Good day and welcome to the CDSL Q3 FY25 conference call hosted by HDFC Securities. 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 conference call, please signal an operator by pressing the star, then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. Ladies and gentlemen, please note that the CDSL does not provide specific revenue or earnings guidance. Anything said on this call, which reflects CDSL's outlook for the future or which could be construed as forward-looking statements, must be reviewed in conjunction with the risks that the company faces. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Amit Chandra from HDFC Securities. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Chandra.
Yeah, thank you, Operator. So, so good morning, everyone. On behalf of HDFC Securities, we welcome you all to the CDSL Q3FY25 earnings call. Today, we have with us the management team of CDSL, represented by Mr. Nehal Vora, MD and CEO, Mr. Girish Amesara, CFO, and other senior leaders. So we'll start with a brief overview of the quarter by Mr. Nehal, and then we'll open the floor for the Q&A session. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Amit. A very, very good morning and welcome to everybody. I hope each one of you and your loved ones are safe and healthy. First of all, a very happy new year to all of you. Thank you for joining us today to discuss CDSL's financial results for the third quarter of the financial year FY 24-25. We've posted a detailed investor presentation on our website for your reference. I'm joined by the CDSL Group's leadership team, including the CEOs of all the three subsidiaries. Let me start with the industry highlights and then take you through some of the key aspects of our performance. At the end of Q3 24-25, Indian capital markets became the third best-performing equity market in the top 15 markets of the world.
The average daily turnover surged by 64% in the nine months of this financial year, and it is seeing some amount of stress based on the overall geopolitical as well as market conditions worldwide. This quarter, again, India further strengthened its retail participation in the capital markets. The total number of demat accounts in India surpassed 18.5 crore in December 2024, with approximately 75%, 79%, I beg your pardon, registered with CDSL. As of December 31st, 2024, CDSL had 14.65 crore registered investor demat accounts compared to 10.47 at the end of December quarter last year, marking a 40% increase. Approximately 92 lakh demat accounts were opened in the third quarter of the current financial year. As we celebrate the completion of 25 years of operations of CDSL, our focus remains on enhancing the capital market ecosystem by enhancing efficiency, trust, and transparency.
We are committed to our priority of a money-investor-focused approach while striving for innovation resulting in consistent and sustainable financial and business performance. CDSL has won the Market Infrastructure of the Year Award at the 7th Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence 2024 held in November 2024. The award recognizes CDSL's innovative contribution to modernizing market access and infrastructure, including initiatives like e-KYC, e-DIS, e-Sign, and e-Voting. This recognition highlights CDSL's role in enhancing market efficiency, regulatory compliance, and customer-focused growth. Before I hand it over to the CFO, Girish Amesara, I'd just like to say that the growth of the Indian securities market is an extremely encouraging sign of India's potential and our journey towards a victorious market.
I also want to place our appreciation and gratitude over our stakeholders, that is, our regulators, depository participants, investors, issuers, and other market participants, and employees for their constant faith in us. And last but not the least, thank you to all the shareholders also for the constant faith in us. Thank you. Over to you, Girish.
Thank you, Mr. Nehal. Good morning. Speaking on the quarterly performance of CDSL on a consolidated basis, the total income for the December 2024 quarter has increased by 26% to INR 298 crores, as against INR 236 crores for the corresponding previous year period. And the net profit on a consolidated basis for the quarter has increased by 21% at INR 130 crores, as against INR 107 crores for the same quarter during the previous year. On a nine-month numbers, the total consolidated income has increased by 47% to INR 944 crores, as against INR 640 crores for the previous nine months. The consolidated net profit has increased by 47% to 47% to INR 426 crores, as against INR 290 crores during the nine months ended previous year.
