Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Aavas Financiers Limited Q2 FY 2024 earnings conference call. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as on the date of this call. These statements are not the guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this call is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sachinder Bhinder, Managing Director and CEO of Aavas Financiers Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for participating in the earnings call to discuss the performance of the company for quarter two and H1 FY 2024. With me, I have Ghanshyam Rawat, President and CFO, Ashutosh Atre, President and CRO, Siddharth Srivastava, Chief Business Officer, Surendra Sihag, Chief Collection Officer, Ripu Daman Bajaj, Chief Credit Officer, Jijy Oommen, Chief Technology Officer, Anshul Bhargava, Chief People Officer, Rajaram Balasubramanian, Chief Strategy Officer and Data Analytics, Ghanshyam Gupta, Investor Relations, and SGA, our IR advisor. The results and the presentation are available on the stock exchanges as well as on our company website, and I hope everyone has had a chance to look at it. We are committed to support and strengthen the long-term Aavas Vision 3.0. I take this opportunity to thank all our stakeholders for the continued trust and support.
For Q2 FY 2024, we disbursed INR 12,585 million, registering 18% growth quarter-on-quarter and 10% year-on-year growth. We continue to grow in a calibrated manner, registering AUM growth of 22% as of September 2023. Further, OpEx ratio has witnessed gradual moderation from 3.79% in the last quarter to 3.65% in H1 FY 2024. While maintaining our operating metrics, we delivered a PAT of INR 2,313 million, translating into a growth of 18% year-on-year for H1 FY 2024. While we continue to borrow judiciously, we raised around INR 30,761 million at 8.19% during H1 FY 2024.
As of 30th September 2023, we maintained a sufficient liquidity of INR 50,037 million in form of cash and cash equivalent and unavailable cash credit limits of INR 20,987 million and unavailable document sanctions of INR 29,050 million, including INR 10,000 million from the National Housing Bank. We are undergoing an accelerated digital transformation with adoption of best-in-class technologies like Salesforce, L, LOS, Oracle FLEXCUBE, which is LMS, and Oracle Fusion ERP. We have successfully rolled out and stabilized phase one of Salesforce. Oracle Fusion ERP GL went live in September 2023 under hypercare. The new loan management system on the FLEXCUBE is currently under testing and migration. I will now hand over the line to Ghanshyam Rawat, President and CFO, to discuss the financials in detail.
Thank you, Sachinder. Good afternoon, everyone, and a warm welcome to our earnings call. As on 30th September 2023, an average borrowing cost of 7.86% against an average portfolio yield of 13.15% resulted in a spread of 5.29%. We have been able to maintain our spread above 5% despite competitive pricing pressures. As on 30th September 2023, total number of live accounts stood at 198,947, translating into 19% year-on-year growth. Total number of branch count was 350, with the 4 new branches being added in first half of FY 2024. Employee count was at 5,731.
Assets under management grew at 22.1% year-over-year to INR 153,195 million as on 30th September 2023. Product-wise breakup, home loans, 69.7%, other mortgage loans, 30.3%. Occupation-wise breakup, salaried, 40.1%, self-employed, 59.9%. IFRS to India reconciliation has been explained in detail for profit after tax and net worth on slide number 32 and 34 of the presentation. On the borrowing side, there is access of diversified and cost-effective long-term financing. There is strong relationship with development financing institutions. Total outstanding borrowing as on 30th September 2023 stood at INR 140,843 million.
Overall borrowing mix as of 30th September 2023 is 49.6% term loan, 20.8% from assignment and securitization, 18.3% from National Housing Bank, and 11.4% debt capital market. Lender support continued to remain extremely strong. Liquidity of INR 50,037 million as of 30th September 2023. Cash and cash equivalent of INR 19,887 million, unavailable CC limit of INR 1,100 million, documented sanction limit from National Housing Bank, INR 10,000 million, and other banks, INR 19,050 million. Profitability, profit after tax increased by INR 17.9 million year-over-year to INR 2,313 million as of H1 FY 2024.
ROE was 3.25%, and return on equity was 13.64% for H1 FY 2024. As on 30th September 2023, we are very well capitalized with a net worth of INR 35,136 million, and capital adequacy ratio at 48.16%. Our book value per share stood at INR 4,044.1. Now, I would like to hand over the line to Ashutosh, President and CRO, to discuss the asset quality.
Thank you, Ghanshyam. The key portfolio risk parameters, asset quality and provisioning. One-day past dues stood at 3.5, 3.5% in H1-24, as against 4.45% at the H1 of last year. Gross Stage III stood at 1.04%, and net Stage III stood at 0.76% as of 30th of September 2023. Gross stage 3 of 1.04% include 0.13% of up to 90 DPD assets, which have been categorized as GNPA, following RBI notification dated 12th of November, 2021. During FY 2022, a resolution plan was implemented for certain borrowers, borrower accounts, as per RBI Resolution Framework 2.0, dated 5th of May, 2021.
