Brands
Aditya Birla Capital climbs higher on strong Q3 growth
MUMBAI: In a world where financial markets can often feel like a game of snakes and ladders, Aditya Birla Capital Limited (ABCL) appears to be exclusively climbing the latter. The conglomerate’s unaudited financial results for the quarter ended 31 December 2025 reveal a company not just “checking the boxes,” but redrawing them entirely. With consolidated revenue leaping 30 per cent year-on-year to Rs 14,181 crore, the firm has proven that its diversified engine is firing on all cylinders.
Lending a helping hand (and growing the bottom line)
The star of the show remains the company’s lending arm. The total lending portfolio, comprising its Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) and Housing Finance (HFC) segments, grew by a robust 30 per cent year-on-year, reaching a staggering Rs 1,90,386 crore.
. NBFC segment: The NBFC portfolio hit Rs 1,48,182 crore, up 24 per cent. Profits for this segment followed suit, rising 29 per cent to Rs 772 crore.
. Housing finance: The real “house party,” however, was in the HFC division. Assets under management (AUM) rocketed by 58 per cent to Rs 42,204 crore, while profits more than doubled, surging 111 per cent to Rs 177 crore.
Insuring the future
It wasn’t just the lending books that looked healthy. The insurance and asset management sectors also flexed their muscles:
. Health Insurance: Gross written premiums jumped by 39 per cent in the first nine months of the financial year, reaching Rs 4,651 crore.
. Life Insurance: Individual first-year premiums grew by 19 per cent, while the Net VNB (Value of New Business) margin improved by 380 basis points to 14.6 per cent.
. Asset Management: Total Assets Under Management (AUM) across the AMC, Life, and Health segments reached a combined Rs 5,98,166 crore, a 19 per cent increase.
Adding more fuel to the fire, the Housing Finance arm (ABHFL) recently raised Rs 2,750 crore in growth capital from Advent International. This deal, which values the housing unit at a post-money Rs 19,250 crore, leaves Aditya Birla Capital with a commanding 85.7 per cent stake, perfectly positioning the unit for its next phase of expansion into the prime and affordable housing segments.
Efficiency and quality: The “Breezy” reality
Despite the rapid growth, ABCL hasn’t lost its grip on quality. The NBFC’s credit quality remains pristine, with Gross Stage 3 (GS3) assets dropping by 76 basis points year-on-year to just 1.51 per cent. In the housing sector, asset quality is even tighter, with GS3 sitting at a mere 0.54 per cent.
Through its “One ABC” omnichannel strategy, the company now serves over 9.3 million customers via its ABCD-D2C platform, proving that digital transformation is more than just a buzzword.
As the sun sets on Q3 FY26, Aditya Birla Capital stands tall with a reported profit after tax of Rs 945 crore, though its “core” performance, excluding one-offs like new labour code impacts, was even higher at Rs 983 crore. For investors, it seems the capital isn’t just “Birla,” it’s brilliant.
Brands
Acko CMO Ashish Mishra to exit in July
The digital insurer’s marketing chief, who helped build the brand over nearly five years, is heading for the exit.
Ashish Mishra is stepping down as chief marketing officer of Acko, with his departure confirmed for July. He remains in the role for now, and an official announcement from the company is expected shortly.
Mishra joined the digital insurance start-up in August 2020, making him one of the longer-serving marketing chiefs in India’s fintech and insurtech space. Over nearly five years, he played a central role in building Acko’s brand presence in the country’s fiercely competitive digital insurance market. More recently, he was closely associated with Acko Life’s Unmixed brand philosophy, a proposition built around pure protection products stripped of the investment components that have long complicated traditional insurance offerings in India.
Before Acko, Mishra spent over a decade at HSBC in a series of marketing leadership roles spanning the Middle East, including regional marketing manager for credit cards and advance propositions, brand and media manager, and marketing manager for retail banking. Earlier in his career, he worked on the agency side, serving as senior brand service manager at Lowe Lintas and as executive for brand communications at DDB Mudra Group.
His exit leaves Acko with a sizeable gap to fill at a time when the brand is pushing deeper into life insurance and doubling down on its direct-to-consumer positioning. Whoever takes the seat next will inherit a brand that Mishra spent five years building from the ground up. That is not nothing.
