Apollo Finvest (India) Ltd. Q3 FY26 Earnings Call Summary

Summary

Apollo Finvest (India) Ltd. - Q3 FY 2026 Earnings Call Summary Wednesday, February 11, 2026, 11:00 AM

Event Participants

Executives 3 Diksha Nangia (Whole Time Director & CFO), Mikhil Innani (Managing Director & CEO), Pooja Gohel (Company Secretary and Compliance Officer)

Analysts 4 Mahavir (Investor), Mathew Koshy (Investor), Mridul Joshi (Investor), Nitin Sethi (Investor)

Financials & KPIs

Note: Absolute values for AUM and Profit were not explicitly stated in the transcript, though referenced as “stable” and “growing.”

Geographic & Segment Commentary

• Retail Lending: Focus remains on digital-first loans with ticket sizes below ₹2 lakh. This segment grew 2x in terms of size this quarter as warehousing partners transitioned to co-lending/BC models. Management expects retail to reach 70-80% of the total AUM in the near future.
• Partnership Business: The core “platform” model currently comprises 90-95% of AUM. Apollo has worked with over 80 fintechs over 9 years, focusing on retail digital underwriting where traditional methods are less efficient.
• Direct-to-Consumer (Apollo Cash): A newly launched vertical designed to capture higher margins. While currently contributing <5% of AUM, it is projected to be a major growth driver over the next 2-3 years.

Company-Specific & Strategic Commentary

• Apollo Cash Launch: A strategic pivot to direct lending after 9 years of being a platform-only player. Management aims to reach in 2 years what peers took 8 years to achieve by leveraging 20 lakh+ historical loan data points.
• Tech-First Underwriting: Heavy reliance on Account Aggregator (AA) data to replace fraud-prone PDFs. The company uses AI to parse device data, SMS, and telco signals to mitigate a 60-day lag in Bureau data.
• Human Capital Investment: Strategy to hire industry veterans (5+ years experience) from top fintechs. This is expected to increase employee expenses in the short term but is viewed as a “high ROI” investment for scaling Apollo Cash.
• Fraud Mitigation: Deployment of AI-driven checks to combat sophisticated deep-fake and video KYC fraud. Management believes tech-first DNA is the only defense against rapidly evolving digital fraud.

Guidance & Outlook

Risks & Constraints

Q&A Highlights

Business Model & Revenue

• Question: Why isn’t revenue growth appearing despite multiple initiatives? (Mathew Koshy)
• Answer: Revenue is a function of the business model. Co-lending and term loans show lower top-line revenue compared to BC partnerships due to accounting for commissions, but the bottom-line profit remains the focus (Mikhil Innani).

Strategic Pivot (Apollo Cash)

• Question: Why go direct now after years of saying no? (Mathew Koshy)
• Answer: The industry has cleaned up; 80-85% of players are gone, and 4-5 viable models have emerged. Apollo is now applying 9 years of “learning from partners” to its own book to capture higher ROEs (Mikhil Innani).

Technology Edge

• Question: What distinguishes Apollo from 500 other NBFCs with capital? (Mikhil Innani)
• Answer: Speed and stability. Integration takes one week with Apollo versus 6-8 months elsewhere. High stability prevents “good users” from bouncing due to UI friction (Mikhil Innani).

Customer Acquisition & Marketing

• Question: How will you compete with thousands of loan apps on the Play Store? (Nitin Sethi)
• Answer: Demand is “like water in a desert.” Apollo is seeing 300-400 organic downloads daily with zero marketing. Success will come from “efficient execution,” not “innovation” (Mikhil Innani).

Key Takeaway

Apollo Finvest delivered a quarter marked by a significant strategic pivot from a pure-play B2B platform to a hybrid model with the launch of “Apollo Cash.” While the core partnership business continues to drive 90-95% of AUM, the company is aggressively investing in senior talent and AI-driven underwriting to scale its direct-to-consumer vertical. Financials showed a 2x QoQ growth in the retail book and industry-leading asset quality (GNPA ~0.5-0.7%). Management signaled that short-term profitability may be tempered by rising employee expenses as they build the infrastructure for Apollo Cash. However, the long-term outlook remains focused on leveraging 20 lakh+ historical data points to achieve a 20% ROE and 3x leverage. The company’s future depends on its ability to transition warehousing partners into co-lenders while simultaneously scaling its own app in a high-demand, high-fraud digital environment.