Basis the perceived risk and as a matter of prudence, some such accounts with an outstanding amount of INR 779.6 million, as on 30th of September 2023, have been classified as Stage II, and provided for as per regulatory guidelines. Out of INR 779.6 million, INR 575.3 million is into 0-30 DPD bucket. Total ECL provisioning, including that for COVID-19 impact, as well as Resolution Framework 2.0, stood at INR 797.3 million as of thirtieth of September 2023. Total write-offs stood at INR 20 million in H1 FY 2024. Aavas continues to maintain a pristine asset portfolio quality. With this, I open the floor for Q&A.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask questions may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking questions. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Mayank Agarwal from InCred Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity and congrats for the good set of numbers. My first question is on employee cost. So we have witnessed the low employee cost this quarter. Any specific reason for that, and what share of the reduction can be attributed to the employee count? And can you please also let us know what is the employee count this quarter? This is my first question. My second question is, if the reduction in the employee count is temporary or it's something structural which is led by the technology implementation? Yeah, that are the two question for now.
Yeah, thanks, Mayank. On employee cost, employee count is the same, what was in the first quarter or in the same quarter. And, if there is a certain, some reduction in the, employee cost, is mainly on account of in the last quarter, there is a some one-time cost was there, on account of incentive, bonus, and one of the senior, SMP got resigned in that quarter. Apart from that, I think it's a steady state on employee cost now.
So, okay, the trend would continue. Okay. And my second question is on your yield. So you have reported a 10 basis points of decline this quarter. Is it due to the low rates on the new loans or reduction in the loan rate of the existing customer?
Yeah, Mayank, this right, it's in there. This is partly because of the rate reduction on holding on to our existing customer, and part is on the new placement. Both put together has resulted in the drop in the yield.
Is it because of the increasing competition intensity, which we are witnessing? Because, you know, on the one hand, cost of borrowing is increasing, and we are witnessing the yield decline. What could be the trend going forward on the margin? So basically, what will be your margin outlook, and till what we would be comfortable with keeping the excess liquidity, and what is the margin outlook for FY 2024?
So as we have been saying that, we were able to maintain the spreads at the 5% and above, so it is currently around 5.29%. Our endeavor is there, but, what, what we are trying to do is that the good customers are there, we don't want to let it go. So partly because of rate reduction on that side and some part and some bit on, on the pricing pressure on the new, new acquisition, so to say. So it's a mix of both. So from a guided perspective, I think, we've, we will try to maintain in range of 5% as far as us concerned, despite and in spite of the cost of borrowings going up, actually, that would be our endeavor, and that's our, that's our aim, actually.
Okay, thanks. I'll get back in the queue, and best of luck.
Thanks, mate.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abhijit Tibrewal from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, everyone. So first question, on disbursements. In the first quarter earnings call, you had shared that large part of the teething issues were behind and things had stabilized in June. In June, disbursements had grown 17% year- over- year. So but if I look at the second quarter disbursements, they are up just about 10% year- over- year. So what would you attribute this to? Is it that mortgages, especially lower ticket size, is going through some kind of a slowdown, or would you say that this could be the lagged impact of the withdrawal of the CLSS subsidy? Or is it just the competitive landscape which is attributing to this sluggish disbursement growth?
If none of these, was it again some teething issues from the digital transformation which led to lower disbursement growth?
I think. Thanks, Abhijit. I think if you'll have to see that, quarter-on-quarter, we had an 18% growth, while we are cognizant of the fact that there was a lag impact compared to the previous year. But I think, from a perspective of this, we will be guided in that range, and, on the year, it will continue to be in the 20%-25% range. Secondly, on the part of, there is a certain amount of lagged impact of sanctions not getting converted to disbursement. So if we were to really look at the earlier sanction to disbursement ratios, so they have sequentially actually dropped from 90% to 80%, actually, so to say. So there is some amount of the pickup, which was there on that side, which were not got converted, actually.
It is attributed to two. Secondly, on the other technology transformation, we are out of the woods. But we'll be guided with the transition which is happening in the institution, a couple of quarters to really settle that out, on a perfect basis. Because we got into the second phase of technology transformation, which is LMS and ERP, and we are taking this year as the first full year for taking the entire completion of transformation actually, so to say.
Got it. So, by the end of this year, you're suggesting this digital or technology transformation will be completed, including the LMS and the ERP?
Yeah, that's our target, actually, Abhijit.
Okay. So this lagged impact that you were explaining of sanctions not getting converted to disbursements, I heard you right when you said earlier we had 90% conversion of sanctions to disbursements, right now it's dropped to about 80%?
You're right.
Got it. So secondly, again, kind of going back to the margins, while I... Well, if I look at your reported numbers from three-month FY 2024 to six-month FY 2024, you have reported margins of 8%, which are flat. So if you kind of go to your P&L, look at the net interest income line, excluding the assignment income gain, I mean, sequentially, we are seeing a decline from INR 226 crore in the first quarter to INR 222 crores in the second quarter. What would explain that, given that, I mean, our book has grown, I mean, on a calculated basis, there is a good 40 basis points decline in margins in the quarter.
