Muthoot Microfin has raised its FY27 assets under management (AUM) growth guidance to 20%, from 12-15% at the beginning of the year. Chief Executive Sadaf Sayeed tells Narayanan V that the upward revision is driven by strong disbursements, lower borrowing costs and improving credit quality in the microfinance sector. Edited excerpts: What prompted an Rs 250 crore NCD fundraise? This latest fundraising forms part of our continued strategy to strengthen funding profile, diversify liability mix, and optimise its overall cost of borrowing. Around 50% of our borrowings come from banks, including term loans or structured products such as pass-through certificates and direct assignments. Another 30% comes through NCDs and commercial papers. The NCD market has been quite supportive. This is our first issue after achieving AA-rating. We were also anticipating a rate hike in the coming months. We thought it would be a good environment to raise money from the NCD market and take advantage of our rating. We issued the paper at 9.25%, and it was fully subscribed very quickly.