Building Quietly, Growing Steadily: The Ratnaafin Story

Part I: The Privilege of Building From Scratch

Every strong enterprise starts with a question, sometimes even before it becomes an idea.
Ratnaafin’s story began in a conference room, born out of that kind of question.

As an investment banker running boutique debt syndicate firm, Malav Desai had spent years helping companies raise capital and structure deals. He understood the financial system inside out and also saw where it left many MSMEs behind. Creditworthy businesses often found themselves stuck between rigid processes and limited access to funds.

Enter Dhaval Patel, not as a cofounder, but as a client seeking funding support. Their early meetings revolved around loan structures, but the conversation soon drifted toward something larger: why did credit in India feel like a maze for small businesses?

That discussion sparked a thought:
What if we built an NBFC that truly understood the MSME psyche?

They took this idea to Mr. Prakash Sanghvi, a respected name in Indian industry. He listened carefully, understood the vision and said yes.

By mid-2020, amid a pandemic, liquidity squeeze and economic uncertainty, Ratnaafin took shape.
Malav, Dhaval and Nilesh Sanghvi, carrying forward the idea, began the meticulous process of securing licenses and building the foundation.

“You have to dream big,” Malav recalls. “You can’t think shallow about your concept or your image. People worry too much about how it looks to start small. But you have to pitch. You have to begin.”

That conviction, to start boldly and refine later, became Ratnaafin’s DNA.

Part II: The Building Years – Championing a Demography

When Nilesh Sanghvi formally joined, the company found its rhythm. He brought decades of experience and a clear philosophy:
“You can’t do everything. You have to be honest with yourself about what you can be a champion of.”

That focus shaped Ratnaafin’s early strategy.
As Malav puts it, “You should be a champion of a demography or a product.”

They began where they had deep roots – Gujarat.
The leadership team understood the state’s industries, financial behaviour and entrepreneurial mindset.

“We knew how people in Gujarat think about loans, how they think about repayment,” Nilesh explains. “That psychological and demographic understanding was our biggest strength.”

Between them, the founders had decades of ground experience. Nilesh in setting up turnkey capital projects, Malav in advisory, Dhaval as a serial entrepreneur. That local understanding became their competitive moat.

“When we started, everyone thought we were advisors, not lenders,” Nilesh laughs. “No CA or investment banker gave us business for the first two years.”

But credibility earned slowly is credibility that endures.
The team mastered product design across four core lending verticals that addressed real MSME needs, deliberately, not hastily.

As Nilesh reflected, “The growth and understanding of business only happen in the place where you actually do business.”

Part III: The Pivot, the Philosophy and the People

Like any young enterprise, Ratnaafin’s journey was far from linear.
They experimented with advisory, distribution and broking before finding their core rhythm in lending.

“We were trying everything where we can earn fee income before jumping into creating our own products” Malav admits.

The Gujarat base gave them confidence, but their ambition pushed them beyond it, guided by an uncommon belief: boring businesses make money.

“Especially now,” Dhaval smiles, “new founders think too much about optics. They want fancy ideas. But boring businesses have money. You just have to stay positive, take risks and work hard.”

And work hard, they did. As Ratnaafin scaled its lending and insurance operations, its philosophy evolved too.

“We used to think a lot about ROI and ROCE,” Nilesh shared. “But these days, we think more about ROTI.”
“ROTI?” I asked.
“Yes,” Dhaval laughed. “Return on Time Invested.”

That one line summed up their shift from chasing numbers to valuing time, from building products to building endurance.

Their advice to young founders is equally unconventional.
“Clarity is not a prerequisite” says Malav, “Clarity is the end result”
“And the best business school” adds Nilesh, “is your own business”

Between them, there’s a quiet acknowledgment of privilege and perspective.
They know having a legacy backer like Prakash Sanghvi and the Sanghvi Family helped. They know their networks gave them a head start.
But they also know that execution is where entitlement ends.

“You have to be ready to take the tougher right over the easier left,” Malav says softly.

Their humility is grounded, not performed. When asked how he stays grounded, Nilesh smiles: “I came from the ground, so I have to be grounded.”

And when asked what binds them together, the trio answers in unison:
“Teamwork. There will always be one driver, yes, but even a driver needs a navigator and co-passengers. A car without them has no value.”

Epilogue: Building for the Long Game

Somewhere between conversations about growth and risk, I asked them about legacy.
Nilesh chuckled: “The saying goes: first generation creates, second preserves, third destroys. But we see it as: the first generation creates, the second strengthens and the third carries the torch forward, ensuring the legacy endures and grows.”

What they’ve built isn’t just another NBFC.
It’s a case study in pragmatism where there’s regional intelligence, deep self-awareness and resilience.
A company that knows where it fits in the ecosystem and grows from that clarity.

“Adapt,” Nilesh says, “Don’t react. But always be responsive” capturing Ratnaafin’s philosophy.

In a world chasing visibility, Ratnaafin chose depth.
It built not just an NBFC but a mindset that believes real growth comes from understanding people, not just numbers.