Graham Number Screen Flags Deep Value in Indegene, LIC, GIC Re

What the screen found Eight India-listed names are trading 41.8% to 61.2% below their Graham Number as of October 22, 2026. [Indegene](/stock/INDGN) (NSE: INDGN) leads with a 61.2% margin of safety. [LIC Housing Finance](/stock/LICHSGFIN) (NSE: LICHSGFIN) follows at 55.8%. The P/E spread is just as odd: [PFC](/stock/PFC) (NSE: PFC) trades at 4.76 times earnings, while Indegene carries a 33.44 P/E. That combination should make a value investor pause. A stock can't be both expensive on earnings and cheap on Graham Number without something unusual in its book value. The Graham Number is the square root of 22.5 times earnings per share times book value per share. For Indegene, cash raised in its 2024 IPO likely inflates book value per share. That pushes the Graham Number higher. It's not a genuine margin of safety. It's an arithmetic quirk. Who else is on the list The screen is not a diversified cross-section. It's a financials-heavy list. [REC](/stock/RECLTD) (NSE: RECLTD) and [PFC](/stock/PFC) are the lowest P/E names in the group. [J&K Bank](/stock/J&KBANK) (NSE: J&KBANK) and [Central Bank of India](/stock/CENTRALBK) (NSE: CENTRALBK) show up with the usual PSU bank discount. [Sammaan Capital](/stock/SAMMAANCAP) (NSE: SAMMAANCAP) also makes the cut. [GIC Re](/stock/GICRE) (NSE: GICRE) rounds out the list. This is the problem with Graham Number screens. They love financials because book value is large relative to market price. But book value for a PSU bank or a housing finance company is only as good as the loan book behind it. If non-performing assets rise, book value can vanish. PFC's 4.76 P/E is not automatically a bargain. It's a bet that power sector receivables keep performing. That might work. It might not. Where the screen gets interesting Indegene is the outlier that deserves the most skepticism. A 61.2% margin of safety sounds compelling until you look at the 33.44 P/E. The market is paying 33 times earnings for a company the screen says is worth rough...