Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Central Bank of India Q1 FY25 earnings conference call, hosted by Antique Stock Broking. 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 any assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Raju Barnawal from Antique Stock Broking. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Shubhangi. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining post-season conference call of Central Bank of India. From the management side, today we have with us Sri M. V. Rao, MD & CEO; Sri Vivek Wahi, Executive Director; Sri M. V. Murali Krishna, Executive Director; Sri Mahendra Dohare, Executive Director; and Mr. Mukul Dandige, Chief Financial Officer. Now, without any further delay, I hand over the call to MD sir for his opening remarks, post which we will open the floor for the question and answer this. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Yeah. Thank you, Raju ji. First of all, very good afternoon to all the participants. Just I am going to give you the performance highlights for this June quarter, and this will be followed by our CFO's presentation on the details of the financials. We are very happy to share that this time our net profit has gone up to INR 880 crore. That is from Y to Y, if you see it, is 110%. In the earlier June 2023, it was INR 418 crore. Coming to the total business, it was grown by 9%. Precisely, it is 8.97%. Now it stands at INR 635,000 crore, and total deposits stands at INR 384,000 crore.
CASA deposits, INR 1,88,863 crore, that is 49.19% of the total deposits. Gross advances increases by 13%, 13.99%. It stands at INR 2,50,615 crore. CD ratio improved to 65.27. There is improvement of 452 basis points from the previous June 2023 quarter. Gross NPA, it is at 4.54%, which was 4.95% a year back. Net NPA, it is now below one, that is 0.73%. There is an improvement of 102 basis points. In the earlier June, it was 1.75%. Provision coverage ratio improved to 96.17%, and net interest income has increased to INR 3,548 crore.
That is 11.71% increase from the previous June. Net interest margin, now it is at 3.57. Earlier, it was 3.43. Return on assets has improved to 0.82%. If you see in previous June, it was 0.43. There is an improvement of 39 basis points in return on assets. Return on equity, which is improved to 3.14%. Earlier, it was 1.63%. CRAR improved to 15.68, of which Tier I is 13.36%, and there is an improvement of 126 basis points. These are all the highlights. Now, for the details, I request our CFO, Mr. Mukul Dandige, to give the details of the financials. Thank you. Yeah.
Thank you, sir. I will go little brief. Financials, as the performance highlights, have already been highlighted by our MD, sir. The interest income has gone up by 15.36% on YOY, and it has reached a level of INR 8,335 crore. The total interest expenses have increased by 18.23% to INR 4,787 crore. The net interest income has grown by 11.71% to INR 3,548 crore. The total income has seen an upside by 16.08% to INR 9,500 crore. The operating profit has seen an uptick by 8.43% to INR 1,993 crore, and the provisions have reached a level of INR 1,113 crore.
They are down by 21.62%, and the net profit has touched INR 880 crore, which is an upside of 110.53%. The further breakup of interest income is: interest on advances has gone up by 19.94% to INR 5,494.02 crore. The interest on investment has gone up by 8.03% to INR 2,463 crore. Thus, the total interest income has gone up by 15.36% to INR 8,335 crore. The non-interest income, the fees-based income has seen an upside of 5.99% to reach the level of INR 425 crore. The service charges, there was an upside of 5.80% to INR 292 crore.
Other miscellaneous income has seen an upside of 43.59% to INR 56 crores, and treasury income has gone up by 42.55% to INR 402 crores. Other receipts like recovery and write-off have gone up by 22.46% to INR 338 crores. As far as the interest expenses is concerned, the interest paid on deposit has seen an uptick by t 13.5% t o INR 4,443 crores. The other interest has gone up to INR 344 crores. The staff cost has seen an upside of fifteen point zero three percent to INR 1,714 crores, and other operating expenses have have reached a level of thousand six crores, an upside of 24.66%.
So total expenses have gone up by 18.29% to INR 7,507 crore. The provisions, the NPA provisions, the bank has made INR 1,322 crores of provision, which is including additional provisions made by the bank on prudence basis. It is from INR 509 crores in March and INR 241 crores in June 2023. There has been a write back in standard asset provision, the depreciation on investments, the income tax, and other restructured accounts also. So total provisions stand at INR 1,113 crores. As far as the asset quality goes, the gross NPA has come down to 4.54%, an improvement of 41 basis points.
