Choice International Limited: Setting the Pace - A Resilient Q1 FY27

"Growth becomes more resilient when every capability strengthens the ecosystem around it.”

For Choice International Limited, this philosophy increasingly defines its evolution. With broking at the core of its journey, Choice has steadily built a broader financial services ecosystem spanning wealth management, lending, investment banking, institutional equities and advisory services creating multiple avenues to engage with and serve its growing client base.

Capitalising on these emerging opportunities, Choice commenced FY27 on a strong note, delivering healthy growth and profitability during the quarter ended June 30, 2026. The performance reflected momentum across businesses, supported by expansion of the institutional and wealth ecosystems and new advisory mandates. Reflecting this progress, Choice’s market capitalisation reached approximately ₹18,500 crore, marking a 28% increase over June 2025.

The quarter also marked an important leadership transition with the appointment of Mr. Ayush Sharma as Chief Financial Officer. With over 14 years of experience in finance, his addition further strengthens the leadership team as Choice enters its next phase of scale.

Alongside business growth, Choice continued to invest in technology, strengthen strategic partnerships and enhance its operating capabilities building a more integrated platform positioned to capture opportunities across India’s evolving financial services landscape.

Capital Markets and Regulatory Tailwinds

The first quarter of FY27 was shaped by a complex but highly opportunistic macroeconomic environment in India. The Indian equity market is witnessing an unprecedented wave of financialization. According to recent depository data, total demat accounts in India have continued to scale record highs, driven by Tier 2 and Tier 3 city penetration. This provides a massive volume-led runway for tech-forward broking platforms.

Following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) strategic decision to increase risk weights on unsecured consumer loans to curb systemic risk, the broader NBFC industry has experienced a distinct pivot. Lenders are increasingly transitioning toward secured asset classes like Micro-LAP to preserve asset quality and shield their balance sheets from elevated credit costs.

Government of India’s sustained focus on state and national capital expenditure particularly across railways, e-governance, and urban infrastructure has created a multi-billion dollar opportunity for specialized consultancy and advisory firms.

These structural trends create a favourable growth environment for Choice, supported by its presence across broking, secured lending and government advisory. The Group’s diversified financial services platform positions it to participate in India’s accelerating financialisation, evolving credit landscape and infrastructure-led development.

Choice International at a Glance: A Diversified Financial Ecosystem

Since its inception, Choice International has evolved from a traditional financial service provider into a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary financial conglomerate. Our resilience is rooted in our highly diversified revenue ecosystem, which strategically spans across Broking & Distribution, NBFC operations, and specialized Advisory services. This three-pillar structure ensures that we are not overly reliant on any single market cycle.

When capital market volumes fluctuate, our advisory mandates provide a stable, multi-year revenue anchor; when credit cycles tighten, our asset-light distribution networks sustain our cash flows. A core pillar of our identity is spearheading financial inclusion through our proprietary "Choice Connect" platform, taking premium financial services beyond metropolitan centres and deep into Tier 3, 4, and 5 cities. This diversification allows us to cross-sell seamlessly across a massive, expanding client base, driving continuous synergies.

Quarter End Financial Snapshot and Performance

The first quarter of FY27 marked a period of strong financial delivery, characterized by a healthy balance of aggressive top-line expansion and sustained operational profitability.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2026, our consolidated revenue reached an impressive ₹319.02 crore, delivering a robust growth of 34.07% YoY compared to ₹237.96 crore in Q1 FY26. This upward trajectory was fuelled by significant market share gains across our core business segments and the rapid, successful execution of an expanding advisory order book. Alongside this top-line momentum, the firm demonstrated exceptional operational efficiency, posting a solid consolidated operating profit of ₹114.04 crore.

On the bottom line, our consolidated Profit After Tax (PAT) stood at a strong ₹60.61 crore, representing a 26.37% YoY jump. This profitability was achieved and sustained despite a deliberate increase in operational reinvestment and strategic capital expenditure aimed at long-term capacity building.

Recently we successfully laid the foundational groundwork for a monumental strategic investment from South Korea's NH Investment & Securities into our subsidiary, Choice Equity Broking. While this serves as a massive milestone for our long-term capitalization and institutional expansion, we will be diving into the detailed strategic implications and deployment mechanisms of this NH investment in our upcoming Q2 review.

