ICRA stated that the rating factors in AU Small Finance Bank's (AUSFB) established retail asset franchise with a track record of maintaining comfortable asset quality, adequate capitalisation and healthy earnings.

The bank registered a compound annual growth rate of around 30% in its gross loan portfolio (GLP) during March 2020 to March 2025 while deposits increased by 37% during this period.

It has more than two decades of experience in the vehicle finance segment and more than a decade of experience in the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) segment; the share of secured retail loans stood at 68% of the GLP as on 31 December 2025.

AUSFB has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to transition into a Universal Bank, which augurs well for its competitive positioning ' the transition is expected to be completed in FY2027.

ICRA expects AUSFB to maintain its growth momentum and keep scaling up its GLP at 20-25% per annum over the medium term with continued focus on the current target borrower segments.

The bank vide a stock exchange disclosure dated 22 February 2026 intimated of its de-empanelment for Government business in the State of Haryana.

The de-empanelment follows suspected unauthorised transactions between an account of a particular department of Government of Haryana and another customer account of the bank.

The bank has initiated an internal review on the matter. The bank maintains that based on available facts and preliminary review, there has not been any indication of any fraudulent activity towards the bank.

ICRA notes that the de-empanelment shall result in deposits outflow amounting to Rs 735 crore (Rs 538 crore as on 21 February 2026 or 0.4% of bank's overall deposits as on 31 December 2025).

While this is not material in relation to the bank's overall deposits, the impact of the above on its deposit profile and its ability to improve its franchise shall remain a monitorable.

AU Small Finance Bank (AUSFB) is a scheduled commercial bank, which transitioned to a small finance bank (SFB) from an asset financing non-banking financial company (NBFC).

The bank had reported a PAT of Rs 1,809 crore in 9M FY2026 on a total asset base of Rs 1,74,052 crore compared to Rs 1,602 crore and Rs 1,43,044 crore, respectively, in 9M FY2025.

The scrip shed 0.80% to currently trade at Rs 965.30 on the BSE.

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