Jio Financial’s roar begins to sound like a whimper |
Jio Financial Services announced its Q4 FY26 results after trading hours on 17 April, and the numbers were…underwhelming. Or at least that’s what the market thought.
Come Monday, while the benchmark Nifty 50 index held flat, the stock fell 3%, likely spooked by the 14% fall in the company’s quarterly profit compared to the year-ago period. The full-year profit was down 3%, too.
That’s possibly not what investors expected from a business whose parent sports the motto “growth is life”.
In 2023, JFS was demerged from Reliance Industries (RIL) in a characteristic display of the latter’s financial-engineering expertise that The Ken had writtenThe KenReliance’s $12 billion gift to its newest child, Jio Financial Services about. JFS ended up walking away with Reliance shares then worth Rs 1 lakh crore, ring-fenced from any regulatory threat.
The mood all-around was understandably buoyant.
“Jio Financial Services Limited is uniquely positioned to capture the growth opportunities in the financial-services sector and play a crucial role in transforming the landscape of digital finance in India,” announced chairperson Mukesh Ambani in Reliance Industries’s annual report that year.
The market responded in kind, and JFS’s stock price jumped by 45% in less than a year.
But nearly three years since its listing, JFS is realising that finance, unlike telecom or retail, can’t be disrupted with deep pockets and low pricing alone, something The Ken had flaggedThe KenReliance’s $12 billion gift to its newest child, Jio Financial Services earlier, too. The company remains a minnow among whales, with stagnant profit despite rising revenue and a stock price that’s been on a tumble.
Copy Link Link Copied!