ICRA Q2 FY27 results: net profit up 9.2% to ₹52.44 crore, revenue up 30.2%

How did ICRA perform in Q2 FY27?

ICRA reported consolidated revenue of ₹177.86 crore for Q2 FY27, up 30.2% from ₹136.58 crore in Q2 FY26 and 8.9% from ₹163.37 crore in Q1 FY27. Total income was ₹195.25 crore, compared with ₹157.49 crore a year ago and ₹190.99 crore in the previous quarter.

EBITDA rose 35.5% year on year to ₹65.76 crore from ₹48.53 crore, and the margin increased 1.5 percentage points to 37.0%. Against Q1 FY27, EBITDA was up 19.4% from ₹55.09 crore and the margin rose 3.3 percentage points from 33.7%.

Profit before tax was ₹71.99 crore, up 11.8% from ₹64.37 crore in Q2 FY26 but down 5.4% from ₹76.12 crore in Q1 FY27. PAT was ₹52.44 crore, up 9.2% year on year and down 7.1% sequentially; basic EPS was ₹54.2, up from ₹49.68 but down from ₹58.36. On a standalone basis, revenue was ₹96.52 crore and PAT was ₹92.43 crore.

What changed in ICRA's costs and profit?

Total expenses rose 32.4% year on year to ₹123.26 crore from ₹93.12 crore. Employee cost increased ₹16.86 crore to ₹89.35 crore, depreciation rose ₹6.56 crore to ₹10.77 crore and other expenses increased ₹7.18 crore to ₹22.74 crore; finance costs fell ₹0.48 crore to ₹0.39 crore. There was no exceptional item in Q2 FY26 or Q2 FY27.

Other income was ₹17.39 crore, down ₹3.52 crore from ₹20.91 crore in Q2 FY26 and ₹10.24 crore from ₹27.63 crore in Q1 FY27. Tax expense increased ₹3.20 crore year on year to ₹19.55 crore. Profit before tax rose ₹7.62 crore to ₹71.99 crore, while PAT increased ₹4.42 crore to ₹52.44 crore.

The movement in expenses and income is reflected in the reported results; the filing does not state further reasons for the changes. The margin after tax was 29.5%, compared with 35.2% in Q2 FY26 and 34.6% in Q1 FY27.

How did the first half of FY27 go?

In the first half of FY27, consolidated revenue was ₹341.22 crore, up 30.7% from ₹261.07 crore in H1 FY26. Total income rose 26.1% to ₹386.24 crore from ₹306.34 crore, while profit before tax increased 20.7% to ₹148.1 crore from ₹122.74 crore.

PAT for H1 FY27 was ₹108.89 crore, up 19.9% from ₹90.78 crore in H1 FY26. Basic EPS increased 20.0% to ₹112.56 from ₹93.79.

What do the balance sheet and cash flow show?

As of 30 September 2026, total assets were ₹1,502.93 crore against ₹1,486.1 crore at 31 March 2026, while total equity was ₹1,195.24 crore against ₹1,185.14 crore. Borrowings fell to ₹0.5 crore from ₹0.63 crore and cash rose to ₹29.87 crore from ₹29.72 crore.

Trade receivables increased to ₹100.32 crore from ₹78.41 crore, while trade payables fell to ₹13.05 crore from ₹13.81 crore. There were no inventories at either balance sheet date. For H1 FY27, operating cash flow was ₹129.91 crore, compared with ₹78.0 crore in H1 FY26; investing cash flow was ₹23.72 crore against ₹43.69 crore and financing cash flow was ₹106.05 crore against ₹60.73 crore.

Capital expenditure was ₹8.59 crore in H1 FY27, compared with ₹4.93 crore in H1 FY26. The company’s figures describe cash outflows for investing and financing activities.

How has ICRA done over the last 8 quarters?

Revenue increased year on year in each of the last eight quarters and reached a period high of ₹177.86 crore in Q2 FY27. Profit after tax has risen year on year for two consecutive quarters; it reached ₹56.46 crore in Q1 FY27 before easing to ₹52.44 crore in the September quarter.