The net NPA, as MD Sir has said, has reached the level of 0.73% from 1.75%, which is an upside of 102 basis points. The sector-wise in net NPA, if you see, the retail NPA has reached a level of 0.15%; agriculture and allied, it is 1.74%; MSME at 1.53%; and corporate is at 0.17%. The provision coverage ratio is 96.17%. It is a very healthy ratio. The slippage ratio has reached a level of only 0.34% now. The credit cost, if you see, it is appearing as 2.13%. However, if we consider the, if we remove the prudence basis, additional provision that the bank has done, then the credit cost is only 0.63%.
The restructured book is at INR 6,038 crore. In this INR 6,038 crore, accounts worth INR 6,178 crore are common in restructured also, and they are appearing in the special mention accounts also. If you see the special mention accounts book, it has come down from 7.75% of the total advances in June 2023 to now 6.14% and stands at INR 15,402 crore. The capital ratio, the CRAR, has improved to 15.68%, and the leverage has reached a level of 5.48%. The business across the board, total business has grown by 8.97% to and it has reached a level of INR 635,564 crore.
Deposits have shown an improvement by 5.93% and CASA at 4.87%. We are still maintaining 49.19% of CASA, which is one of the premier position in the banking industry. The advances growth was at 13.99%, and the RAM segment has seen a very healthy growth of 18.81%, and it has reached a level of INR 1,71,660 crore. The CD ratio has improved to 65.27%. The credit segment-wise growth is retail has grown at 13.87% to reach INR 72,469 crore. Agriculture grew at 15.36% to reach a level of INR 47,080 crore. MSME has reached a level of INR 52,111 crore, clocking a growth of 30.20%.
The credit risk-weighted assets, if you see, it still continues to be at 64.82% only. The bank has got a very good diversified loan book, and the retail segment, which constitutes 28.92%, in that segment, the housing loan has seen a growth of 15.50% to reach a level of INR 45,393. The rated standard advances, we still continue to have very good portfolio as far as the rated standard advances, that is AAA, AA, and A-rated advances are concerned. Total, out of the total INR 74,173, close to 75% is out of these AAA, AA, and A-rated advances.
The co-lending book, where we are the industry leader, we still maintain that number one position, and the co-lending book has reached a level of INR 12,355.08 crore. The bank has achieved all the mandated targets under the priority sector lending guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India. These were all the highlights as far as the performance of the bank is concerned. Now, we shall be taking up any questions that, that are there. 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 then one on the touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and then 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 Mr. Ashok Ajmera from Ajcon Global. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, sir.
Good afternoon.
Thank you for this opportunity. Yes, a very good set of numbers as regards the, you know, the profitability of the bank, especially the operating profit is concerned. It has been maintained almost the same level at which it was in the last previous quarter. Only there are a couple of observations, sir, and some data points. Now, in the provisioning, we have gone for a little higher provisioning on the NPA as compared to the January-March quarter, that is INR 1,321 crore. So what is the total composition of this, and how much is the GoAir out of this? As I believe that it was mostly provided in the last quarter itself.
So because of that, you know, there has been impact, you know, because of the higher provisioning, and, we got some benefit in the tax so that we are in a position to maintain the profit. But had the taxation burden would have been higher, I think our profitability would have got impacted negatively. So one is on that, the clarification on the tax credit of INR 78 crores, as compared to the tax provision of INR 594.49 crores, and second is on the NPA provisioning.
Right. As far as, first of all, as far as the NPA part is concerned, NPA provisioning part, let me make it very clear. If you see our slippage ratio, it is just 0.34. Based on that slippage ratio, if I calculate my credit cost, it would be 0.63 only, for which provision required was only INR 523 crore. But we have provided INR 1,321 crore. That is almost INR 710 crore additional provision we made. That is a proactive provision. It is nothing to do with the GoAir account, the NPA account provisioning, which we have done in entirety in the previous financial year.
Yes.
I think that is very clear now. As far as the tax part is concerned, this write back, our CFO will explain.
