Speaking to ET Now, Banga addressed investor questions head-on — from IHC’s current stake size to rating agency conversations, legacy book cleanup, and the company’s aggressive expansion into 500 cities.
IHC’s commitment is not in question
Some market observers had raised an eyebrow at IHC’s stake in Sammaan Capital sitting at 41% rather than a higher figure. Banga pushed back firmly. IHC, he explained, is a globally diversified investment company operating across regulated and unregulated businesses, and has spent the last six months working through a formal regulatory approval process — receiving clearance from the Reserve Bank of India and other bodies to take promoter-level control of the company.
What impressed Banga most was the speed of execution. Despite operating out of a region currently experiencing active conflict, IHC turned around the subscription to financial shares within three days of receiving RBI approval. “That turnaround in the midst of a war was exceptional,” he said, describing the investment as a long-term strategic bet rather than a passive financial position.
Credit quality holds, but black swan risk prompts fresh thinking
On asset quality, Banga described the current credit environment as “fairly benign,” consistent with the broader performance seen across peers in the NBFC sector. India appears to be in a healthy credit cycle, and NPA ratios at Sammaan have reflected that.
However, he acknowledged that recent global macro developments — a clear reference to the geopolitical conflict — represent exactly the kind of black swan event that standard Expected Credit Loss (ECL) models are not built to anticipate. The company is now actively working to assess whether such tail-risk scenarios can be meaningfully incorporated into risk frameworks going forward.
Crucially, Banga said the last six months have been used to aggressively clean up the legacy book, and he expects that by the time FY27 results are announced, there will be no mention of legacy issues whatsoever.
Rating upgrades could arrive within 12 months — and the math is compelling
The most significant near-term catalyst for Sammaan’s profitability story is a potential rating upgrade — and the cost-of-funds reduction that would follow.
Banga noted two factors that give him confidence: UAE holds a AA sovereign credit rating versus India’s BBB minus, and IHC as a corporate entity is larger than the largest company in India. Having such a promoter with such a sovereign backing should, in his view, generate a meaningful positive rub-off on Sammaan’s own ratings.
Rating agencies have already been briefed and are closely monitoring the situation. Post the formal deal consummation, Banga said the company will present its revised business model and legacy resolution plan to the agencies. His base case is that within 6 to 12 months, incremental capital will be flowing in at approximately 250 basis points lower than current borrowing rates.
The margin impact of that alone is striking. Banga explained that even on a static book, repricing existing stock by around 200 basis points over the next 12 months would be sufficient to double current margins — without any contribution from new business growth.
Disbursals, not AUM, is the real scorecard
On the question of whether Sammaan will hit Rs 1 lakh crore AUM by end of FY27, Banga was candid — that specific milestone is not his primary focus. What he is tracking is disbursal velocity. The company expects to disburse around Rs 35,000 crore in FY27, scaling to a run rate of Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 crore annually by FY29 — a trajectory that should organically deliver Rs 1.3 to 1.5 lakh crore in AUM by that point.
Operationally, the company is making significant investments to support that scale — expanding city coverage to 500 locations, growing the workforce to 10,000 employees by FY27, and making what Banga described as heavy investments in technology infrastructure.