Yeah, Abhijit, I think, as you see the number, I think we will see in detail those numbers. But largely, this is only on account of, you will see quarter one to quarter two, we are seeing decline in the portfolio yield, which is 11-12 basis points. So which has, I think, mainly impacted on that line item. Apart from that, I think we don't see any any sort of issue in there.
Got it. Sir, one last question. There seems to be a lot of volatility in our employee expenses line. I recall we had shared even last quarter that in Q1 FY 2024, we had a one-off in employee expenses of almost INR 1-1.5 crore due to a KMP retiral benefit. I think before that, in fourth quarter, we had a reversal of INR 5 crore on ESOP expenses. Subsequently, we had taken an ESOP charge of INR 7 crore in Q1FY2024. During this quarter, I mean, from an ESOP perspective, were there any reversals, if you can quantify that? Going forward, I mean, how should we look at the employee expense line item?
Employee, okay, with employee cost is in the two ways. First thing, employee, employee count is where, we as I mentioned, we are, steady state, same, same count of employees there in the last two quarters. So, yes, annual increments and, all these things is taken place, in the first quarter. So that impact comes, some of the thing impact come in the first quarter, and now first, second quarter come, the full impact is there, basically. Yes, ESOP, all these thing expense depend upon the two factor. If any new schemes comes, then extra cost comes in from that quarter to till the scheme runs, basically. And, if there is any sort of, let's say, attrition in the employees, so for that, the remaining cost also goes off from the, in that quarter from the P&L side, basically. So, those are basically accounting principles which everybody, need to follow.
Apart from that, I think it's we don't have any sort of any extra explanations on the employee cost.
Sir, in the interest of time, I just wanted to squeeze in one last question, for Sachinder Bhinder. Sir, I mean, again, going back to the disbursements, just wanted to understand, today, if I look at some of your listed peers, unlisted peers, right? There are listed peers, almost half your balance sheet size, doing 78%-85% of the quarterly disbursements that you are doing. I understand you've gone through some management changes. You've gone through... You're going through a tech transformation. By when should we expect that we'll kind of start achieving disbursements that you internally aspire for?
Thanks, Abhijit, and you rightly articulated, I think the two points. One, we've endeavored on the, the transition on the management side as well as on the tech side. I think you have to bear with us for a couple of quarters. There is a fact that building the right foundation, which will see the, the performance based on the current set of things, both on the tech transformation, which we see and which we have embarked on that journey, along with the management transition. I think, give us a couple of quarters and you'll see that back in action.
But I think you have to be cognizant of the fact that despite a big transformational change from a tech perspective, we've been able to weather that out compared to what the peers or others would have done in our space. So I would request a couple of quarters to bear with us for we again would endeavor for a calibrated, muted growth, but not that we'll come back in a couple of quarters back on track on what we are there on the range. But again, we get guided on the quality of what we have to really embark on is that some of the parameters on the health side continue to be very robust on the quality parametric, on the metrics of controlling costs wherever it is possible.
From a perspective of delivering the pristine quality on the base, which we are noted for. I think it's a mix of both. I think we will be in a strong position to come back on the base of what we are there on at this period of time.
Got it, sir. This is useful. Thank you very much, and all the very best to you and your team.
Thanks, Abhijit.
Thank you. The next question is from Raghav Garg, from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. One very specific question. You had a spread of 529 this quarter. Do you expect that this would decline further in the second half, or will this remain at this level?
So I think we are guided, Raghav, with the spread of keeping it around 5%. I think it's a mix of the kind of cost of borrowing, which is the one which is one input, which is beyond our control. Our endeavor is to be remaining in a range bound level of around 5%. So that, that's been our endeavor.
Sir, I'm coming more from a place where I'm trying to understand what is the competitive intensity as far as pricing is concerned. When we look at some of the larger players, they haven't really budged on pricing. It remains as low as, say, till about 9-10 months ago. So should we expect that even in the second half, your pricing will remain impacted because of competition, and hence that is something that will weigh on your spreads?
I think as we said.
It will be lower than 529.
As we said, that we will remain above 5%. That's what we've been guiding.
Sure. Sir, just on the securitization margin, also, so in Q2 of FY 2023, we had a gross upfront income on the assignments of about 5.90... Sorry, INR 4.94 million. It's come down to INR 4.66 million. Why would that be the case?
Basically, it depend upon the volume of what volume you do the assignment, basically, and what sort of asset you do the assignment, what yield of assets assignment. Two, 3 factors determine that overall, how upfronting income comes, basically.
Okay. Sorry, assignment volumes have increased, Y over Y, right?
Yeah, yeah. Asset classes also make a difference, ki what assets pricing will be sold at that point of time, or what assets, interest yield asset is sold this time, basically. Both make a difference, in that account.
Sure. And, on the reversals of the income, which was recognized earlier, on the assigned,
Yeah.
Pool, right? That has also increased to about INR 335 million. So that would probably be because some of the assumptions that you would have made earlier have not played out or have played out adversely. So can you, you know, highlight some of the nuances which would have impacted such a reversal?
