NCL Research and Financial Services is a professionally managed, promoter-less finance company that does two things under one roof: it lends money without taking collateral, and it trades and invests in shares, commodities and derivatives for its own book. Incorporated in Mumbai in 1985, the company has evolved from a founder-led entity into a 100% public-owned firm, and it approaches both lending and investing through a deliberately conservative lens - selective credit, continuous risk monitoring, and hedging to limit the damage when markets turn. # Business segments Two engines that feed each other - a lending book built on unsecured but carefully screened loans, and a proprietary trading desk that hunts for arbitrage spreads and long-term value in public and private markets. ## 1. Proprietary trading and investments: the engine that drives the entire top line **The company puts its own capital to work across equities, commodities and derivatives, earning from price gains, dividends and arbitrage spreads - this single activity accounts for all of its reported turnover.** - **Arbitrage is the workhorse** - a significant slice of trading income comes from buying and selling the same security in different markets or forms, capturing the price gap; for positions still open at the reporting date, the company books any net unrealised loss immediately but ignores net unrealised gains until they are actually realised. - **A portfolio split by liquidity** - quoted shares held for trading are valued at the lower of what they cost or what the market will pay, while long-term investments are stated at cost with a provision for diminution to recognise a decline, other than temporary, in their value. - **Hedged, not just hopeful** - the desk uses futures, options and currency derivatives to cap losses when stock prices move against it, rather than running a naked directional bet. - **Small-cap exposure comes with landmines** - the inventory has included illiquid stocks where trading is thin or suspended, and the company has already written off one position in a “vanishing company” that had not traded for years. - **Clients are wealthy individuals, not institutions** - the company constructs long-term, uncomplicated portfolio strategies for high net-worth individuals, a pool of over 850,000 people in India, one-fifth of them under forty. ## 2. Unsecured lending: a selective bet on borrower character **The company extends loans without taking a single asset as security, relying instead on a conservative filter that prioritises the borrower’s repayment capacity above all else.** - **No collateral, so screening is everything** - every loan is unsecured, which means the company has no claim on property or shares if the borrower defaults; management describes its lending policy as “very selective and conservative” for exactly that reason. - **Short-term book, long-term vigilance** - the loan portfolio stood at roughly ₹904 crore of short-term advances as of March 2025, all classified as good, with interest booked using the effective interest method that spreads income evenly over the life of the loan. - **A tiny cushion for a big risk** - the company sets aside a contingent provision of just 0.25% against its standard assets, the minimum the RBI requires, which means any actual default would hit profits directly. - **Fee income from the edges** - beyond plain interest, the company collects fees for servicing loans, for commitments that go unused, and for advisory work tied to loan arrangements. - **Asset-liability gaps are a live concern** - because the company lends and invests for periods that do not always match its funding, it tries to align the interest-rate profiles of what it owns and what it owes, but the mismatch remains a source of risk. # Group structure and partners **The company stands alone - no subsidiaries, no joint ventures, no promoter - but it operates within a web of related entities that share management and directors.** - The company does not have any subsidiary, associate or joint venture company during the reporting period. - Since December 2022, there has been no promoter at all; the last one, holding just 1.52%, was reclassified as a public shareholder, making the company 100% publicly owned. - The top public shareholders include corporate entities such as Katyani Commodities, Helot Properties and Fair Deal Equiresearch And Realtors, holding 1.39%, 1.04% and 0.93% respectively. - The company transacts with a network of group concerns - Voltaire Leasing & Finance, GCM Commodity & Derivatives, Khoobsurat Limited, KIC Metaliks and others - in which directors or their relatives have an interest. - The board is led by Chairman and Managing Director Goutam Bose, supported by four independent directors, a chief financial officer and a company secretary.