“When you pursue growth at the expense of prudence, you are going to get a knock on the nose. The nose will start bleeding, and it is not a good sight.” That, in a nutshell, is how a veteran value investor, known for his deep understanding of India’s credit market, summarises the journey of KKR India Financial Services (KIFS).
A string of bad loans, top-level exits, and rating downgrades, have left KIFS—the non-banking finance (NBFC) arm of global private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR)—in a perilous position.
Between March 2019 and December 2019, it had to write off loans worth around Rs 1,045 crore (US$141.5 million) for its stressed accounts.