The EBITDA margin bottomed at 31.9% in Q1 FY26 and peaked at 43.4% in Q4 FY25. It then moved to 39.8% in Q4 FY26, fell to 33.7% in Q1 FY27 and recovered to 37.0% in Q2 FY27. Revenue also peaked in Q2 FY27 after reaching its earlier low of ₹120.87 crore in Q3 FY25.

Which businesses drove the quarter?

Ratings and ancillary services reported revenue of ₹98.67 crore in Q2 FY27, up 17.3% from ₹84.12 crore in the year-ago quarter. EBIT was ₹40.3 crore, compared with ₹29.44 crore, and the segment margin was 40.8%.

Risk and Analytics reported revenue of ₹80.47 crore and EBIT of ₹14.7 crore in Q2 FY27, with an EBIT margin of 18.3%. Year-ago revenue and EBIT figures for this segment were not provided, so the reported growth cannot be quantified.

What else did the company announce?

The board approved the unaudited standalone and consolidated financial results for the quarter and half year ended 30 September 2026 after the audit committee reviewed them. Deloitte Haskins & Sells submitted limited review reports. The results were released after market hours on 29 October 2026.

The same-day filings also included the Q2 and H1 FY27 investor presentation. They did not announce a dividend, fund raise or appointment, and no such details were provided in the available excerpts.

What did ICRA's management say?

Management said the Ratings business benefited from broad-based credit activity across bank loans, bonds, commercial paper and securitisation. It expects FY2027 securitisation volumes of ~₹2.6–2.7 lakh crore, largely driven by NBFCs and HFCs, which are projected to register high-teen growth during the year.

Management expects commercial paper outstanding growth of 8-12% as on 31 March 2027 compared with 30 September 2026. It said bond issuances would remain volatile because macro factors were uncertain and bond yields remained elevated, while the rise in short-term rates was likely to result in relatively lower commercial paper issuance in H2 FY27.

Management said the Risk and Analytics businesses, including Knowledge Tech, BankTech, CapTech and Fintellix, were being positioned as one integrated platform. Its priorities include expanding into adjacent markets and capabilities, expanding internationally across the US, Europe and the Middle East, moving up the value chain with one-stop intelligence, and extending Enterprise Risk into insurance, broker and private markets.

Management identified risks from a sub-par and uneven monsoon, elevated input prices, rising inflation and monetary tightening weighing on consumption and GDP growth in H2 FY27. It also cited fiscal slippage, the West Asia geopolitical crisis, elevated crude oil prices, uncertain capital-market volumes and acquisition-related depreciation and amortisation in Risk and Analytics. ICRA Research estimated FY2027 real GDP growth at 7.1%, nominal GDP growth at 12.5%, CPI inflation at 5.2% and WPI inflation at 9.0%.

Management said another repo-rate hike was expected in December 2026, followed by a pause unless crude oil prices remained elevated. It also estimated the FY2027 government fiscal deficit at 4.5% of GDP, 20 bps higher than target.

How did ICRA shares react?

The filing appeared after market hours. ICRA’s price was down 0.7% after five minutes, 1.0% after 15 minutes and 2.0% after 30 minutes from the price when the filing appeared. On the reaction day, the stock closed 3.0% below its previous close of ₹4,429.3.

By the next day’s close, the stock was down 1.8% from its pre-results close. The Capital Markets industry median moved up 1.1% on the reaction day and 0.7% by the next close, so ICRA underperformed the industry by 1.8 percentage points on the reaction day and 2.5 percentage points by the next close.

Earlier reaction-day moves were mixed: ICRA fell 0.4% on 3 July 2026 and 2.1% on 21 May 2026, but rose 4.7% on 28 January 2026 and 3.6% on 28 October 2025. The stock also rose 0.7% on 31 July 2025 and 29 May 2025, 3.1% on 10 February 2025 and fell 1.7% on 25 October 2024.