The shares were up 18% on June 4, 2026, after the edtech name put an end to its plans of lending via a subsidiary. Instead, it has put in place deals with NBFCs. The whole point of this shift is to have less strain on the books and lower risk, without any loss of access or value for the student.
You could see the relief in the numbers. Even with the rally on Thursday, the stock was in the 105 range – some 30% off where it listed. It is a reminder of how much the mood had turned before this change of course.
Why the pivot matters
According to a filing with the exchange, PhysicsWallah has made arrangements with a number of third-party, regulated NBFCs for education loans. They will be the ones underwriting and lending; PhysicsWallah is simply the link in the chain.
It is not a sudden move. A few weeks back the company put in 120 crore into FinZ Finance. Now, management is of the view that this new path is a better use of capital and gets you away from the kind of risks you don’t want on your balance sheet.
Co-founder Prateek Maheshwari put it down to what stakeholders have been telling us: we are good at our online learning and the communities we’ve built. Lending is something for the financial institutions with the right underwriting. It is a matter of prudence.
From lender to platform
Going forward, the company is more of a tech side to the equation, putting students in touch with a select group of partners who are in compliance. We’re looking to make the credit side as much a part of the learning journey as possible, in a way that is both precise and can be scaled up.
We believe this model will let us be more resilient and have a wider reach. As for where FinZ Finance is headed, that is for another day, once the board and regulators have had their say.
Market reaction and price context
On the BSE, the stock came in at 91.05, with an intraday top of 108.45 and a bottom of 89.85. But if you look at the bigger picture, the chart is still soft. You are down 9% in a month, 27% in half a year and close to 35% over the last 12 months.
When it first hit the market on November 18, 2025, it was a different story. Against an IPO of 109, it opened at 145 on the NSE and 143.10 on the BSE for a 33% pop. The distance from there to now is what makes the task at hand so big.
Financial trends to watch
The latest figures put some perspective on the reset. For the January-March quarter of FY26, the loss was 74.89 crore, a far cry from the 293 crore we saw a year ago. (A regulatory filing shows we were in the black with 100.51 crore the quarter before.)
Top line for Q4 FY26 was 918.8 crore, up 50.7% on 609.6 crore in the same period last year, even if it was 15% down on the prior quarter. Expenses, though, have crept up to 1,035.19 crore from 963.69 crore, which is to be expected as we make these changes.
What investors were watching for on Thursday:
– An 18% jump in the share price on June 4, 2026
– Word on the street about the new NBFC ties
– A lowering of the credit and balance sheet risk profile
– The future of FinZ Finance is in abeyance until the approvals come through
Strategic positioning and implications
Stepping out of the direct lending game means you are not as exposed to underwriting or the heavy lifting of capital. It leaves you with more to put into the content, the tech and the community – your natural turf, as the company would have it.
It also makes for a clean division of labour. The NBFCs have the risk; we have the relationship with the student. Do it right and you can be more scalable and hold your margins, and the student doesn’t have to pay for it.
What comes next
We are still focused on keeping things affordable and within reach. We’ll be the one to put the student with a vetted lender while we figure out the rest with FinZ, pending the necessary sign-offs.
For those on the other side of the trade, Thursday was a sigh of relief. But whether we can keep this up depends on the platform taking off, the partners holding up their end, and the numbers continuing to go the right way.