Broking & Distribution: Scaling the ‘Phygital’ Frontier

Our Broking and Distribution vertical is highly multifaceted, encompassing sub-verticals such as Retail Broking, Institutional Equity, Wealth Management, Mutual Fund Distribution, and Insurance Broking.

Strategically, this segment is driven by our highly successful "Phygital" model, a seamless blend of cutting-edge digital infrastructure and a massive on-ground presence. With over 217 local branches and a formidable network of 70,000+ Business Associates through "Choice Connect," we are actively democratizing finance in Tier 3, 4, and 5 cities.

Qualitatively, Q1 FY27 saw immense traction across our proprietary technology stack. Platforms like the FinX app, the StrikeX advanced derivatives platform, and our Greein real-time market analytics dashboard empowered clients with institutional-grade tools with our active demat account base rising to over 2.42k.

This quarter also saw our Institutional Equities arm successfully host ‘InsightX 2026’, connecting over 100 corporates with 150+ institutional investors, while our wealth capabilities expanded significantly with SEBI approving Choice AMC Private Limited as the Investment Manager to the Wealthwave Capital Trust AIF.

Looking forward, the strategic groundwork for NH Investment & Securities’ ₹900 crores investment in Choice Equity Broking Private Limited through CCPS will be a key catalyst for this vertical. The growth capital will support expansion of the MTF book and strategic investments across technology, customer acquisition, talent, product innovation and scalability, enabling stronger operating leverage and more efficient absorption of fixed costs.

NBFC Services: Calibrated Shift Toward Secured Assets

Operating primarily under Choice Finserv, our NBFC vertical focuses on distinct sub-verticals: MSME Micro-LAP (Loan Against Property) and specialized segments like Rooftop Solar Financing. During the quarter, the primary strategic imperative for this division was an accelerated, deliberate, and calibrated transition toward secured lending.

In a broader industry environment facing elevated unsecured credit costs, we have proactively prioritized balance sheet resilience over sheer loan book velocity. By targeting the "missing middle" in semi-urban and rural demographics, the NBFC arm is fulfilling a critical credit gap with asset-backed loans, bringing the total loan book to a healthy ₹836 crore.

Qualitatively, while this transition naturally leads to a short-term yield compression reflected in a temporary contraction in segment profits this quarter, it drastically enhances the quality of our asset book. This forward-looking strategy ensures highly predictable net interest margins, minimizes non-performing assets (NPAs), and builds a deeply sustainable foundation for the upcoming credit cycles.

Advisory: Cementing Leadership in Infrastructure and Capital Solutions

The Advisory business has emerged as a key growth pillar, spanning Government Infrastructure Consultancy, Management Consulting, Investment Banking, and Corporate Tax Advisory. This vertical delivered a standout, staggering performance in Q1 FY27, with segment revenue soaring, driven predominantly by our infrastructure consultancy arms, Choice Consultancy Services and Ayoleeza Consultants.

The core strategy here is to position Choice International as the premier knowledge and execution partner for India's historic capital expenditure push. This financial year, the division successfully secured multiple new government mandates with an aggregate contract value of approximately ₹191.38 crore, capturing highly specialized projects across e-governance, railway infrastructure, and citizen-centric public initiatives. Qualitatively, these massive state and national mandates are transformative; they provide immense, multi-year revenue visibility and deeply enhance our institutional brand equity.

Concurrently, our Investment Banking and Management Consulting sub-verticals remained actively engaged in advising corporate clients on capital allocation and operational efficiencies, with the Investment Banking business completing one IPO during the quarter, executing 30 ongoing mandates, and maintaining a robust pipeline of over ₹6,766 crore.

Together, these sub-verticals create a sticky, high-value client base while generating natural cross-selling opportunities across our wealth and lending businesses.

Sustaining the FY27 Momentum

Choice International’s Q1 FY27 results powerfully validate our overarching strategic roadmap. By balancing aggressive top-line revenue generation with disciplined, forward-looking operational pivots such as the secured lending transition in our NBFC arm, the rapid scaling of our government advisory order book, and the deepening of our institutional and wealth broking ecosystems, we have fortified the company against broader market volatility. With an exceptionally strong pipeline of public sector consultancy mandates, a highly resilient loan book, and the impending strategic capital backing our retail platforms, Choice International is incredibly well-positioned to sustain this growth momentum.

As we move deeper into FY27, our focus remains sharply fixed on translating our expanding integrated platform into sustainable, long-term wealth creation for our clients, partners, and shareholders.