On a standalone basis, the total income for the quarter-ended December 2024 has increased by 26% to INR 235 crores, as against 186 crores for the same quarter during the previous year. The net profit for the quarter-ended December 2024 is increased by 22% at INR 105 crores, as against 86 crores for the same quarter during the previous year. For the nine months ended, the total income on a standalone basis has increased by 25% to INR 780 crores, as against INR 538 crores for the corresponding previous year quarter. The net profit has also increased by 43% to 381 crores, as against 266 crores during the corresponding previous year period. Now, I will hand it over to Sunil Alvares, MD and CEO of CDSL Ventures Limited, to take you through the performance of CVL. Over to you, Sunil.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for this investor call today. So far, as CDSL results are concerned, the total income for the period nine months ending December 2024 increased by 61% to INR 206 crores from INR 128 crores. The total expenditure for the period nine months ending December 2024 was INR 83.84 crores, as against INR 53.89 crores for the same period in the previous year, which was an increase by 56%. The profit after tax increased by 65% to INR 122 crores from INR 74 crores, and the profit after tax increased by 64% to INR 92.55 crores, as against INR 56.34 crores. With this, I'd open the floor for questions and answers. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone 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 a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Amit Chandra from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. So my first question is on the transaction charges. Obviously, we have seen the, you know, steep decline in this, which is a mix of volume decline and pricing cut. So if you can first quantify, you know, what was the, you know, volume decline and, you know, what was the pricing, you know, cut that we have seen in this quarter. And also, in terms of these, you know, slowdown that is happening across the markets, which pockets, in terms of your accounts, maybe which has been added in the last two years or, you know, maybe the older accounts are seeing a slowdown. It's a, you know, it's a slowdown across, you know, all, you know, all the segments. And, you know, we have taken a 20% price reduction.
Now, in an environment where the volumes are declining, is there a possibility that we can see a price, you know, revision upwards also? So this is my first question. And.
No answer. Yeah.
So can I answer?
So you can finish.
Okay. So the second question is on the, you know, decline that we're seeing in the online data charges. So we have seen that the account addition continues to be strong. So we are not seeing any major decline there. But still, the online data revenue was weak. So was there a significant, you know, significant decline in terms of fetches? Because that, you know, constitutes the, like, major proportion of our revenues in online data, which is the KYC revenue. And thirdly, on the technology cost, and obviously, it has been the, like, major focus area. Nine months, it is up around 85%, and which is following a 65% increase in FY 2024. So is the major technology investment behind us, or will we see this elevated cost for the coming years also? Thank you.
So basically, Amit, see, the overall market conditions-wise, the demat accounts continued to go. That has seen some slowdown in the months which were the bull months. In September, we had about 40 lakh demat accounts open. That has now dropped to about 30 lakhs or. Obviously, the transaction-making ability in a bull market is far higher as compared to a bear market. So overall, the sluggish sentiments contributed by geopolitical issues, overall slowdown in the world, certain regulatory changes within options, etc., have led to muted participation, which is seen across the board, whether it be transaction volumes, delivery volumes, and hence the market-based delivery transactions income for CDSL. However, the important point which needs to be kept in mind is that we continue to build our value proposition, keeping it probably one of the preferred depositories for investors to open accounts.
Therefore, the incremental market share percentage is kind of demonstrated improving. However, we don't want to base ourselves on past losses. We continue to invest ourselves to create that kind of value propositions as we move forward. In terms of specific numbers, we don't put that out in the public domain. Hence, it is based on the overall numbers which are put out, which have already been put out in our investor presentations and in our website also. In terms of technology, it's a continuous process of kind of evolution. I think the most important constant in the technology world specifically, overall also, but specifically in technology, the change is the holding on.
We need to evolve both in terms of sophistication, prowess, and the latest tools so that the value proposition which CDSL provides to its relevant stakeholders continues to remain intact, continues to grow and continues to remain. In terms of the account opening online charges with CVL also, I think is kind of in line with the overall contribution of volumes in the market, which has really maybe led to this. We are, in a way, an infrastructure company. Our focus and our intent is to provide the right infrastructure and lead the rest of the market. We don't drive any of these from a short-term quarter-on-quarter, but it's a more long-term play, which we are more.
Yeah. So just to follow up on the technology cost, obviously, technology is the prime focus area. But if you can just provide some color in terms of what part of our spend would be discretionary spend, which we can cut off in an environment when we see challenges in the environment, and what part of the spend would be run the business kind of a spend which we have to do despite of whatever the market condition is.
I think our philosophy, Amit, and that's where CDSL has kind of been able to be successful. In fact, has been proactive on the technology side and not being worried too much with the market quarter-on-quarter volumes. Because when the spurt comes, the spurt comes also very suddenly, and you need to be very prepared for it. It's like the Bandra-Worli Sea Link Road or the Coastal Road in Mumbai, which is built with a certain amount of capacity of traffic. The traffic may not be as much immediately, but it creates that sense of value proposition, which therefore creates demand. And that's where has been our philosophy. We continue to embark on a journey where we do what is correct rather than what is convenient, what is necessary versus what is required from a business point of view.
