarter.

Profit before tax was ₹35.01 crore, up ₹6.15 crore or 21.3% from Q2 FY26 and ₹5.31 crore or 17.9% from Q1 FY27. PAT was ₹24.95 crore, up 2.0% year on year and 12.6% sequentially, while basic EPS was ₹10.95, compared with ₹10.73 and ₹9.72, respectively. The PAT margin was 32.5%, down 5.9 percentage points from Q2 FY26 and up 0.8 percentage points from Q1 FY27.

What changed in CSL Finance's costs and profit?

Total expenses rose to ₹42.35 crore in Q2 FY27 from ₹34.97 crore in Q2 FY26, an increase of ₹7.38 crore or 21.1%. Finance costs increased by ₹3.36 crore or 16.2% to ₹24.16 crore, employee cost rose by ₹0.76 crore or 9.5% to ₹8.76 crore, and other expenses increased by ₹0.84 crore or 23.2% to ₹4.46 crore. Depreciation was ₹0.61 crore, up ₹0.07 crore or 13.0%.

Other income was ₹0.57 crore, up ₹0.41 crore or 256.2% from Q2 FY26, while tax expense increased by ₹5.65 crore or 128.4% to ₹10.05 crore. There was no exceptional item. The filing does not explain the movement in the cost lines or the higher tax expense, but it shows that the year-on-year rise in profit before tax was accompanied by a much smaller increase in PAT.

How did the first half of FY27 go?

For the first half of FY27, revenue was ₹146.75 crore, up ₹23.64 crore or 19.2% from ₹123.11 crore in H1 FY26. Total income was ₹147.7 crore, up 19.7%, while profit before tax was ₹64.71 crore, up ₹8.28 crore or 14.7%.

PAT for the first half was ₹47.1 crore, up ₹1.33 crore or 2.9% from ₹45.77 crore, and basic EPS was ₹20.67, up ₹0.58 or 2.9% from ₹20.09. The company reported these figures on a standalone basis.

What do the balance sheet and cash flow show?

Total assets rose to ₹1,631.27 crore on 30 September 2026 from ₹1,487.6 crore on 31 March 2026. Total equity increased to ₹645.95 crore from ₹621.58 crore, while cash and cash equivalents fell to ₹36.55 crore from ₹76.33 crore. The investor presentation reported borrowings of ₹962.90 crore at the quarter end.

In H1 FY27, operating cash flow was negative ₹81.36 crore, compared with negative ₹47.08 crore in H1 FY26. Investing cash flow was positive ₹2.62 crore, compared with negative ₹1.11 crore, and financing cash flow was positive ₹38.96 crore, compared with positive ₹55.96 crore. Capital expenditure was ₹0.6 crore, compared with ₹1.19 crore.

How has CSL Finance done over the last 8 quarters?

Revenue rose in each of the last eight quarters, reaching ₹76.78 crore in Q2 FY27 from ₹53.39 crore in Q3 FY25. The reported revenue low in that period was ₹53.39 crore, while the high was ₹76.78 crore in the latest quarter; the direction remains upward.

PAT followed a less even path. It was ₹16.77 crore in Q3 FY25, peaked at ₹24.46 crore in Q2 FY26, fell to ₹19.42 crore in Q4 FY26, and then recovered to ₹24.95 crore in Q2 FY27. No EBITDA margin figures were provided for the quarterly trend.

What else did the company announce?

The board approved the unaudited financial results for the quarter and half year ended 30 September 2026, along with the limited review report of S.R. Dinodia & Co. LLP, on 2 November 2026. The company also filed its Security Cover Certificate for the quarter.

The same-day investor presentation reported AUM of ₹1,627 crore, disbursements of ₹385 crore, collection efficiency of 99%, gross NPA of 1.13% and net NPA of 0.71%. During the quarter ended 30 June 2026, the company had issued and allotted ₹60 crore of non-convertible debentures in two tranches of ₹30 crore each, carrying a coupon rate of 11% per annum; the proceeds were fully utilised. The filing did not report a dividend or a new appointment.

What did CSL Finance's management say?

Management said wholesale would remain the primary driver of AUM growth for the remainder of FY27, while SME retail disbursements were expected to improve in H2 FY27 as consolidation measures and operating conditions gradually improved. It also expected joint-lending activity, off-book AUM and associated fee income to build further over the coming quarters.

Management said it would not launch a new lending product for at least 15-18 months while strengthening the existing SME platform. It did not provide a quantified AUM, credit-cost or margin target. Management identified slower sales and repayment risk in some residential real-estate projects, increased gross and net NPAs, and competition and over-leverage among SME borrowers as risks.

Rachita Gupta, Whole-Time Director, said: “Together, these gives us the funding capacity and the confidence to keep growing the wholesale segment through the rest of the year.” Management also said: “As a lender, we have to be cautious. We have to be project specific, location specific, and borrower specific.”

How did CSL Finance shares react?

The filing appeared after market hours. The stock was unchanged in the first five minutes, fell 0.3% after 15 minutes and 1.0% after 30 minutes. It closed the reaction day up 0.5% from the previous close of ₹218.99, against a median sector move of 0.0%.

By the next day's close, the stock was up 4.1% from its pre-results close. That was 4.0 percentage points above the 0.1% median move for the other NBFC stocks. Earlier reaction-day moves included 11.6% on 13 November 2025, 1.9% on 12 August 2026, a fall of 0.4% on 26 May 2026, and a fall of 3.7% on 13 February 2026.

How did other Non Banking Financial Company (NBFC) companies do?

Among 76 NBFC peers compared for Q2 FY27, the median revenue growth was 22.1%. CSL Finance’s revenue growth was 20.6%, with 34 peers growing slower than the company and 42 growing faster. Among 84 peers for which profit was compared, 55 reported higher profit.