Detailed Narrative
AUM Growth and Business Momentum
Prudent Corporate Advisory Services demonstrated strong AUM growth in Q3 FY26. The quarterly average AUM reached INR 127,600 crores, marking a 21% year-on-year and 7.2% quarter-on-quarter increase. Equity AUM specifically grew by 22.4% YoY to INR 125,700 crores by December 2025, driven by strong net sales and the acquisition of Indus. Despite a 5% correction in the Nifty500 Index in January 2026, the company observed strong resilience in net sales, cushioning the impact of market volatility🌐.
SIP Performance and Market Share Expansion
The company's SIP performance remained robust, with the monthly SIP book increasing to INR 1,170 crores, up from INR 1,130 crores in December 2025. This represents an addition of almost INR 200 crores over the last 12 months. Prudent's market share improved by 20 basis points, from 3.3% in December 2024 to 3.5% in December 2025. Management aims to cross INR 1,200 crores in monthly SIP flows by March 2026, indicating continued confidence in this growth driver.
Financial Performance Overview
Overall quarterly revenue from operations grew by 7.3% sequentially, contributing to a 16.6% increase on a 9-month basis. Operating expenses also grew at a similar pace of 7.2% QoQ, including one-off📎 employee costs of INR 1.49 crores and an ESOP charge of INR 1.61 crores. Despite these, operating profit grew by 7.8% QoQ and 12.2% on a 9-month basis. Net profit saw a healthy increase of 7.6% QoQ and 19.6% YoY, reaching INR 57.6 crores for the quarter.
Impact of Indus Acquisition and Depreciation Changes
The Indus acquisition has been successfully integrated, proving to be a highly cash-accretive addition. It contributed to a 70-80 bps improvement in the overall payout ratio due to its lower payout structure. The acquisition cost of Indus Capital (INR 106-107 crores) will be amortized over 15 years. Furthermore, the useful life of Karvy assets has been extended from 10 to 15 years, reducing depreciation by INR 1.7 crores this quarter, though overall depreciation modestly increased from INR 7.7 crores to INR 8 crores.
Regulatory Changes: SEBI TER and GST on Insurance
SEBI's recent changes to the Total Expense Ratio (TER) are expected to be revenue neutral for Prudent but strategically beneficial by creating a level playing field for GST-registered distributors. Management anticipates AMCs will pass on the TER cut to distributors, which Prudent will then pass on to its network. In the insurance segment, revenue growth was slower at 3.6% due to rationalization of rates post GST changes in retail health. However, the company successfully renegotiated some cuts, reducing the impact on life insurance to less than 10%.
MFD Network Stability and Strategic Outlook
Management confirmed that the number of MFDs joining the Prudent platform remains stable, with expectations to add 4,700-4,800 distributors this year, similar to last year. While attrition was higher last year due to new platforms, it has now normalized. The company is actively looking for similar strategic acquisition opportunities like Indus, leveraging its treasury corpus of INR 537 crores to explore inorganic growth avenues.