Because when the spurt came in over the last during COVID and after COVID, we were able to withstand that increased demand because of our proactive investment in technology and the ability to scale when the volumes went up.
Okay, sir. Understood. Thank you and all the best for the future. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Swarnabha Mukherjee from B&K Securities. Please go ahead.
Good morning, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. So my first question, I just wanted to understand on the Folios part of the business. So I know that you don't give a forward guidance, but wanted to understand from you that so far in nine months FY 25, if you can give us sense that vis-à-vis the average Folios which were built. So average Folios of FY 24, what would be by how much should we be largely up by now if you could give some color, not the exact number, but a ballpark also that would help us to understand how the issuer charges, etc., might pan out. So not looking for any forward guidance, but whatever number you have recorded so far, if you can give a ballpark color in terms of growth. That is the first question.
Second is, in terms of the IPO corporate action line item which you report, if you can broadly give us a split on how it trends quarter on quarter between IPO and corporate action, whether there would be any seasonality in terms of corporate action in that, which some color on that would be useful. And thirdly, sir, I mean, I think already has been you have given some color in the previous question, but just wanted to understand that given that there is at least a transient weakness in the market, but that should not mean that we would expect that your further investments in technology will be curtailed at any level, right? So it will be going on at the same level as what we are seeing right now. Would that be a fair understanding?
If you could also share fixed and variable cost proportion in your overall expense, that would be very helpful. These are my questions.
So, Amit, sir, the way I would like to work, you could possibly we don't give out the folios, but we give out the value of the annual issuer charges. And that could be a proxy for you to really understand on how the folios growth happen. But that is a culmination of both addition of new investors coming in versus the folios growth with CDSL in total. You could take that as a proxy. In terms of your second question on IPO and corporate actions, we don't give that breakup. But again, IPOs, you are seeing the numbers which are out there. Corporate actions is the culmination of issues like bonus, rights, and also the IPOs and also if any takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, or any corporate actions emanating out of such things are taken. It's kind of a mixture of that which really takes forward.
So if the overall market conditions which would determine on whether the IPO bucket will grow versus the other corporate restructuring bucket growing. And I think that is where we would like you to take this in terms of how we're viewing it. Third question on technology, we continue to embark on the journey of both creating the right technology products and platforms on all three counts of hardware, application, security, network, and also building the right people and the skill set. Because as technologies evolve, you need that kind of skill set to drive those innovations also. The important thing is to continue to remain as far as possible from an intense standpoint on top of the game to ensure that your technology is kind of best in class.
The important thing which I think one needs to also understand that a lot of these reforms are happening on a segregated account structure, which is opposite to the West, which is an omnibus structure. We are far more intrusive and detailed wherein terms of being a segregated account structure, this is because of the investment we've made in our technology.
Right, sir. If you could give the proportion of fixed and variable costs in your mix. And also, sir, one follow-up on the IPO corporate action. So between the quarters, is there a discernible seasonality in the corporate action part? If you could just highlight that, whether the second quarter or the third quarter would have a higher amount.
We don't give the break-up between fixed and variable costs because it's kind of in a very hybrid function, so it may not give the right picture. We give it as a consolidated number. In terms of, it's difficult to predict really the seasonality because the IPO, whether they come out or not, is completely market-driven. And it depends on the ability of issuers coming out with the IPOs. When they will come out, there has been no specific trend, whether it's the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter, where the.
Right, sir. I was sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to ask about the corporate action portion. I know you give a consolidated number, but internally, you would be having a breakup. So just wanted to understand that only if I would think about revenue coming from corporate action, would there be a discernible seasonality in that number?
It will be difficult to predict either way because it is all market-determined. So any prediction of the past also is not indicative of the future because what may be the past may not necessarily be mirrored in the future. So I think therefore it will be best left to the forces of the market determine.
Sure, sir. Sure, sir. Understood. Very helpful, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Akshay from CD Integrated Services Limited. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. Sir, my first question is based on our competitive edge. So if we compare ourselves to the NSDL, then what sets apart in terms of technology or in terms of service or in terms of growth when we compare our services to the NSDL? And yeah, so what is our competitive edge?