Yes, that is not a major impact of the reversal. It's not, as volume got increased...
Also, the reversal also amount get increased every quarter, basically. What assignment I've done in the, let's say, Q1 or let's say Q4 of the last year, so those will have a full impact of reversal in this quarter, basically.
Understood, sir. Thank you. Sir, my last question is on non-HL books. So that's been growing at a fairly healthy clip, 30% for last several quarters now. But we see that since last two quarters, the NPAs are also increasing in that book. Anything to read into this as to why the NPAs are increasing on this book?
Now, I think, now you see, we give these all the mortgage-backed loan. Average tenure is generally 7-10 years. And so now this book, this book is, we are entered the fourth year, almost it book is coming at a steady state basis. So we see, roughly gross NPA in other mortgage loan will be remain between, somewhere between 1-1.25% around, and the home loan book will remain one, less than 1%, less than 1% around, basically. So this is now almost reached at a maturity level of gross NPA in both class of book.
Understood. You're saying it's more of a normalization.
Yes.
Rather than...
Yes, with the maturity of the asset cycle, basically, with the maturity of asset life.
Right. And, sir, just, sorry, one last question. Your share of variable rate book has been going up. So do you think that that would be a risk, you know, in terms of, say, probably, the balance transfer, you know?
No. I think we don't see in this fashion, variable or fixed. A variable or fixed books depend upon what liability we source from the market, what opportunity available on the liability side, and what deploy on the asset side. What we see the opportunity asset side, accordingly, we raise the liability. That is, we don't take a risk in a floating and fixed while raising—while managing our ALM.
Understood. Thank you. Sir, what was the BT out for this quarter? Can you highlight that number, and compare to what was it in Q1?
So it is flattish, so it is 0.5% per month, so coming to around, on a yearly, maybe 6%.
Okay. Sure. That was very helpful. Thank you a lot.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shweta Daptardar from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. So a couple of questions. Part you did answer, but you mentioned the fact that now the systems are stabilizing and they're almost settling, and this should happen by the year end. So what is the disbursement run rate we should look forward to, especially in the light of H2 being slightly better than H1?
So I think, Shweta, we've been guided, we've always guided on the AUM growth, that we'll be in the range of 20-25%. So I think from a perspective of quarter-on-quarter growth, you've seen the quarter two growing on the quarter one at around 18%. So we look at a moderated, calibrated growth in the coming quarters, considering the two aspects which I talked on the call earlier. One is the management transition, and second is a big, transformational change in the tech side on three platforms all put together, actually.
Sure. That helps. And then secondly, a little bit on yields. Sorry, I might sound repetitive. So, we can imply that the repricing is completely behind, right? Because you are almost on the verge of customer retention, and therefore, you have opted for reduction rates. So the ability to pass on or the scope to pass on is limited from here on, and therefore, rates, spreads could remain range-bound. Is that assessment correct?
Yeah. There's, see, at this period of time, whatever was the last pass on that happened, subsequent to that, there's nothing which has increased on the PLR side. So you're right on articulating, that is there a possibility of pass on? No, it is only, whatever is the placement yield which is there, and some part of it, which I talked about earlier on the result in 11%, dip in the yields is, one is on the retention side, because we've been very cognizant of the fact that we retain the good quality customers. So there it results in a drop in the yield, and some part of the competitive pressure on getting the new business. So it's a mix of both.
Okay. And sir, one last question. So the NMM or the non-mortgage mix, the other home loan mix, now, if I just look at the percentage mix, more or less, it has remained steady. So, and the industry is calling out for concerns in small ticket lending. So I understand you had given an explanation last quarter. So anything, any red flags, any read-throughs? What is your reading on the ground?
Shweta, as always, we've been there, that we are in the business of cashflow-based underwriting, and all our loans are backed by either self-occupied residential mortgages or the commercial property, most of them self-occupied residential mortgages. Typically, we are not there in any way in the unsecured segment or a small ticket size loan. We are very off the fact that we don't depend on anything which is volatile, either from an income generation perspective, which is either subsidy-based, which is dependent on better costs or which is dependent on incomes which are volatile in nature. This has been our basis of cashflow-based underwriting on this, so we don't see at this point of time any red flags on that segment.
So just one bit there, because you mentioned that we are not subsidy-based, dependent. So just, you know, with CLSS subsidy going behind, most of the affordable housing finance players have seen sluggish growth, and I understand that ours is a very small portfolio. So could you just describe how small has been our CLSS portfolio vis-a-vis competition and-... Of course, that has not impacted anywhere on the growth, growth prospects for Aavas, right?
So we've never been super dependent on the subsidy-based kind of schemes, and as you would really appreciate that Aavas is in unserved, underserved, unbanked, and that too, on self-construction individual home loan category. The self-construction individual home loan category was not the one which was under this segment. When you are at 20%-25% of the portfolio, which is on the self-construction individual home loan, these are not impactful items actually for us to really play out.
Okay, sir. Fair answer. Thank you so much. Best of luck.