Sir, what happens because of the one... It has had two impacts. One is because of this, fair value, transfer through P&L. The zero coupon bonds of INR 4,800 crore that the bank was carrying, we had to take the hit in the reserves. So the NPV was hit by close, close to INR 2,000 crore. NPV, loss was INR 2,000 crore. There was some upside also from the other equity valuation, so the net impact was roughly around INR 1,200 crore. So out of that, the write back of tax has come to, to the level of around INR 350 crore, sir. One. Secondly, the additional, provision has also helped us, in, reducing the tax liability.
So that, that is why you see that, INR 78 crore write back of tax is there. But going forward in the next quarter, this one-time hit that we have taken through the reserves, that upside will not be available in tax, and normal tax will have to be paid by us.
Okay. So basically, you are referring the note number four, the entire explanation given-
Right.
For the investment and the change of, as per the
Yes.
-changes made by the, as per the RBI policy. Sir, on that additional provision of INR 710 crore, which you are referring, is it because of the ECL, you are planning something to buffer, to create a buffer? And-
Right. See, it is taking care of the ECL requirements also. Because whatever is, is coming through ECL, we are trying to, to be prepared for that well in advance.
Okay. And sir, now coming back to the business growth, overall the credit growth, rather, I would say, and the competition which is there in the deposit side also, how the bank is prepared and what are our targets this year for FY25 on the credit growth as well as the deposit. And if the deposit is not matching with the credit, what are the strategy which the bank is going to adopt as regards to maintain the capital adequacy?
Here, since our CD ratio was less, that we were aiming to enhance our advances portfolio. Now, the way we have planned earlier and the guidance what we have given in the month of April for 2024-2025, we are just sticking to that and we are following and we are achieving. In 2024-25 financial year, guidance, what we have given is 14%-15% growth was there in advances. That we are very much there. Now it is at 13.99. And coming to the CD ratio, that we are aiming to reach around 69-70 CD ratio at the end of this financial year. So as far as the deposit growth is concerned, yes, there is a lot of competition in the market.
One more thing I would like to tell you that our bank was never in the CD market. Certificate of deposits, we are not issuing, and our LCR is almost 190, which one time we have crossed 200 also. Now, our LCR is also very comfortable, and our CRAR is also comfortable, and our growth capital is also available for us, the way we are growing. The deposit growth, we have three components: one is the current deposits, another is the savings bank deposits, and third one is the time deposits. Time deposits, we are not aggressive in that just because I am having enough liquidity and also the enough room for further growth.
As far as the saving bank is concerned, yes, we are a force to be reckoned with, and we are growing the way you know our to maintain our leadership position in the CASA, that is around 49%. So that growth also, we are, we are in line with our planning. So going forward, what we see is, since we are aiming at 70% CD ratio, this advances growth towards the guidance we have given, 14%-15% continues to be there, and the deposit growth, which was just 6% in the first quarter, will accelerate further. That incremental CD ratio, that will be maintained in such a way that we continue to have the deposit growth in minimum 8%, max, max 10% in this financial year. That is the plan.
Okay, sir, my last question in this round, sir, again-
Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Ashok.
Will you allow me this question, please?
Oh, okay. Okay.
Sir, about that selling of the collateral security of GoAir, what is the status, sir? Where do we stand, and when do we expect to get some money out of it, sir? Which is a bigger part of our output.
It is a legal process. Already SARFAESI notices are issued, and 13(4) is also issued now, and it is in the process. If everything goes well, I think, by March, we have to recover large chunk from the collaterals.
Okay, sir. Thank you very much. I'll come back again if time permits. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Rohan from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead, sir.
Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, just coming to back to that investment thing, on slide 14, we are seeing a profit on revaluation of investment of INR 250 crore this quarter. So, just want to understand why this is coming, because as per my understanding from first of April, whatever MTM happens on investment book, that goes into AFS reserve. So what is this INR 250 crore, relating to?
See, the profit or the loss has to be, has to pass through the P&L account. The initial transition, the impact had to be carried through the results. So whatever the portfolio, it was.
The majority of this, profit comes from our equity portfolio, which was from first April, has to be kept in the HFT one. And with the rise in the equity scenario and, the way our, stock markets are moving, so majority of the profit comes from that part.
Sure. So this is HFT MTM that we are getting here?
Yes. Yes.
It goes through our P&L.
Okay. Okay. So the HTM and AFS is not there, only the HFT, MTM is here. Okay.