Akshay, our intent has never been to look at market share or competitive edge. Our intent has always to create the value proposition for the stakeholders and let the stakeholders decide which road to take. There are some stakeholders who take X road versus Y road. It's like the Coastal Road versus the normal road. Each one has its own demand, its own requirements. The intent being that we want to give the best-in-class technology which is really available and continue to embark upon that journey and leave that rest to the market. Our intent is not to be one-up over anybody else. I think the entire ecosystem has a lot to achieve. Only 7% of the Indian population is yet in the Indian securities market. And I think there's enough space for everybody to thrive and succeed.
But the intent is that we want to give the best in class to the Indian markets and to the Indian investors so that they can trust with their hard-earned savings when they invest within our ecosystem.
Okay, sir. And sir, my second question is based on our revenue split. So our depository for this quarter, we largely divide our revenue into splits: depository activity and data entry and storage. So what comes under the data entry and storage? So which type of activity and what comes in the depository activity? So broadly wanted to understand that. And a follow-up question on that would be our issuer charge, annual issuer charge. So despite our annual issuer numbers that grow quarter on quarter, but revenue on that front is flat quarter on quarter. So any comments on that?
So the data charges and is the CVL side of it, and the depository charges is the CDSL side of it. On the annual issuer charges, the depository charges are determined by its levy, and I've said this multiple times in my previous investor interactions that as and when is the right time and moment that economics would get changed kind of upwards, but we are committed to remaining ensuring that our costs are under control, and we are giving the best value proposition to our people.
Just to add here one thing that annual issuer charges based on the average folios held during the previous year end. So whatever addition in account that happens during 2024, 2025, the impact would be on the next year's annual issuer income.
Okay, sir. Okay. Thanks for the answers and all the best for the future.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Supratim Datta from Ambit . Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on the private company side. So last quarter, you had booked around nine crores in revenue from private company dematerialization. Could you let us know how is that progressing? How much revenue have you booked from that side this quarter? That's my first question. Secondly, on the pricing side, wanted to understand that on the annual issuer side, you haven't taken a price hike since 2015. Wanted to understand what would be the key triggers for us to approach the regulator for a price hike here. If you could give us some benchmarks that you would be looking at before approaching the regulator for a price hike here, that would be helpful. And lastly, if you could give us a breakdown of the e-CAS and e-voting revenue that you typically do every quarter, that would be very helpful again. Thank you.
Yeah. So I'll answer the second question as Girish wants to the first question. The second question is on what basis is the overall cost on servicing, basically the investors, what is the technology cost? There's a multitude of factors which the regulator goes through. Unfortunately, that is not available in the public domain. That is what is deemed by the regulator and overall economic conditions, how much the issuers would be willing to pay, wanting to pay, required to pay. So based on that, they come up with numbers. So that's the answer to your second question. I'll ask Girish to answer the first.
In terms of unlisted income for the quarter, we have an income of INR 7.47 crore, out of which INR 4.76 crore is a processing income, which is one-time income. And in terms of e-CAS charges, it is clocked at INR 14 crore, and e-Voting is at INR 5 crore.
Sorry, the unlisted INR 4.7 crore was the income for this quarter, and what is the one-time fee for that?
I said INR 4.76 is a INR 4.76 crore is processing fees, which is one-time fee.
Got it, sir. Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Santosh from SKS Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for giving me an opportunity. Can you hear me?
Yes, sir. Little hazy. Can you come closer to the microphone?
Sure. Am I better now?
Yes, better.
Yeah. Okay. So sir, I had two questions. One is about the regulatory charges that we are disclosing in the quarterly finances. So there we can see that there's a nine-month basis, there's an increase of 50% towards regulatory charges. And even on quarter to quarter, there's an increase of almost 16%. So is there any revision in the charges from the CDSL side, or there is a new charge that we have to pay? What is the thing here? If you can just explain.
I'll ask Girish to answer that.
So if you understand the regulatory fees, it consists of a charge which is supposed to be paid to IPF, which is a percentage of operating profits. So if we compare nine months versus nine months, our operating profit has increased, hence that has increased. And apart from that, we have to pay annual fees to SEBI, and we also have to pay incentive to DP. That is based on the collection that we make towards the annual issuer charges, custody charges.
So to answer your question, there has been no increase. It is completely driven by the increased numbers over the last nine months.
Okay. So in a way, we can say that's the cost of doing our business.
Yes.