Thanks. Thanks, Shweta.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Renish, from ICICI. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. So just two things. One is on the average ticket size on the disbursement level, which is at INR 1.3 million. So what is happening on that side? I mean, given our key focus area has always been less than INR 1 million ticket size, but when I look at the disbursement ticket size, it is as high as INR 1.3 million. So, you know, practically it is 25%-30% higher than the what we have been doing. So, you know, maybe in Q2, if you can highlight the number of, let's say, files logged in, or maybe volume growth versus the ticket size growth, sir.
It's not as such. I give the two points here, basically. One, if you see my non-home loan average ticket size last year, H1 to this H1, is not any change, any change. But in a home loan side, if you will observing that, it started from Mumbai, then I think, Delhi, then I think in Jaipur, the state capitals and big towns, we are seeing the property prices also increasing. And this thing we are seeing in our ticket size last seven, eight years didn't risen at all, basically. So it's, it is basically led by inflation, led by property or prices, and we have seen some increase, almost, let's say 10% increase in our home loan ticket size, basically.
As a business model perspective, we are not seeing any change or we are not following any change, in our strategy. Continue to focus in the same market, same customer base and similar property profiles.
Got it. Got it. And just secondly, again, circling back to the sanction to disbursement ratio, which fell to 80% versus 90% earlier. So what are the reasons for this fall? I mean, have we tightened our credit filters or how is it?
See, it's a two bit. One is the kind of demand which was there, and secondly, on the competitive pricing pressures, which, we had to let it go and let it pass by, saying at that kind of yield where competition was coming in. So probably it is twofold. As I said, that some as we are there in the self-construction individual home loan category, and I think certain part of India is on the places we operate are were impacted by incessant rains, actually. So that also has stemmed the construction activity. So that was another one of the areas where it actually fell. So I think, in the coming quarters, we will we will see that picking it up, picking it up in the, in the coming quarters.
Got it, sir. Just last thing from my side, you know, broadly on strategy level over the medium term. You know, when we look at, sir, at least on the listed side, you know, players are doing it, 30% plus. Our growth rate is, or maybe we want to grow at, 20%-25%, around that number. You know, within these subsegments, you know, we'll be losing market share for sure. I mean, when we look at or when we compare the growth. How we internally, you know, look at it, I mean, are we okay to, let's say, lose some market share and grow our balance sheet the way we want? Or maybe once the system, et cetera, stabilize, we again want to, sort of come back to market and gain market share.
So we always, it has been, as we have always put out, that our guidance has been in the range of 20%-25% AUM growth. So, we would not let any opportunity pass by when it comes to once the management transition and the tech transformation is fully in place. And as we said, that some of the states where we are already there, we would like to build and grow, wherein the AUM growth would be in excess of what we talk about on an average one. Second is the second level, where it would be a moderated one, and that would help us to invest into the new states where we entered.
So, Renish, to put it in perspective, we would really capitalize the opportunity available at the stages where we find there are risk-adjusted returns and the quality and the metrics fits our steady state, actually.
Okay. Okay, so got it, got it. So we'll, we'll not look at market share trend at all, I mean, internally?
See, we are in that segment, and probably we, it is, as we said that for us really to grow at our kind of metrics and our kind of thing, which is 20%-25% on the base which we are. You really appreciate that we are currently INR 15,000+ AUM. On that base, with a guided 20%-25% growth, with the kind of quality metrics which we are talking about, GNPA of around 1%, one plus of less than 5%, I think these are the metrics which have to bear on a long-term basis.
Got it. Got it. Okay, thank you so much, sir. Thank you.
Thanks, Renish.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sonal Gandhi from Centrum Broking. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. I just have two questions...
Sonal, your voice is very low. Request you to use the handset.
Is this better?
Yes, much better. Please go ahead.
Yeah. I have two questions. One is if I look at your non-home loan portfolio, the borrowings, or if I look at the disbursements over here, are up by about INR 415 crore, and AUM is roughly up by about INR 408 crore on a quarter-over-quarter basis, suggesting that the repayment rate is very, very low. Can you please explain what has exactly happened over here?
Sonal, can you articulate again? The one whose voice was wobbling, and we're not able to get your question right in the live stream.
Okay. If I look at your non-home loan portfolio, okay, so disbursements in this segment is up by about INR 415 crore on a quarter-on-quarter basis, whereas the AUM is up by about INR 408 crore on a quarter-on-quarter basis. Suggesting that the repayment rates are very, very low over here. So can you just explain what exactly has happened over here?
No, I think... So you're referring to, we are parking this question. I think we will come back to our-- If you rightly understood, you are telling, our disbursement of, non-home loan is not, reflecting in the AUM growth. Do you mean that?
What I'm trying to ask here is that the disbursements, basically, the repayment rates are very, very low over here.
No, I don't think so. If you can be a little more specific. We don't see any sort of at our internal MI as an internal, I think, discussion. We are not seeing it. The similar repayment comes from home loan and non-home loan.
Let me, let me just share this data with Ghanshyam and, you know, let me just share this and, you know, we can take this offline.
Yeah, please. Yeah, please.
Okay.