The rest will go to reserves only.
Go to reserve.
Accounted for in the P&L.
Got it. Got it. Secondly, just on that, comment four, the note four on the exchange filings. Now, when we are seeing that the income on investment has increased by INR 312 crore, see, I don't see a restatement happening for the 1Q of last year. So what exactly are we meaning by this? That it's not comparable because investment income has gone about INR 312 crore.
No, see, because this was, this was taken for this quarter. Now it is, it is very difficult to reclassify the income and expenditure part of the previous March quarter also and June 2023 quarter also. That is what we are saying.
Okay, so you are saying if this same accounting would have been followed, then this would have an impact?
Yes. Yes.
Okay. Sure. Sir, lastly, on the cost of funds, cost of deposit, this quarters have gone down by around 7 basis points. So, how should one look at cost of deposits incrementally, and what, what was the component that helped reduction in the cost of deposit this quarter?
No, if, if you see the cost of deposit on quarter-over-quarter basis, if we see-
Mm-hmm. 7 basis point.
It has, it has gone up, gone up. It has gone up from 4.61 from March, it has gone to 4.66, June. But from year on year-
4.61 is for full year. 4.61 is for full year.
Right.
If you look at the quarterly presentation, it was 4.73.
Last 24, it was 4.73.
Yes.
Now it has become 4.66 for this quarter.
Right.
Right? So because in the last March quarter, what had happened is close to INR 4,000-INR 4,500 crore of bulk deposit that we allowed to be prepaid.
Okay.
Not prepaid, paid on maturity. We did not,
Give rates.
Give the rates for its renewal. So that impact has come, and that is why the rate has, I mean, the cost of deposit has come down to 4.66 during this quarter.
And so incrementally, how should one look at this number?
I think, the cost of deposit has almost plateaued. Now, none of the banks are, I mean, increasing it because we were already higher. Now, comparatively, I mean, other banks have come to the rates, that we were already offering.
Got it. Sure, sir. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Omkar from Vasuki India Fund. Please go ahead, sir.
Hello. Yes, I would like to know your view on the interest rates going, and how are you strategizing to take benefit of it in your investment book? So if I could just have your view on that.
See, presently the yield is hovering around. The ten-year yield is hovering around 7%. And, as early as in September, the Fed is also expected to have a rate cut. So in line with the other markets, we are also expecting at least a couple of rate cuts in the current financial year. So with that going, we are seeing the yield maybe at around 6.75 level. So with this 25 basis points, we have a very decent amount of portfolio with us, and it is in line with other banks also. And we'll be adding a good amount to our bottom line. So this is a normal scenario we are expecting as far as rates are concerned.
Okay. My second question is on your guidance. You have mentioned the split of RAM corporate book that you'd like to have 55-55 against current 68-31. Are you expecting growth picking up and coming from the corporate side during this year? And if so, then which sectors or what kind of credit account targeting in large corporate or mid corporate? There's clarity around that.
Yeah, as far as this corporate retail RAM is concerned, we still hold the 65-35 with ±5. So right now, at the end of the June quarter, we are at 60.68% for the RAM and 31.50% for the corporate. Yes, corporate, we are looking at the good assets, trading off with the good rated accounts. Because of the pricing power what we have, because of the CASA, we will be only aiming at the assets which are having very good rating so that we can conserve the capital there. And then, some of the things which we have offloaded in this quarter from the corporate book is of the very low yielding advances. So we are trading off in between.
Our guidance still will be same as we have given for this financial year, 65-35, with ±5%. That we use to maintain.
Okay. And sir, is the pricing better now in corporate? Because, during the last year, there was a lot of pressure in the, corporate side. So is that situation improving now?
See, we are very choosy as far as the corporate assets are concerned. We are going with the pedigree, and we are going with the prospects of the activity which these corporates are taking up, and then how economy is opening. So since we have a very small, you know, quantum, which we can allocate to the corporate, that's what I was saying, we are trading off between the quality and pricing. We are not that much accelerating aggressively, nor we are not so conservative. In between balancing we are making.
Okay, thank you, sir. That's all from me.
Thank you. Just a reminder for all the participants, you can press star and one for questions. The next question is from the line of Mr. Prashant Galsar from ISJ Securities. Please go ahead, sir.
Hello?