Okay. Okay, and I have a second question about the IT cost and the employee cost, so what we are seeing is that the employee cost is increasing on the one hand. The IT cost is also increasing on the other hand, so this looks like the IT cost is not leading to any reduction in the manual processing that you may be doing, or this is on account of something else, and we are looking at we must look at it something differently. I understand that you explained that IT is something that is important for future business and also for the safety and security of the market institution database, but can there be a correlation seen here in the long term? With the increased IT cost, there could be a reduction in the employee cost in future.
So, Santosh, if you understand this business, the employee and the IT cost are the two only costs which we have in the business. And they are not competitive with each other. They are complementary to each other. We need to ensure this is a very, very specialized business. So both in terms of the employees as well as the technology, it will continue to kind of be further invested in. You also need to keep in mind that the revenue has grown not at the same pace at which the technology and the employee costs have grown. And that shows the investment, the nature of this company. That is an infrastructure company. And you need to have a certain investment in employees as well as infrastructure technology.
But the revenue, based on market conditions, can continue to grow exponentially higher than the growth you've seen, which is not the case in most of the other companies where there is a correlation between the revenue and the cost. And therefore, you need to see it in that perspective as we continue to grow. Because if we do not invest in the right people and the right technology, it will not create that value proposition when the market shows those kind of demands where this continues to remain the preferred place where people like to open their demat accounts.
Okay. Okay. Thank you. That clarifies. And I have a last question about the previous participant asking about any chance. I'll not say chance, but the way we reduced our rates transaction charges in October, even before May. So can it be increased without any regulatory approval? The way it was reduced. So my point to ask is that do we need any regulatory permission before we think of revising the transaction charges, or it is something that we can do on our own?
No, the regulatory charges, the depositories are concerned, it requires prior approval of SEBI. And the reduction has also gone through that process. The increase, if any, in future would also need to.
Okay. So sir, I just thought that what would the need for revising the charges downward? Because we enjoy an oligopoly, and we are the largest players. Our annual reports say that incrementally we are getting 84% demat accounts from our stable. So is there any pressing need for reducing the charges? Because as you can see, the capital markets, all participants have increased their charges. Even the government has increased their STT charges. So CDSL happens to be the only entity reducing the charge, and in the process, taking a hit on the profit.
We are not taking a hit on the process. I think it's the economies of scale which is coming into play, and that was, in a way, your first question that technology and employee cost are not in sync. See, the intent is that only 7% of the Indian population is today in the securities market. How do I make that 20%, 25%, 30%? There's a social inclusion, financial inclusion agenda, which is a long-term sustainability of the depository also, so our philosophy and our strategy has always been not looking at quarter on quarter, but looking at a more long-term sustainable strategy so that this becomes the preferred demat account depository, and we would like to include more and more people into our fold. The point is that despite the reduction in terms of our numbers, we continue to remain profitable. We continue to invest in the latest technology.
We continue to recruit the right kind of people. So we have not compromised on any of this. But at the same time, we would like more and more people to join the fold of the depository system. And hence, this is kind of an added advantage which we are working on.
Okay. Thank you so much. It clarifies. Have a good day. Bye.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Madhukar Ladha from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for taking my question. So a couple of them. First, on the annual issuer charges, you said that about INR 7.5 crores was the total from unlisted companies in this quarter and about INR 4.7 crores was the one-time sort of a number. So the balance is obviously the more recurring portion. Now, my question is that we had this tailwind where the private unlisted companies had to dematerialize their shares. Are we sort of through with it? Have we seen that completely play out, or is it still continuing? Is that activity still on? That's my first question. Second, on IPO and corporate action charges, quarter three had a very huge, very large number of IPOs and a lot of fundraise, and the market saw a lot of large IPOs as well.
But if I compare this line item from quarter two, the jump is only about six crores from 52 crores to 58 crores. So I wanted to understand what is sort of why the jump is a little less. So if you can give me some idea as to what the corporate action component was in quarter two and then what the corporate action component is in quarter three and what the IPO component is, that will be helpful if you can just split that line item a little bit. And finally, on the expense side, some sense of what sort of salary increments are we looking at for FY26? Yeah, that again will also be useful. So these would be my three questions. Thank you.