Send back some more detail to, Ghanshyam Rawat. He will revert.
Sure. Sure, then, another question that I had was in, on your turnaround time. So, you know, I mean, whenever, I've spoken to you in the past, you know, we have been trying to get our TAT down from 11 days to 6 days. So which functions, you know, in which functions do we expect, you know, that the digitization would help us to reduce the turnaround time, whether it is underwriting or, you know, which stage basically would help us to get down this turnaround time?
So underwriting piece would be the one, right? See, it is, it's a multitude of all of them. Right from the starting, we have a control on what is getting built in, what is getting sourced, and the very fact that the tracking is there. So that's the first point. And secondly, earlier times also, which you highlighted, is because of this automation, because of the tech, we are able to really predict and able to convert in a reduced timeframe. And that really impacts our underwriting time, and this is... See, again, it is facilitating and helping. It is not doing away with what we are hardwired for, how to underwrite a SENP segment, actually, so to say.
This is a helping factor, which reduces the turnaround time as a facilitating factor from more a tech perspective.
Okay. And another question, sir, that I had was, if, if I just calculate, the volume, so you've given your average ticket size for the quarter and disbursements, in home loans. So that is suggesting, that is suggesting that, there is, I mean, if I look at home loan disbursements, the ATS is up almost 19% YOY. And, if I look at, the, the disbursements all putting together, that is at 8%, suggesting that there is some volume decline, that has happened over here. So again, is it, is it broadly because of the competition that, you know, the volumes are going down, or, how, how should I look at that, number?
So I think, increase in the ticket size, what, Ghanshyam earlier highlighted, is because of the, growth in the regions like the new states like Karnataka, Maharashtra and some of the central region, which has reflected in the increase in the, the ATS value. I think that's the only, only factor which we see as a, a growth. And, other than that, we don't see anything which is, by, any planned way or by any strategic way which has, made this happen, actually.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kunal Shah from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. So, just in terms of the productivity, so if we really look at it in terms of productivity per sales officer, it seems to be like less than maybe two files a month. So no doubt, overall debt has come off, plus, there has been, like, the increase in ticket size, but are not finally reflecting in terms of disbursements per branch. So, maybe what could be the ideal level of disbursements, maybe per sales force, which we can look at it?
Because today, maybe, so if you can help in terms of what are the number of sales team currently, and looking at almost like, say, INR 400-420 odd crores of disbursements per file, disbursements in a month seems to be quite low compared to where we were historically and how we are addressing that. Yeah.
Kunal, this gets bifurcated, Sachinder this side. So, Kunal, this gets bifurcated in two parts, and as you would really appreciate and you have the full pulse of the market, I think the attrition at the RO level stability becomes concerning. As a result of which, there is a wobbly productivity count which actually happens. So I think steady state, where it becomes very difficult to get into a predictable range of, on the one.... once the stability of the, the front line, which is the, the RO is there, there we see an increase from 2 to 3 and 3.5.
So some of the ones where you have the aging, which is there, is in excess of there, but the ones which you have new forces come in, takes time to really settle down and give, being productive. Since we are into a direct distribution model and in the segment which we operate, which is very different from the ones where, typically an intermediary driven kind of business operates. So I think as a mix of both, one is, the aging of the thing would be a little higher on the average side, whereas the new ones take time and plus the attrition of the front line. I think it's, it's a mix of, three, which impacts the overall productivity.
But I'll tell you another point from an Aavas perspective, we are very conscious of the fact, and we are trying to do measures which will really help the front line from a perspective of one is really making them around the developmental side. So they are there on a longer tenure with us. And on the developmental side, when it comes to the career progression with us. So we have had a special focus by our HR really to focus on this segments specifically, so to say, and that's been initiated in the previous quarter. So I think you'll see that some part of it compared to what we were there at first, which will really translate into both the health and the performance.
Sure. But, what would be the frontline sales team, maybe in terms of the number, today?
This, this is the anything ranging 3,200.
Yeah. So that's where I was coming at. So maybe if we look at 3,200 frontline staff and round about INR 420-odd crores of monthly disbursement run rate. Okay, so that's coming to, like, INR 13 lakhs, which is 1 loan, okay, per, per officer. So maybe whichever cut we do, obviously, I agree in terms of the new recruitments could be there, they might not be so productive. But still, like, that number, 1 or maybe 1.5, seems to be quite low compared to where the entire industry is, because everyone tends to target, like, 3 per month in terms of the disbursements. Yeah, at least per sales officer.
Yeah, Kunal, that is one which is there more of an intermediary direct distribution on the kind of quality and the rate which we have. So I'll tell you, from a perspective of I have only 15,000 worth of files which get login every month. My login to sanction ratio currently comes out at 5,000. So if you look at the login to sanction, it is a 33%. So if a guy has to disburse one file, he has to log in 3-4 files, actually. So that's the quality which is there. So if you're looking at from a sourcing perspective, which is there, so we do about 15,000.