Yeah, yeah, please go ahead.
Am I audible, sir?
Yeah, yes.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. I have few question on Telangana farm loan waiver. So my first question, when such policies announce, do bank first show the loan as NPA before receiving the money, or do they receive the money first and then they show loan as NPA? And my second question is, in some article, there was mentioned that Telangana government will transfer the money directly to the farmer's bank account. So my question is, is it right? If in bank, will the amount directly from farmers bank account or what?
See, as far as the Telangana is concerned, that too, from the crop loan perspective, we have a very small portfolio of up to INR 2 lakh. Then what is the quantum of portfolio? INR 280 crore.
INR 200 crore.
We have very small portfolio. That offline we will be giving you the details. Very small portfolio we have, that is number one. But per se, on principle basis, whatever the first question you have asked, we may not be in a position to give the answer which you want.
Mm-hmm.
So that is that. And as far as the direct account, it is going to the farmer, so it's okay. Because always, all the banks will maintain the right of set off procedure. Whether it goes to the loan account or to his saving bank account, no matter, that will get be absorbed in the loan account. If anything specific you have, please ask me, if I am not clarifying you enough.
Hmm. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Mr. Ashlesh Sonje from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi, team. Good afternoon. A couple of questions from my side. Firstly, so there was some change in accounting which the RBI suggested from April 2024 on penal charges. Can you quantify what is the amount of penal charges which were classified now under non-interest income, but earlier it would have been classified under interest income?
To give you exact number, it was INR 48 crore roughly, which was part of interest earlier. Now it has come as penal charges.
Understood. Secondly, sir, you gave out a number on recoveries from return of accounts. Just can you please confirm that amount as INR 338 crore?
See, that is inclusive of other things. Recovery from write-off is INR 211 crore.
Okay. And so what is the outlook on the recoveries from return of accounts for FY25?
See, we have got a decent portfolio of close to INR 35,000 crore as far as return of accounts are concerned, maybe technical, maybe prudential. Last year, if I want to give an indication to you, we recovered... We were able to recover INR 1,433 crore.
Okay.
We estimate that our recoveries during this financial year also should be in line with the last year's figures.
Perfect, sir. Thank you. Those are all the questions from my side.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Sushil Choksey from Indus Equity Advisors. Please go ahead, sir.
Congratulations to the team and management of Central Bank of India on the excellent performance. My first question is, we've spent, and you've replied in the previous calls, a lot of money on technology. How are we seeing it shaping up in the current year and specifically with balance sheet perspective, where we'll have the benefit of that?
See, yeah, we are spending a lot of amounts. First visible outcome, what we are seeing is on the, you know, slippage ratio. The collection management system, what we have established with the separate call center and feet on street people, pan India, that has given a good start for us. That's why our slippage ratio is 0.34. If you see the previous, previous quarter, it was never, never below 0.60 or 0.75. That was most visible result what we are seeing from the slippage ratio. Since slippage ratio is so low, that you, you can, you can just imagine the cascading effect, what the credit cost reduction are happening because of the low slippage ratio and how extra provisioning is not required. So all those things, the concurrent benefits are also being seen now.
Coming to the on the customer experience part, where already we have started certain digital lending products. That is the gold loans and also Shishu, Mudra, and Tarun loans of the Mudra loans and end-to-end for the KCC loans. These type of journeys that already we have gone through live on our Neo platform, that is a new new lending platform. Going forward, and now again, we have started onboarding the SB accounts through the digital means, through vKYC, that is video KYC. Almost let me share the figures. Almost we have opened 28,000 accounts and average balance, which is being maintained, is almost INR 20,000 in these accounts which are opened through digital channels and video KYC.
So there is a good traction that we are getting in this digital channel. And coming to the products which we will be rolling out in coming days is a business loan, housing loan that will be rolling out in the next month. So a lot of traction that is coming, and then we will, we are going to reap the benefits in the near future. In this financial year itself, we will be reaping much of the benefit of this new platform.
Sir, between our digital spend co-lending, which we are one of the largest banks, and the partnership, how is it having an impact on home loans and other products? Second thing is, Mr. Wahi, if he could give his outlook on the treasury market.