So on the first question, private limited companies continue to, as and when they become eligible. The overall government nudges to finally move the private limited companies into the demat world also. And so as and when they become eligible, as per the conditions laid down by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, they would be required to kind of move into the demat world. Again, difficult to predict numbers because which private limited companies become really eligible or not depends on the conditions which they need to fulfill. Your second question was on the IPO and corporate actions. We don't give that breakup. And hence, it's a combination of, again, what is corporate restructuring versus IPOs as a unit. And therefore, it is leading to that kind of thing in terms of how it will work on quarter on quarter.
Your third question on the potential increment on employees, we don't give forward guidance. So I'm sorry, I would not give it.
Just coming back on the first question. Actually, what I wanted to understand was what part of it, so we had the new sort of guidelines for dematerialization of shares for private companies, for the eligible private companies, was sort of 30th September 2024, and now that sort of played out, right, most of it, so I wanted to get some sense: has that sort of played out, that bunch up and all of them sort of dematerializing the shares, or do you still think?
Okay. Okay. I follow what you're asking right now. If you see the rules, I would urge you to look at the rules of MCA. It talks about large corporates which are 40 crores of turnover or 4 crores of share capital, private limited companies. They become eligible for demat when they want to raise capital or they want to transfer capital. So there are two contingent conditions which have to be effected for these large corporates to be required to move into the demat world. Now, 30th September was the date after which this rule kicks in. So whenever those two conditions of the filter of large private companies and those two other contingent conditions kick in, they are supposed to kind of move into the compulsory demat world. So I hope I have answered that.
Therefore, it is difficult to predict whether it is played out or not played out.
Understood. This is very helpful. Got it. And just on the annual issuer charges, the processing fee, that is part of annual issuer charges only, right? Or it's not sitting in other charges?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Okay. Got it. Thanks a lot, sir. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Sanketh Godha from Avendus Spark. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, the cash ADTO for the industry as a whole declined by 20% each QQ. And our transaction income declined 29% each quarter on quarter. So is it fair to tell that INR 3.5 which we are using in true-to-label, the price average realization seems to be lower compared to previously when we were doing slab-based pricing? And if that is the case, then what is the cut we have to, I mean, a price cut of 9%-10% is a fair assumption, sir?
We don't give those numbers out in the public domain. But the important thing is, again, my advice to all of y'all would be don't look at quarter to quarter. This is an infrastructure company. It's for long-term sustainability. So what we are looking at is more investor participation on a long-term sustainable basis. And therefore, the true-to-label cost, while it's a regulatory nudge, is also an important part of the strategy of CDSL to ensure that there's a long-term sustainable participation by more and more new investors coming into the securities market fold and into the demat fold so that the percentage of participation of a growing population increases from a 7%, that is 15%-20%.
Got it. Sure. Fair point. So the next question what I had was, sir, that if you look at other expenses outside the regulatory cost, that seems to have declined almost in line with the KYC income on quarter on quarter basis. So is it fair to assume that given your communication cost would have also come down because of lower KYC income, that expense have declined? So broadly, it's a variable cost in line with the KYC income?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Got it.
Absolutely.
Okay. Perfect. Perfect, and one more thing, so see, we know that KYC income has slowed down. Just maybe I call it to you, if you can say that the KYC income slowed down happened largely because of lower IPO applications or probably people fetching less from mutual funds or something. Just to get a color, what led to that slowdown in the KYC income?
Color is overall the securities market participation, secondary market. So it's a combination of primary market and secondary market. But it's a culmination, a cumulative culmination of secondary market and primary market. So when there is muted activity on secondary market, that means less number of fetches, the lower number of demat accounts which have opened month on month as compared to September is another factor, the number of IPOs. But it's difficult to point out category-wise. It's kind of a cumulative contribution of the overall market sentiment, which is determined mainly by the traded volumes, the delivery volumes, the number of IPOs coming out, the number of demat accounts being opened, the number of unique client codes being opened. It's kind of a combination of it.
I got it. But the reason I was asking is that given the market is a little weak today, and since next year, the IPO activity is materially low because of the weak markets, so then whether we see that KYC income is more under pressure because of the primary activity compared to the secondary market activity?
That will be difficult to predict, Mr. Godha, because it depends on what the market conditions are in the future. Whether due to low market conditions, is the market going to be bullish with low volumes or bullish with high volumes or bearish with low volumes or bearish with high volumes. That will determine whether the KYC income will be low or not. So there are a lot of variable factors which are difficult to predict at this stage.
