Assets under management

Two different things, depending on who reports it. For an asset manager it is the market value of the client money it manages, which moves with markets as well as with inflows and outflows and is the base its fees are charged on. For a non-bank lender it is the loan book, including loans it has sold down but continues to service.

A lender growing from ₹23,000 crore to ₹28,000 crore has expanded 21.7%, which is inside the healthy band of 15% to 25% for an Indian non-bank. For a fund house the same 21.7% in a year when markets rose 15% came mostly from the market, and only the rest says anything about its business.

Growth much above 40% carries quality risk. Underwriting standards are the easiest thing to relax when a growth target has to be met, and the loans written in the fastest year are the ones that default in the third.

Compare growth in the book to growth in provisions. If the second isn't keeping pace, the first is borrowed.