InCred Holdings Moves Closer to IPO with ₹4,000 Crore DRHP Filing

InCred Holdings, the parent of InCred Financial Services and a growing suite of wealth and asset-management businesses has taken a decisive step toward a public listing by filing a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with market regulators for an IPO and a public issue worth ₹3,000–4,000 crore band. The confidential pre-filing, completed in early November 2025, signals management’s intention to tap public equity to scale its lending book, strengthen capital buffers, and accelerate investment in technology and fee-based services. The company’s move follows months of consolidation and fresh capital raises that have bulked up its balance sheet and diversified its product mix.

A concise view of the business

InCred started as a tech-first NBFC focused on consumer and education loans and has since broadened into a multi-business financial platform that includes retail lending, SME finance, wealth management and alternative asset advisory. The holding-company structure is meant to capture both the recurring-fee potential of wealth/asset management and the higher-yielding credit business, a combination investors now favor because it provides multiple earnings levers and smoothing across cycles.

The group has also been building in-house capabilities in underwriting, collections and data science, capabilities that its DRHP says will be scaled further using IPO proceeds.

What the DRHP filing actually means

Filing a DRHP especially via the confidential pre-filing route — lets a company engage regulators and anchor investors while keeping sensitive valuations and allocation details private until nearer the launch. InCred’s target range (reported by multiple outlets) gives the market a sense of scale: this is not a small debut, it is a material capital raise intended to accelerate growth and shore up regulatory capital for a fast-growing NBFC. Management plans to use proceeds for lending book growth, technology and infrastructure investments, distribution expansion (particularly in smaller towns), and to scale its wealth/asset management franchises.

The Numbers Behind the Confidence

For FY25, InCred Financial Services posted strong financials:

Revenue: approx. ₹1,255 crore

Profit After Tax: approx. ₹372 crore

AUM Growth: expanding towards ₹12,500+ crore

Ratings: AA- (stable) a big endorsement for an NBFC scaling fast

Who backs InCred and why that matters

InCred’s shareholder base and recent private capital rounds matter because they show outside validation. The company has attracted marquee investors and strategic backers including high-profile private investors such as the Kamath brothers of Zerodha, who invested ₹250 crore earlier in 2025 suggesting confidence from sophisticated domestic players in InCred’s strategy. Such backing also helps when pricing an IPO and sourcing anchor commitments. 

What the DRHP Tells Us

A few themes stand out from the filing:

1. The focus is on long-term capital

InCred wants permanent capital to accelerate its lending book and build a stronger balance sheet.

2. Technology is central

The company plans to invest aggressively in AI-led credit models, fraud detection, collections and risk scoring.

3. Fee-based income will grow

Wealth and asset management arms are scaling fast, offering more stable revenue and better ROE.

4. It wants deeper presence in smaller cities

Retail and MSME lending outside metros still has massive untapped demand.

Key intended uses of IPO proceeds include:

• Strengthening the lending book and capital buffers

• Investing in digital infrastructure and AI-led underwriting models

• Scaling distribution across Tier-II and Tier-III cities

• Expansion of asset management and wealth businesses

• Possible acquisitions in niche lending or advisory segments

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Incred Holdings: The Risks That Don’t Go Away

No NBFC is without vulnerabilities:

• A chunk of the retail book is unsecured

• MSME loans react sharply to economic shocks

• Cost of funds can rise quickly for non-bank lenders

• Competition is intense, and regulatory tightening is constant

Conclusion

An InCred IPO would be more than a corporate milestone. It would signal that India’s capital markets remain receptive to well-governed, diversified NBFCs that combine tech-driven credit distribution with fee income growth. This matters for both credit availability to MSMEs and for the maturation of India’s wealth-management ecosystem, where competition is opening new channels for savings and advisory products. A successful listing could also set a template for other fintech-NBFC hybrids contemplating public markets.