Got it. And two data-keeping questions. If you can spell out pledge income in the current quarter and impairment cost in the current quarter, that will be useful.
Yes. Impairment cost is INR 2.46 crores in Q3. And margin pledge income is INR 6.06 crores in this quarter.
Okay. Got it. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sunny from Indi. Please go ahead.
Hello. So am I audible?
Yes.
Hello. Yeah. I just muted your company. So I just wanted to know the break-up of the online data charges as well as the other income. So what exactly falls under this other income and the online data charges? That's it, sir.
Absolutely. So online data charges is the income of our subsidiary, CDSL Ventures Limited. And other income consists of e-CAS statement charges, e-voting charges, investment income, e-sign, and other KRA-related income, and other income of CDSL.
Okay. And what is the major income of this subsidiary, CVL? I mean, what exactly constitutes that substantial part of the income of CVL, our subsidiary?
EK charges, e-voting charges, and investment income are the major out of INR 49 crores. I hope you're asking the breakup of INR 49 crores.
Yeah. No, not the breakup of 49. I'm asking the breakup of this INR 51 crores, that online data charges breakup, the subsidiary breakup.
That is all pertaining to KRA-related income. There is no breakdown of those.
Okay. So all KRA-related income. That's it, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much.
The next question is from the line of Rushabh from RBSA Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
I just had one question, sir. So recently, we have seen a change of CEO at NSDL, who is from a private sector. So I just want to understand on the ground, have you seen that they've become quite aggressive in terms of new customer acquisition from the earlier stance? Just want to understand. Or is it too early to judge?
I would not like to comment on my competition. I think there is enough room for both of us to coexist, and there is enough territory to cover. As I said earlier, 7% is the population which is contributing in the securities market. I think there is a lot more to cover. I think there's a larger canvas at play, and let us look at the bigger picture.
Okay. Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Rohan Nagpal from Helios Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Am I audible?
Yes, please.
Yeah. So I had a question on the IPO and corporate action line item. So if I just look at the number of IPOs that were listed this quarter, it was about 76. The previous quarter, it was 111. But despite that, we're seeing an increase in the revenue, the quarter-on-quarter increase in the revenue of the IPO and corporate action line item. So could you just give me a sense of the drivers of the IPO revenue that we generate? Because we're seeing a substantial decline in volume, right, over here?
Sorry, your voice was not very clear, Mr. Nagpal. Could you summarize it? I know your question was very long. Could you summarize it in sentence?
Yeah. So I think the volume of IPOs reduced from 111 in Q2 to 76 in this quarter. But despite that, we're seeing a sequential increase in our IPO and corporate action revenue. So could you just provide some color on the drivers of revenue of this line item? Or is it fair to infer from this that corporate action revenue was higher this quarter compared to last?
Yes. It all depends. Yeah. The revenue really depends on the number of applications which come in for the IPO and subsequently what are the number of allottees. It really does not depend on the capital. So there could be a case in a particular quarter there is just one IPO, but there are a large number of applications and a large number of allottees, where in the next quarter, there could be 100 IPOs. So that's not really any comparison.
Okay. Fair enough. And just a follow-up on that. So this quarter, I mean, in Q3, we got a number of notifications about a change in RTA. So was all of that revenue booked in Q3?
Sorry, we didn't get your question. Can you come again?
There were notifications. So I think Link Intime was changed to MUFG Intime. There was a change in the RTA that is listed for a lot of companies. Was all of that revenue booked by CDSL in Q3, or will some of that be booked in Q4 as well?
I don't understand what is the revenue with Link Intime. MUFG got to do with us.
I mean, a change in RTA, whenever there's a change in RTA.
See, a change in RTA doesn't result in any income. So just the records get transferred from one RTA to the other. So what really happens in our system, the name of the old RTA is changed to the name of the new RTA. That is what happens in our system.
Okay. There is no...
What you need to see is, again, a long-term view that more and more people, if they're coming into our fold, this will be a long-term sustainable revenue. So again, I would really urge you all to start looking at a real long-term because this is finance infrastructure.
Fair enough. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Madhukar Ladha from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Hi. My question has been answered. Thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Thank you. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to Mr. Nehal Vora for closing comments.
So I wish you all a very safe, healthy life. Continue to remain invested and open more and more demat accounts. Thank you.
On behalf of HDFC Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.