So the same RO, probably from a login perspective, is higher, but when it comes to real quality and the type which we do, I think it makes a difference where the drop comes actually, right? So that's reflecting in the number of logins to sanction, right? So as I talked about, 15,000-5,000. So for him to get on to this, become the one, and you are talking about an average. So what happens is, the frontline has a good amount of attrition, which is there. So the people who are there on board in the initial months take a normal gestation time to really become active, actually. So which is normally in the range of one month to two and a half, three months, actually. So as a result of which it comes down.
Sure. Okay. And, secondly, in terms of balance transfer, so no doubt yields were lower, but that was largely because maybe some retention being done.
Yeah.
If you can just highlight in terms of, so, the balance transfer, which we were seeing would have been after bargaining with the, relatively lower price for them. So what would have been at the gross level, and finally, what you mentioned in terms of 0.5%, okay, that would be at the net level. But is it like those numbers have gone up, and to what extent, maybe what proportion of the portfolio, would we have lowered the prices for retention, yeah?
Roughly, roughly, point four, point four per month on an average basis, assets, we get repriced. It depends upon the various interest rate cycle where we are. You see, of the recent time, it is roughly point three, point four percent of opening AUM per month basis would come for the reprice, basically.
Okay. 0.3, 0.4 on opening AUM. Okay.
Yeah.
That, that's helpful, yeah. Okay.
But when we do reprice, we generally charge a repricing premium also from the customers, which generally take care of my first year, whatever we lose on that repricing of that portfolio, basically.
Okay. Then in terms of the gross, would it be fair to assume that 0.5 net, and we can just see, like, okay, we have been able to retain and reprice lower for 0.4 odd percent. So the request which we would have got is still, like, 0.9-1 odd percent.
Yeah, yeah. Then that is steady state in the industry, basically.
Okay.
We are far better than industry in that count.
Yeah.
Some of the assets which we got allowed, it is not only on account of, let's say, pricing, some of the assets we got allow also because their demand is a known demand, is much higher than the property value, and competition want to take a call on those assets. We allow these sort of assets also in our life.
Okay. Okay, yeah. Thank you and all the best. Yeah.
Thanks, Kunal.
The next question is from the line of Shreepal Doshi from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for giving me an opportunity. So my question was pertaining to your point where you said that there is some price competition that, you know, that we are facing. Any color on any specific geographies where we are particularly facing this price-related competition?
It is not related to any area, any competition, basically. Wherever in the market where we have ourselves are seasoned out for 3 year, 4 year, 5 year, completed assets, as which we asset acquired and completed 2 to 3 year with us, basically. So, sometimes it happens. It's nothing specific to any geography, any asset class, any market.
Got it. Got it. And, on the branches front, wanted to understand, I mean, where, when do we consider a branch as mature branch, from the size perspective, and what percentage of our branches are mature for us?
I think it's because home loan penetration rural, semi-urban market is very low, so it is difficult to say what is the maturity level. Because we believe in those markets we have a huge runway. From today also, for next 10 years, we can grow those market, those geography, 20% CAGR growth in those market, basically. So because we once we start the market, then again, we continuously approach to first we approach to 30 kilometer, then we approach to up to 50 kilometer in that market. So I think we don't say profitability, break-even perspective are generally, it take 3-6 months in a smaller market.
In the bigger market, it takes 6-9 months for break-even perspective. That, that we can say.
3-6 and 6-9?
Yeah, for break-even perspective.
Got it. Got it. And the last question was pertaining to the other OpEx. So the other OpEx was up 25% sequentially. While you have given a lot of clarification on the employee OpEx, what led to this significant increase in other OpEx on Q on Q basis?
It, I think it's a normal, nothing as such, any specific reason for that thing, basically. I think, AUM book is also growing 20%-25% CAGR, but they are growing accordingly. Other OpEx, certain branch infra, certain, as we mentioned, IT and analytics, we are going, we are doing, a lot of investment and toward that side, basically for future growth perspective. So some of the cost also coming in, on that account.
Okay. As we added 4 branches in first half, so second half, we should be adding another 15 branches as per the guidance. Is that right for this year?
Yeah, second, H2, generally, we will add around 20 to 25 branches more in the H2.
Okay, okay. Got it, sir. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, and good luck for the next quarter.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nischint Chawathe from Kotak Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my question. You know, just one on the liability side. What would be your book cost of funding as on September thirtieth?
Pardon? What is the question?
Yeah, what would be the outstanding cost of borrowings as on September 30th?
Now, what we have declared in investor deck, which is our 7.86, is exactly the same. If you multiply outstanding liability with the rate of interest on that day. It is the same point on that day.
Okay. And so incrementally, you're borrowing at 8.2. So, you know, should we sort of assume that your cost of funding kind of inches up by maybe other 30 basis points from here?
Not exactly. There are two, three strategies playing around that, let's say, on borrowing side in another six-month round. As I mentioned earlier, we got INR 1,000 crore National Housing Bank sanctions. That money is available for next two to three quarters. In this quarter, we didn't borrow any money from the National Housing Bank, so that will help us in the next two, three, two to three quarters to contain our... It's a mixed bag of, let's say, bank borrowing, then NHB, then other market. We are targeting one of the development finance institutions in the second half. That will also come at a slightly cheaper rate.