Regarding home loans, co-lending is also one of our channel to improve the housing loan portfolio. As far as the co-lending part is concerned, out of INR 12,000 crore, it is a decent book and, as far as the SMA and NPA part is almost negligible in that. Housing loans, it is adding to my housing loan portfolio. It is a good number. This is the overall figure I am saying.
Are we seeing a big traction? Because we are one of the best on attractive on rates, and we also have schemes for women, housing loans.
Yeah, yeah. It's. See, whatever the targets we have, we are reaching. It's not that we are falling short of our planned targets.
I was, I was made to believe, rather I understand that our market share will increase. That's the reason I'm asking this question.
Yeah, definitely, definitely. The way we have planned our targets, our market share, market share is going to improve on that. That is going to happen. And as far as your treasury part is concerned, our Wahi sir will give you the brief, what is going to happen, though it is a futuristic.
Yes.
Though he is not astrologer, but he will give some-
See.
Forecast. Yeah.
See, the outlook remains the same, but with the war continuing and other geoeconomic factors in the bigger continents, election year being in U.S., and also very conflicting data coming there from the U.S. side. But more or less now it is crystallized that-
The Fed will be going for a rate cut in the month of September. So if this happens, we are also not lagging behind. And our scenario, of course, inflation remains a sticky thing, and it is above our comfort level of 4%. So going forward, we are expecting at least a couple of rate cuts in this financial year. So I would say that the yields with these two rate cuts, the yields should come back to 6.75. And overall it will be a good year for the treasury. It is expected that it will be a good year for the treasury. Also, equity continues to rise and gives a comforting factor. And as already in one of the previous answers, we have said that equity remains now a part of HFT portfolio.
So that also gives us some good P&L numbers on a regular basis. This is on and as far as FX is concerned, dollar rupee continues to be around 83.50-83.60 levels. And it showed a little bit of weakness. Rupee showed a little bit of weakness when it went from 83.30- 83.55 levels. But overall, we do not see our currency is still one of the best emerging markets performing currencies. So we do not foresee much weakness further in the level of dollar rupee. And it is being a stable part, so that is another reason we are expecting good foreign inflows also. That's all on this here.
Sir, my next question is, I saw the advertisement in the leading newspaper about the airline account recovery by selling the assets. Any update which you can share, because that would dramatically impact our balance sheet in the current quarter or the quarter to come by?
See, it's all a legal process, you know. The way we are moving ahead, if everything goes well, that's what I was saying earlier, we may recover major chunk by March.
That's good to know, sir. Second thing, sir, we have... Because of our CASA, our potential to be a large consumer bank seems very visible because our CASA comes from areas which other banks are finding difficult to tap. And on a consistent year, we may be one of the best performing PSU banks in last 5, 6 years since I've been tracking Central Bank on the CASA side. Our deposits can attract many consumer loans, cross-selling and other things, and you have taken great effort to establish some products. Can I have some kind of a color where we can get the substantial benefit visible? I'm not saying immediate, but over a number of years.
See, it is a continuous process, you know, that innovation and technology and then marketing that goes hand in hand. As far as our bank is concerned, rightly, you have pointed out, the hinterland, what we have. There is a lot of scope for the cross-selling and upselling. And because of the new technology, what we are bringing in, whether on the insurance side or wealth management side, on other products of the liabilities, exactly, we are going to reap a good, good, harvest in this. That is going to happen.
Thank you, sir. Good luck for the year and best wishes to the management and Central Bank.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. The next question is from Mr. Priyesh Jain from HSBC. Please go ahead, sir.
Yes, thank you. So with respect to the RBI's draft circular on project finance provision, could you just quantify what is the percentage of your portfolio that is impacted by it?
Sir, it's a very small portion. What we have calculated from the existing portfolio, it will be around INR 247 crore.
Okay. All right. And so, like, as per your estimate, what is the quantum of provisions you would be required to make on this portfolio?
This is the 247 is the provision.
Provision only.
Okay, this is a provision.
Yeah.
Right, sir. So then, could you also tell me, like, what is the amount of your portfolio, that is, the loan amount on which-
Which may attract this?
Yes.
Uh, uh,
Sir, 5%
INR 4,800 crore something. Yeah.
Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you. That's it.
Thank you. So the next follow-up question is from Mr. Ashok Ajmera from Ajcon Global. Please go ahead, sir. Hello? Mr. Ajmera, please unmute your line. Hello?
