Gurgaon-based Aye Finance, a professionally managed NBFC focused on micro and small enterprises (MSEs), announced its ₹1,010 crore initial share sale for public subscription on February 9, 2026. The IPO is priced in the ₹122-129 per share band with a face value of ₹2 and investors can apply in lots of 116 shares. According to the company's public announcement, the IPO is structured as a combination of fresh issuance of equity shares worth ₹710 crore and an offer-for-sale of ₹300 crore worth shares by five shareholders including Alpha Wave India, MAJ Invest Financial Inclusion Fund, Alphabet-backed CapitalG, LGT Capital, and Vikram Jetley. The firm will launch its one-day IPO anchor book on February 6, while the offer for public subscription will close on February 11, 2026. At the top end of the price band, the company is valued at approximately ₹3,200 crore, representing a valuation slightly below its last funding round. The minimum application amount for retail investors is ₹14,964 at the upper end of the band, making it accessible to a broader investor base.
According to Moneycontrol, Aye Finance has successfully mobilised ₹454.5 crore from 19 anchor investors on February 6, ahead of its public issue launch. The company finalised allocation of 3.52 crore equity shares to anchor investors at the upper price band. Nippon Life India and Goldman Sachs Funds emerged as the biggest investors, each purchasing shares worth ₹74 crore. Global names including Bay Pond, Ithan Creek Master Investors, Intergrated Core Strategies, Societe Generale, Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust, and BNP Paribas Financial Markets also participated in the anchor book. Among other investors, Abakkus, HDFC Life Insurance, 360 ONE, Turnaround Opportunities Fund, Bank of India MF, and Neo Prime Fund also participated. As per Moneycontrol, out of the total allocation of 3.52 crore equity shares to anchor investors, 76.74 lakh equity shares were allocated to 2 domestic mutual funds through a total of 4 schemes.
As reported by Mint, the latest grey market premium (GMP) for Aye Finance IPO has fallen sharply from ₹5 a day ago to ₹1, indicating that shares are trading at ₹130 in the grey market. This represents a significant decline from the previous premium, suggesting reduced investor enthusiasm ahead of the launch. The company's shares are expected to open for trading on the bourses effective February 16, 2026 on both BSE and NSE. The share allocation has been structured with up to 75 percent reserved for qualified institutional buyers, 15 percent for non-institutional investors, and the remainder 10 percent shares for retail investors. Axis Capital, IIFL Capital Services, JM Financial, and Nuvama Wealth Management are acting as the book running lead managers for the IPO, while KFin Technologies serves as the registrar to the issue. With the IPO allotment expected on February 12, refunds will be initiated soon after, followed by the credit of shares to demat accounts before the anticipated listing date of February 16.
According to Mint, Aye Finance has trimmed the offer size significantly, with the offer-for-sale reduced from ₹565 crore to ₹300 crore. Key shareholders have adjusted their participation, with LGT Capital now selling stake worth ₹30 crore instead of ₹150 crore, while Alphabet's CapitalG will offload equity worth ₹82.5 crore instead of ₹137 crore. A91 Partners has opted out of the share sale after previously agreeing to offload shares worth ₹100 crore, and Alpha Wave has cut its OFS to ₹30 crore from ₹100 crore. However, MAJ Invest has upsized its stake sale to ₹140 crore from ₹56 crore. Elevation Capital, the largest shareholder with 16.03 percent stake, is not selling shares in the IPO. The scaled-down IPO comprises a ₹710 crore fresh issue of shares, down from ₹885 crore in the draft papers, with net proceeds to be utilised to increase the lender's Tier-1 capital buffer. As per Mint, the company's managing director Sanjay Sharma explained that given the valuation achieved, they decided not to dilute equity more, believing the primary capital would be sufficient for growth for the next two to three years.