Then we put one more strategy in this, I think, more specifically the quarter two, which will be replicate in the quarter three, quarter four also. We have borrowed certain money and the pass-through certificate, which is 100%, let's say, ALM match, borrowing, basically, and which is coming almost 40-50 basis points cheaper than normal bank borrowing.
Mm-hmm.
So all 3-4 strategy we have put up, we discuss in detail in ALCO and put up in practice in this quarter, and we will replicate the same for next 2 to 3 quarters. And so we think on an average, let's say, next 2 quarter, fresh borrowing should be incremental borrowing should be around somewhere 8%-8.1%.
It will probably convert somewhere, I mean, whatever, you know, little bit higher from the current levels is what one can say.
Yeah, obviously, obviously. Currently, it will be higher than the current level.
Sure. Have you experimented with co-lending?
Yeah, we have a signed agreement with one or two banks. We are in the process, but we didn't see much value creation in overall, overall value system.
Sure, perfect. Got it. And just one question to Sachinder, there was, you know, if your sanction to disbursement ratio kind of normalizes to what we have seen in the previous quarters, what kind of a disbursement growth would that imply?
See, Nischint, from that perspective, I think we should improve from the current levels. But, as I said earlier also, I think two factors: one is the tech transformation, and second is the management transitions which are there. I think keeping this in mind, I think our conscious effort in a couple, in the couple of quarters would be to really calibrate and grow quarter on quarter. And, but we are committed to the year growth of 20%-25% in these quarters, actually, so to say.
Okay, sure. Great. Thank you, and all the best.
Thanks, Nischint.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sanket from DAM. Please go ahead. Sanket, you may go ahead with the question. There seems to be no response from the line of Sanket. We'll move to the next question. The next question is from the line of Pallavi Deshpande from Samiksha Capital. Please go ahead.
Yes, I just wanted to understand. I think you mentioned about the better quality customers. So have you seen an uptick in our LTV numbers, anywhere else where it, you can, you know, capture that?
Sorry, what you said, LP?
LTV, loan to value. Have you seen an uptick, any uptick in that? Because you mentioned about, you know, wanting to keep the better quality customers, keeping those, that in mind.
It added on to the conventional parameters on which we have drawn upon, so there's nothing which is inching up the LTVs actually, so to say.
Yeah, yeah. What Sachinder said, apart from that, historically or we, I think as Aavas is selective in underwriting and taking a very calculated risk, risk-adjusted price. Under that, we want to say around 14,000-15,000 IMDs we source a file to be able to give output of 4,500-5,000 files, basically. So that's our selection ratio remains. So under that, due to that, our is it looks per RO base, disbursement is low, but number of file we bring in the system is roughly 4-5 files we bring in the system as a month.
Just to add on, the H1 2024 LTV ratio was around 54.8. It's the same as like for H1, around 54.2, so there's hardly any movement on that front, actually.
Right. The second was on this, you know, you said about targeting the development financial institutions. So, what kind of any requirements that you need to meet for getting the sanction from that side? And what's the kind of cost of borrowing you would expect then?
As you know, we have already very existing long and strong relationship with the Asian Development Bank, International Finance Corporation, CDC. I think 5, 6 rounds of funding we already taken in last 5, 6 years. So, it will be definitely cheaper than what we borrow locally from domestic banks at one year MCLR. But it also add a lot of value in the systems also, basically.
Yes. And what kind of, you know, generally, what, as a percentage of your total borrowing, what is the kind you're targeting?
Roughly, we are 15% on development finance institutions. And, as we grow, we will maintain 10%-15% from development finance institutions.
You don't see that growing beyond... Because as you've grown in size, you don't see that increasing?
I think then we will explore some other market also, basically. Now, we are double A-rated entity. We think another 12-18 months, so I think upgrade may happen. So, so that then we can raise more money from domestic large insurance companies, pension fund, retirement funds, basically. So there another opportunity will be there to raise more funds.
Right.
Recently, we raised the pass-through certificate. PTC is again coming, a preferred route, which is more competitively priced.
Right. Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much. We'll take that as the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Sachinder Bhinder, MD and CEO of the company, for closing comments.
Ladies and gentlemen, as we conclude today's earnings call, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to each one of you for your participation and engagement. The dedication and commitment of our team, the trust and support of our stakeholders, and the loyalty of our valued customers have been instrumental in our growth story. Looking ahead, I want to emphasize that we will continue to maintain our sharp focus on governance, asset quality, profitability, growth, leveraging technology, and creating a superior customer experience. We remain optimistic about the future and are confident that our strategic initiatives will continue to drive sustainable growth and shareholder value. Once again, thank you for your ongoing support and belief in our vision. If you have any further questions or require additional information, please feel free to reach out to our investor relations team.
Thank you, and have a wonderful week ahead, and wish you a very happy and prosperous Diwali and festivities ahead. Thanks. God bless.
Thank you very much. On behalf of Aavas Financiers Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect your lines.