I think some snag is there, technical fault.
Hello,
As there is no response from the current questioner, we will move to the next question. The next, the next question is from the line of Mr. Manish from Moneycontrol. Please go ahead, sir.
Hello, am I audible?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Hi, sir. So I have, I just want the clarity on the project financing, impact, you have just recently, just now answered. So just correct me if I'm wrong, you said like 4,000 or 4,000-odd, 4,800-odd crore is your project financing book as of, as of thirtieth June, correct?
Which attracts the 5%, provision.
Which attract the 5% provision. Then what, what's the total size of the book?
Total, infrastructure projects or projects?
Infrastructure books.
Infrastructure, just a minute. Like, total portfolio.
Got you.
Yeah, we will, we will be informing you offline, because right now it's not available, right now. Yeah.
Okay, okay. Okay, no problem. So out of the total portfolio, INR 4,800 odd crore will be get impacted, and of that, INR 247 crore will be the provision provisioning you are going to... You have already made it?
We have not made it, but we have enough pockets, you know, that we have kept it. Not, not for the provisioning for the infrastructure. Once the guideline comes, we will implement without affecting any of my PNL figures.
Okay, okay. Yeah. Thank you, sir. Thank you. That's, so that's all I want—I wanted to ask. Thank you.
Just a reminder, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on your touchtone telephone. Thank you. The next question is from Mr. Sushil Choksey from Indus Equity Advisors.
Sir, as you wear a dual hat of Central Bank and IBA, do you estimate this EC, like ECL provision, infrastructure provision on loans will come the same?
No, I'm not going to say anything from the IBA's perspective. I can only tell you from bank's perspective.
Yeah, but what will you... The bank perspective will get diluted. That's what I'm asking.
See, during the-
Yeah.
See, yeah, from the bank's perspective, whatever the measures that is being taken to strengthen the balance sheet in the long run is always welcome.
Yeah, and I think, the cost can be passed on. It would be 10-20 basis points at max. That, am I right to assume that?
See, if it is a corollary to that, so that is going to happen.
Okay, okay. I appreciate your answer, sir. Second thing, sir, as the bank is progressing well on the retail, and cross-selling and co-lending and other things, do we have plans based on the current, business, outlook, if you're gonna add some new products or new initiatives in current year or next year, which, the market should like to know about?
See, number one is, what we are planning right now is, we have almost identified, 438 pin codes where our bank branch is not there, but banking business is growing, at a very decent pace. So now, without going into the brick-and-mortar, branches, now we will be piloting with our BC Max, branches outlets, which is a hybrid between the BC point and the brick-and-mortar branch. That BC Max concept we are bringing in, and probably next, month, we may roll out some pilot branches. That is for the garnering the additional businesses where, economy is doing well and our presence is not there.
Okay. Second thing, sir, on the equity front, how are you seeing the picture on the dilution side? Government RFPs is likely, or will you raise? Because we don't need equity based on the current profitability and our liquidity ratio.
Yeah.
How are we seeing this move from government or government may not dilute because a lot of people are saying government is reluctant to dilute?
Let us wait and see. There is nothing more I can say at this moment.
Okay. Thank you for answering all my questions, sir.
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you. The next follow-up question is from the line of Mr. Ashok from Ajcon Global. Please go ahead, sir.
There was some technical problem. I couldn't take the last time.
No, no issues, sir. Please.
Yeah. Sir, why sir had just explained about the treasury side of it, and he has given some emphasis on the equity, you know, earning from even equity and equity being HFT portfolio. So can I know exactly, I mean, what is our basically the equity book in the treasury, which is being, I mean, an active book on the treasury side and the kind of profitability which we are having from the IPO pool, the money which we are putting in the recent public issues. So, and going forward, what will be our extent?
See, as far as our treasury operations on the equity is, we are not the main player, number one.
Number two, portfolio, what we are holding is more of the, you know, converted from the equity book during the restructuring period. And wherever that upside is coming up in many of the scripts that we are just offloading in the market. And as a player in the equity is on the IPO side, where our people takes the call on the first day, first minute itself. That's how the things are moving right now. We are not holding any equity from the secondary market that with the hope of, you know, getting appreciation in the future and then offloading it.
