India’s ‘Golden Decade’: DAM Capital CEO Bets On Capital Market Boom — Profit Exclusive

1. Dam Capital is the first pure-play investment bank to get listed. How should investors analyse a cyclical business like yours?

Capital-market businesses are inherently cyclical, and therefore investors should evaluate them with a long-term perspective rather than focussing on quarter-to-quarter earnings.

India remains one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. I believe this will be the golden decade for India and to achieve this growth, India will require significant capital investments. This, in turn, will drive substantial capital raising activity over the coming decade – an environment that is structurally favourable for capital market participants.

While the industry is cyclical, DAM Capital has built a ‘through-cycle’ franchise, anchored in consistency and long-term compounding. Between FY22 and FY25, we delivered a revenue CAGR of 38%, PAT CAGR of 68%, and ROE of 40%, underscoring our ability to perform across market conditions.

With 21 IPOs and mandates for several QIPs and advisory transactions currently in the pipeline and 92 ECM transactions executed since 2020, facilitating capital raises of over Rs 1.57 lakh crore, DAM Capital has demonstrated trust, scalability, and impeccable execution in a very short period.

I believe that as we scale up, we are well-positioned to participate in and benefit from this golden decade opportunity for India.

2. What is your take on your last quarter performance?

The second quarter in the financial year 2026 was our best-ever quarter with total income at Rs 107 crore (+69% YoY), PAT at Rs 52 crore (+141% YoY), ROE (H1 FY26, annualised) at 40% (not adjusted for cash) and net cash available is Rs 287 crore. This performance was driven by strong execution of 12 deals including 9 IPOs. We also saw broad-based momentum across ECM activity, improving our market share and strengthening deal pipelines. The franchise scaled meaningfully without leverage, highlighting the strength of our capital-light model.

3. What is Dam Capital’s Right to Win amid intense competition from larger domestic and global investment banks?

Our execution intensity, in-depth knowledge, passion and complete ownership of every transaction across all levels of the organisation, combined with our strong belief in our motto “It’s Possible!”, is our key differentiator and our right to win.

Our leadership team is deeply involved end-to-end, ensuring speed, clarity, and precision in our execution which is evident in our client testimonials. Our teams operate with a level of alignment, responsiveness and conviction that is hard for larger organisations to match.

4. How do you view the recent performance and medium-term outlook for your Institutional Equities (IE) business?

The decline in the Institutional Equities business in H1 FY26 must be seen in relevant context. The overall institutional cash market turnover was down 20% YoY, and block deals were lower compared to H1 FY25. This is not structural, it’s cyclical.

Our client franchise actually expanded — 296 active institutional clients versus 277 at FY25-end, and research coverage increased to 210 stocks across 24 sectors. We remain bullish on scaling this platform and increasing our market share.

5. How is Dam Capital addressing talent retention and managing team churn in 2025?

Talent churn is natural in any high-growth market and has affected the industry as a whole. The encouraging part for us is that as DAM Capital continues to mature, we have been able to attract strong senior talent while maintaining financial discipline. A key example is the recent appointment of our Head of M&A and Private Financing, which further strengthens our leadership bench.

We are also expanding our geographical footprint, having established a strong base in Mumbai and Delhi, we now have a presence in Ahmedabad and plan to add a few more cities soon. This not only brings us closer to clients but also allows us to tap into diverse regional talent pools, ensuring we build a more robust and future-ready organisation.

Overall, while churn is part of the industry cycle, we are using this phase to upgrade our talent pool, strengthen leadership teams, and expand access to high-quality professionals across India.

6. What progress has Dam Capital made on fee-based adjacencies such as AIFs, wealth management, and retail broking?

Fee-based adjacencies like AIFs (alternative investment funds), distribution, retail broking, wealth management etc. are natural extensions of our franchise, and we see meaningful long-term opportunity in these areas. That said, we are sequencing our expansion prudently and deliberately, recognising that these are fiduciary businesses where leadership quality is the most critical factor. In the meantime, we continue to strengthen and compound value in our core Investment Banking and Institutional Equities businesses, which form the brand, credibility, and distribution backbone for future diversification.