Graham Number Flags 55% Discounts in India Finance

Graham Number Screen Finds Rare Value in Indian Financial Stocks The Graham Number doesn't lie, but it does require interpretation. As of 22 August 2026, Benjamin Graham's conservative fair-value formula is flagging some of the widest discounts seen in India's public-sector financial space in recent memory. [LIC Housing Finance](/stock/LICHSGFIN) (NSE: LICHSGFIN) trades at ₹500 against a Graham Number of ₹1,217.57 — a 55.8% margin of safety — while carrying a P/E of just 4.79. That's not a rounding error. That's a stock priced as though the housing finance cycle is permanently broken. It isn't. India's mortgage penetration remains well below peer economies, and LIC Housing's loan book has continued expanding through the rate cycle. The market is pricing in a level of structural impairment that the fundamentals don't yet support. The same pattern repeats across the sector. [REC Ltd](/stock/RECLTD) (NSE: RECLTD) and [Power Finance Corporation](/stock/PFC) (NSE: PFC) each show a 47.2% margin of safety relative to their Graham Numbers, both with P/E ratios below 6. These are not distressed lenders. REC and PFC are the primary financing arms of India's power infrastructure build-out, with sovereign-backed loan books and government-mandated lending pipelines. What the Sector Data Actually Shows FairStock's sector-level scoring adds useful texture here. Public Sector Banks average a FairStock Score of 67, while Financial Institutions — the category that includes REC, PFC, and LIC Housing — average 66.2. Neither number is exceptional, but both sit comfortably in the "acceptable quality" range. These aren't low-score, high-risk situations being dressed up as value plays. The quality is adequate; the pricing is simply disconnected from it. J&K Bank (NSE: J&KBANK) and Sammaan Capital (NSE: SAMMAANCAP) round out the flagged names, though their situations carry different risk profiles. J&K Bank operates in a geography with specific regulatory and credit dynamics that warran...