In addition, Ajmera-ji, we have the equity as far as side of our loan restructured accounts. So that equity is slowly when the moment those accounts are getting resolved, that equity is giving us a decent amount of good side, upside. So that is the reason. And up to... In addition, our IPOs, we exit on the listing gains. That is the major thing. Overall, equity trading per se in our bank is very, very minimal.
Okay, we are active on the IPO side.
Only IPOs plus equity gains on the restructured accounts.
Okay, at least it is giving you some color of the equity market and the power of compounding in the equity-
Yes.
along with your banking business also. And I feel the time is there when now the way the overall growth story of the country, some portion of the investment must be put in the equity. Anyway, that's the point taken. Sir, a small just point of information. The RBI has levied a penalty of INR 1.45 crore. Is it the normal industry kind of default or violation penalty, or it is specific to our bank or some violation, sir?
No, it is not. Reason is not specific to the bank. It is same reason for which other banks are also penalized.
Okay. It's a one-off kind of a thing, isn't it?
Yeah, it is same for all the banks.
I see. And, sir, on this, this ROA target of 1%, we stand on that for FY 25, now 24, 25?
Guidance is-
The guidance, what we have given is 0.75-0.85 for the financial year 2024-2025.
You already-
We have already at 0.82. Definitely, our endeavor will, is to reach 1.
Okay. So I must be remembering that endeavor may not be the target. Agree with you. Yes, sir, because, you know, our bank has great potential still to grow the profitability and the books have been cleaned so much, so there is not much pressure on the future vision point of view also. So I think overall, we can definitely try and grow ROA to 1%.
Yeah, yeah.
There is opportunity.
And sir, we were talking about this equity dilution, and when our government's share of equity is so high, 93%. So, but you must have got at least some feeler that how the government is going to comply with the reduction or as per the guidelines, to bring down the equity share of the government in the bank. Some, any, though you replied on the earlier question.
Yeah, that's what I was remembering, wait, and what I, I told, yeah. I, I have to maintain the same thing now also. I cannot change within 5 minutes-6 minutes.
And, sir, the last question in this, I mean, last round, is that with this change in the RBI policy on the investment book, I mean, the treatment of the investment book and, you know, all AFS, HFT, et cetera, is there any change in our treasury planning or the policy of duration of the holding in various books?
No.
Is there any change?
No, no. The duration, per se, duration is dependent more on the interest rate scenario-
Rather than the accounting.
Rather than the accounting practice, we do not foresee any change in that policy. However, now we are expecting, all are expecting that it will be a softening of interest rates. So naturally, duration will increase in the. Every bank would like to encash on that scenario. So duration is bound to increase little bit.
All right, sir. Then whatever the profitability will go back to our capital adequacy straight away in the-
Yes.
Rather than in profit.
Right.
All right, sir. Thank you very much, sir, and all the very best, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mr. Ashlesh from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Just a couple of data-keeping questions. Can you give a segmental breakup of your slippages of INR 650 crore for the quarter?
Yeah.
One sec, one second. I'll give you.
Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, the line from the chairperson seems to have disconnected. Please hold while we reconnect. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the management team reconnected again on the call, and we also have Mr. Ashlesh Sonje from Kotak Securities. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. So, you had asked about the sector-wide slippages, Ashlesh Sonje.
Yes, sir.
Yeah. So slippage of Agri was INR 106 crore. Corporate, it was INR 66 crore. MSME, it was INR 297 crore, and retail, it is INR 180 crore. So that is the breakup of the INR 650 crore.
Perfect, sir. Secondly, so earlier, a few quarters ago, you used to provide a breakup of your NPA provision on the P&L into three categories. One was aging provision, second was increase in slippages, and third was provision write- back due to recoveries and upgradations. Do you have a similar breakup handy for this quarter?
I will say, I will be able to send it to you offline.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Raju Barnawal for closing comments.
Thank you, Amita, for giving us the opportunity to host the call. And over to you, sir, for your closing remarks. Thank you.
Yeah. Nothing more. Just to thank all the participants for their time, and let me assure you, the way we have given the guidance in the initial start of this year will continue to be our North Star, and we will be making all endeavors to reach that. That is a testimony of the June quarter, that we are on the right direction. Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Antique Stock Broking Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.