According to the reports, Aye Finance is a middle layer NBFC providing loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across India, with 5.86 lakh active unique customers and assets under management (AUM) of ₹6,027.6 crore as of September 2025. Elevation Capital is the largest shareholder with 16.03 percent stake, followed by LGT Capital (13.99 percent), Alphabet through CapitalG (13.14 percent), and Alpha Wave India (11.1 percent). British International Investment and A91 Emerging Fund hold over 9 percent stake each. The company, incorporated in 1993, provides secured and unsecured working capital loans, mortgage-backed loans, and hypothecation-based credit to micro and small enterprises across manufacturing, trading, services and allied agriculture segments. The company currently serves 5.86 lakh active customers across 18 states and three Union Territories, supported by a growing assets under management base. The company, primarily led by co-founders Sanjay Sharma (MD & CEO) and Vikram Jetley, with Sanjay Sharma focusing on strategic and operational aspects, draws on his vast experience in banking. The proceeds from the fresh issue will be used to augment the capital base and support future business and asset growth. The firm expects to receive benefits of listing including enhancement of its brand name and creation of a public market for its equity shares in India.
As reported by Mint, Aye Finance recorded profit of ₹175.3 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2025, representing a modest increase from ₹171.7 crore in the previous year. Net interest income surged by 37.9% to ₹858 crore, compared to ₹622.2 crore in the prior year. For the six months period ended September 30, 2025, the company registered a 40 percent decline in profit to ₹64.60 crore compared to ₹107.8 crore in the same period previous fiscal, while total income in the same period grew to ₹863.02 crore. According to the company's Red Herring Prospectus (RHP), Aye Finance has demonstrated strong growth momentum with assets under management growing from ₹2,721.55 crore as of March 2023 to ₹6,027.62 crore as of September 2025. The company's disbursements soared from ₹2,357.09 crore in FY23 to ₹4,291.33 crore in FY25. The company's active base of unique customers has advanced from 305,524 in March 2023 to 586,825 as of September 2025. The company competes with listed peers like SBFC Finance and Five-Star Business Finance in the small-ticket lender segment of the MSME ecosystem, with unsecured loans comprising 37.97% of total AUM in the six months ended September 2025.
According to Mint, the sector in which Aye Finance operates involves MSMEs in India that encounter a significant credit shortfall, estimated to be ₹103 trillion as of fiscal 2025. 98% of these MSMEs are classified as micro enterprises, and as of Fiscal 2025, the total potential credit demand is projected to be around ₹76 trillion, while the existing formal financing is approximately ₹42 trillion, leaving an estimated credit gap for MSMEs of about ₹34 trillion. The proportion of NBFCs has grown from 9.2% in Fiscal 2019 to 16.6% in Fiscal 2025, and this share is anticipated to continue increasing as NBFCs enhance their focus on this sector. As per the company's RHP, Aye Finance ranks among the top non-banking financial institutions (NBFCs) supplying business loans to the largely neglected micro-scale enterprises in India. The company's gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio rose from 2.49% on March 31, 2023, to 4.21% on March 31, 2025, and reached 4.85% by September 30, 2025. The company's listed peers include SBFC Finance Ltd (with a P/E of 27.32) and Five-Star Business Finance Ltd (with a P/E of 12.07)**.
According to Mint, one inherent challenge of microlending is the high volume of stressed loans, with current non-performing assets standing at 4.85% for the quarter ended September 2025, with write-offs at a similar level. This brings the overall stress pool up to around 9% for the gross advances. Aye Finance's head of strategy and product Sovan Satyaprakash explained that because their loans have a short typical tenor of 24 months, credit costs and write-offs show up quickly on the book compared to longer products in the industry such as five-year mortgages. "Our terminal losses are about 2% higher than the historical average due to the recent 'over-lending' period in the industry, but we have seen sequential improvement in credit costs over the last three quarters and the pain is now largely behind us," Satyaprakash said. The company's gross NPA ratio has surged from 2.49% on March 31, 2023, to 4.21% on March 31, 2025, and reached 4.85% by September 30, 2025. Despite being called a fintech, the company does not claim the label, with managing director Sanjay Sharma noting that "I once asked Elevation Capital why they don't classify us as a 'fintech' in their portfolio. Elevation replied: 'You make profit, so you can't be a fintech.'"
