Raama Finance Ltd is an Indian lending company that was born as a small leasing firm in Gujarat and, three decades later, was acquired by new promoters who are now attempting to turn it into something far larger. Its recurring approach is to lend to people and businesses that banks often overlook - small shopkeepers, salaried workers, microfinance borrowers - using digital tools to make the process faster and more personal than a traditional lender would.
Business segments
A single lending engine, now being refuelled under new ownership - one platform serving the underbanked, with a digital salary-loan app as its most visible piece and a fresh drone-investment bet on the side.
1. Lending to the underbanked: the company's only operating engine
The entire business is making loans to individuals and small enterprises that mainstream banks find too small or too messy, then earning interest on every rupee lent.
- Interest income is the whole show - the company’s revenue from operations has historically come entirely from interest on loans, with no other material operating income stream.
- Built for niches banks ignore - it chooses specific markets and products by figuring out which borrower segments are promising and what kind of loan structure they actually need, rather than competing head-on with banks for prime customers.
- A digital salary-loan app as the shopfront - its “FastSalary” platform (www.fastsalary.com) disbursed over Rs. 35 Crores to more than 9,000 customers in its first year, giving salaried workers small, quick loans through a purely digital channel.
- Microfinance and asset lending under one roof - the company operates as both an NBFC-MFI (microfinance institution) and an Asset Finance Company, which means it can lend to a rickshaw driver buying a vehicle and to a woman running a tiny kirana store, all within the same regulatory licence.
- Personalised service, not just a rate card - its stated model is to understand individual customer needs and offer customised loans in a cost-efficient way, using digital tools for both lending and collections rather than a branch-heavy model.
2. Strategic investments: a side bet on drones
A tiny minority stake in a drone maker - not a lending activity, but a financial placement that hints at where the new promoters’ ambitions might reach.
- A 5.55% slice of a UAV company - in September 2025, the company bought 7,15,000 shares of Gamma Rotors Ltd, which assembles and sells unmanned aerial vehicles and drones along with maintenance services.
- Bought from a connected party - the shares were acquired from Unlisted Assets Private Limited, whose board includes a relative of the incoming promoter group, making it a related-party transaction even though it was done at an arm’s-length cash price of Rs. 42.57 per share.
Group structure and partners
A shell with no subsidiaries, now under new promoters who have injected capital through a series of share sales and warrant issues - and who have brought in a cluster of institutional investors alongside them.
- No subsidiaries, no joint ventures - as of March 2025, the company stood entirely alone with no associate companies or subsidiaries, meaning all its operations run through a single corporate entity.
- Old promoters exited entirely - the original promoter group sold their full 11.50% stake (58,84,500 shares) to Mr. Akhil Mittal and Ms. Pratika Sharma at Rs. 1.50 per share in November 2024, walking away from the company they had run since 1993.
- New promoters bought control in three moves - alongside the share purchase, the acquirers got Board approval for a preferential allotment of 3,00,00,000 shares at Rs. 2.26 each, then launched a mandatory open offer for another 26% of the company at the same price, with RBI approval for the change in control arriving in July and August 2025.
- A Rs. 55 Crore warrant issue brought in outside money - in March 2026, the company allotted 11,40,00,000 fully convertible warrants at Rs. 4.80 per warrant to 27 allottees, including SKG Assets Management Pvt Ltd (2,00,00,000 warrants), Rahul Sharma (1,40,00,000 warrants), and Equities First Ventures LLP (80,00,000 warrants), with only 25% paid upfront and the rest due within 18 months of conversion.
- Promoter holding will dilute on full conversion - if all warrants convert, Mr. Akhil Mittal’s stake would drop from 27.46% to 15.26%, and a promoter-group trust would hold 3.84%, spreading ownership across a wider set of financial investors.