Berar Finance Limited Unlisted Shares

About Company

Berar Finance Limited was incorporated on 22 August 1990 and is headquartered in Nagpur, Maharashtra. It is one of the oldest and largest vehicle-financing NBFCs in Central and West India, founded by first-generation entrepreneur Mr. Maroti Gendaru Jawanjar, a company secretary by profession with over 36 years of industry experience. BFL is a deposit-taking NBFC registered with the Reserve Bank of India, primarily engaged in financing two-wheelers, which, together with 2W refinancing, accounted for approximately 98% of its assets under management as of 31 December 2024.

The following table shows a 10-point analysis of Berar Finance Limited (BFL). We will discuss each point in detail after this table.

Company Overview

The company operates through a network of 160-plus branches across nine states — Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha.

The company is currently led by Mr. Sandeep Jawanjal (Managing Director), the son of founder Mr. Maroti Gendaru Jawanjar, who has been associated with the business since 2006. BFL's institutional investor base includes Amicus Capital Partners and Maj Invest (both represented on its board), alongside more recent investors Abler Nordic and First Bridge India Growth Fund.

Challenges in Berar Finance's Business

The following are the key challenges faced by the company:

• Monoline business concentration: Two-wheeler financing and refinancing constitute roughly 98% of BFL's AUM, exposing it to risks inherent in a single asset class and borrower segment (largely rural, ~85% of borrowers, and ~50% self-employed).
• Asset quality vulnerability: The 90+ days-past-due ratio rose to 3.3% as of 31 December 2024 from 2.8% as of 31 March 2024, and gross NPAs stood at 5.0% (December 2024) versus 4.5% (March 2024), reflecting the inherent asset-quality risk in 2W financing as the company scales into newer geographies.
• Historically modest profitability: Return on managed assets (RoMA) was relatively low in the past -1.6% in FY23 and 1.8% in FY22 and FY24, though it improved to about 2.2% (annualised) in the first nine months of FY25; sustaining this improvement remains a rating agency monitorable.
• Geographic and product concentration: Despite diversification into eight additional states, Maharashtra still represented the largest single-state exposure as of the most recent disclosures, and the SME lending line remains at an early, small scale relative to the core 2W book.
• Regulatory compliance history: According to compliance-tracking coverage (Studycafe), the RBI imposed a monetary penalty of ₹10.54 lakh on Berar Finance in December 2023 for non-compliance with regulatory directions; we were unable to independently retrieve RBI's original press release to confirm the specific grounds, so this should be treated as a reported-but-not-independently-verified data point.

Financial Review of Berar Finance

This review draws on CRISIL Ratings' rating rationale of 10 April 2025 (which reaffirmed BFL's rating and disclosed standalone financials) and ICRA's rating rationales for BFL's securitisation transactions through 2026.

Financial trend (standalone, per CRISIL).

Recent Developments

The recent development timeline of the company is as follows:

• October 2025: BFL closed a ₹150 crore (~US$17 million) Series B/PE fundraise — comprising both primary and secondary capital led by Norwegian impact investor Abler Nordic, with participation from First Bridge India Growth Fund. Existing investor Amicus Capital Partners made a partial exit as part of this transaction; InteQuant Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor to Berar, with Chugh Universal Legal advising Berar and Vertices Partners advising the incoming investors. BFL commenced operations in Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand (in addition to Odisha, where it began operations in FY2025), taking its state presence to nine.
• Employee growth: Per company-registry-sourced data, BFL's headcount reached 2,953 as of 31 May 2026, up about 24% year-on-year, consistent with its branch and loan-book expansion.
• Ongoing securitisation activity: BFL has continued to actively securitise pools of two-wheeler loan receivables through multiple ICRA-rated pass-through certificate (PTC) transactions (e.g., "Akaay 08 2025," "Arjun 05 2026," "Polaris Trust 2026"), a routine but ongoing part of its funding strategy.

Quick Summary

Berar Finance Limited is a 36-year-old, Nagpur-based, RBI-registered NBFC and one of Central/West India's oldest two-wheeler financing companies, now expanded across nine states with a loan book of ₹1,685 crore as of December 2025. The company has shown steady AUM growth and improving profitability (RoMA rising to ~2.2% by late FY25 from ~1.6-1.8% in prior years), while carrying a 'BBB/Stable' rating from CRISIL, ICRA, and CARE. A ₹150 crore fundraise in October 2025 from Abler Nordic and First Bridge India Growth Fund — alongside a partial exit by early investor Amicus Capital Partners.

Visit the official website of Berar Finance Limited.