Slice Small Finance Bank swung to a net profit of Rs 48.4 crore for FY26, its first full financial year after completion of a merger with North East Small Finance Bank (NESFB), marking a turnaround from a Rs 216.7 crore net loss in the previous year.
Total income more than doubled to Rs 1,402.7 crore in FY26 from Rs 603.8 crore in FY25.
For the March quarter, the fintech startup reported a net profit of Rs 20.4 crore on total income of Rs 399.7 crore, compared with a year-earlier net loss of Rs 89.9 crore.
The financial improvement is significant for Slice, which is currently in discussions for a $50-100 million funding round, at less than $1 billion valuation, lower than its original aim. ET exclusively reported on Slice’s fundraising plans in April , noting that the firm wants to reposition itself as a digital bank.
Slice has spent the past two years trying to rebuild itself as a full-stack lender after regulatory changes disrupted its earlier credit-led model.
Founded by Rajan Bajaj, Slice began as a fintech startup offering credit through prepaid cards, but its core business was hit in 2022 after the Reserve Bank of India barred prepaid instruments from being loaded through credit lines.
Slice then moved deeper into lending before securing a rare banking route through the merger with NESFB , completed in October 2024 after regulatory and shareholder approvals.
The turnaround also comes after a difficult first year for the combined entity. ET reported earlier that Slice’s FY25 loss widened to Rs 216 crore even as revenue rose. The bank also inherited a weak loan book from NESFB.
As of March 31, Slice’s net worth stood at Rs 875.3 crore, while the capital to risk-weighted assets ratio was 19.1%, above regulatory requirements. The debt-equity ratio improved to 0.14 from 0.97 a year earlier. The bank’s CASA ratio stood at 39.8%, while retail term deposits and CASA together made up 94.2% of total deposits.
“We are expanding our merchant and business banking and using AI to meaningfully raise the bar on what customers should expect from a bank,” said Rajan Bajaj, also the managing director and chief executive of Slice. “The global macro has uncertainties, but they always do. AI and digital infrastructure are one of the great investment cycles of our generation, and India is right in the middle of it.”
The lender recently launched Slice One, a self-serve banking machine aimed at expanding into merchant and business banking.
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