Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Five- Star Business Finance Q2 FY 2024 results conference call, hosted by ICICI Securities. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation conclude. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that the conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Lakshmipathy Deenadayalan, Chairman and Managing Director. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you for transferring the call, and I welcome all the participants to the fifth earnings call overall, and the second earnings call for this financial year. As you all know, we connected you with the last September quarter results, September 2022. We are again connecting you back with September 2023. Almost five quarters and one full financial year has been a connection between you and us. It was a very exciting journey for us for the last 12 months. Always Five- Star, we are proud to say we are a collections-first NBFC, because we feel growth is the very lighter side, but collecting back is going to be the difference between any lender.
To start with the numbers, I will start with the collection side. Collections, overall collections, came out very well. We say this is excellent quarter from a quality perspective. The collection efficiency, comparing with last quarter, moved from 99.6% to over 100%. Unique customer, which we call collecting EMI from every customer, which we measure by D1C1, the terminology what internally we call, moved from 97.5 to 98%. The 98% of the customers have paid EMI in each month in last quarter. That's a very encouraging sign. The forward flow is being arrested to that extent.
The next important metric in collection is 30+, where people ask us. I'm happy to say that 30+ has also dropped down from 9.68% last quarter to 8.59% this quarter. Another color of collections, what we say, the current to the arrears ratio of the customers, it was at 78% of the customers were in current and 22% of the customers were in arrears in last September, and it moved to 85% of the customers in current and 15% of customers in arrears in June. We have bettered that in September. We are close to 87%, precisely 86.5% of the customers are in current now, and with only 13.5% of the customers are in arrears.
This we will, as guided to the market, we will reach this to 90%. That is 90% of the customers will be in current and 10% alone will be in the arrears, going forward, maybe next two quarters, maybe June of 2025. Going, taking you to the next important collection metric, which is a non-performing asset, 90+, we call, it also bettered from 1.08% in June quarter to 1.07% in September quarter. Coming to the IRAC Stage Three, as per the circular, new circular, even there we have bettered ourselves. We were at 1.41% in June quarter, which has come down to 1.37%.
So all in all, the collections on all metrics and all buckets have shown a tremendous improvement that again proves that the Five-Star is a collection-first business model. Now taking you to the business side, which is very important. First, from the branch, we have opened close to 70 branches in last quarter, which is one of the highest in history of Five-Star. So the total branch count is at 456 branches as we stand today. And because of branches getting opened and business officers getting joined in the new branch, our loan disbursement is also seen all-time high. It was at INR 1,132 crores in June.
It has gone up to INR 1,204 crores, registering a 6% increase and registering a 50% increase comparing to last year. This has resulted in a good growth in AUM. We have moved from INR 7,583 crores in June to INR 8,264 crores in September, with a growth of 9% sequentially and 44% year-over-year. Both in quality and growth has resulted in good profits. Our incomes have gone up from INR 484 crores last quarter to INR 522 crores this quarter, registering a growth of 8% sequentially and 44% year-over-year.
and the profit after tax has moved from INR 184 crores to close to INR 200 crores a quarter, which is INR 199 crores, registering a 9% growth and 38% growth year-on-year. Finally, before handing over to Srikanth, the borrowing side has also shown a good amount of stability. Our cost of borrowing on the book is in this quarter at 9.7%, marginally lesser from 9.8%. And incremental borrowing is coming at 9.5% all in all. So from the collection side, business side, and the borrowing side, Five-Star is able to bring out their best performance again in the September quarter, and this will continue as we move forward.
Now I'll hand it over to Srikanth to go deeper into each subject, then we'll take up the questions.
Thank you, sir, and a very good morning to all of you. As Mr. Pati has highlighted, you know, some of the numbers around collections, business, as well as the borrowings. I will touch some finer aspects and hand it over to all of you for any questions that you may have. In terms of the financial metrics, you know, we have grown our AUM at about 9% sequentially to INR 8,264 crores. Coming on the back of, you know, very strong branch expansion. So 70 new branches have been added for the quarter, and on the back of, you know, borrower expansion. So again, this has not been a ticket size-led growth, but it's a diversified growth that we have managed to achieve.
So our borrower base increased from about 3.2 lakhs in June to 3.4 lakhs as of September. In terms of the financial metrics, the yields have remained stable at around, you know, 24.2%. The cost of funds, surprisingly, continues to show a decreasing trend, which means, you know, Five-Star is looked at as a very attractive destination for lenders to lend monies to. So while we are borrowing incrementally at 9.5%, the book cost drops from 9.8 to 9.7, so this is a spread of close to 14.5%. The leverage has moved up a little bit, but given our strong accruals, I think you will still see a gradual growth in the leverage in the quarters to come.
The NIMs are almost at about 17.7%, translating to a return on assets of about 8.5% and return on equity of a little over 19%. We have also, despite the branch expansion, we have managed to keep the cost intact. Our cost to income is still only at about 36% also, and we have been guiding all of you that even in a steady state, this number will be anywhere around 35%-37%. In terms of the borrowings, we have borrowed almost more than INR 2,000 crore in the first half of this year, with about INR 1,150 crore coming in the second quarter. The good part is we have managed to add two new banks, and cyclical sanctions have come in.
In fact, one of the transactions, while the institutions spilled over to third October because of some change in holidays, but including that cost, I think we are at about 9.5% incremental cost. And as we speak, you know, the incremental cost continues to stay around 9.5%-9.6%. So, we don't anticipate any significant impact, negative impact on the cost of funds in the quarters to come. Our collection efficiency has stacked up really well, like what Mr. Pati highlighted. Not just 1+, even our 30+ has continued to show a decreasing trend. From about 9.68% last quarter, we have brought that down to about 8.59% for this quarter.
So we will continue to, you know, keep demonstrating this number on the lower trajectory, which will ensure that, you know, the stress portfolio. For us, it's not a stress; a 30+ is not a stress, but typically market perceives 30+ to be a stress portfolio. Even that number will start, you know, continue to keep going down. We continue to maintain a good provision coverage ratio on our overall book, on the Stage Three assets, as well as on our restructured portfolio. On the overall book, we are almost at similar levels of PCR. We were at 1.64% last quarter, just dropped by one basis point to 1.63%. On Stage Three assets, we have taken the PCR to about 50% - a little over 50%.
We were at about 44%, last quarter. This is again coming purely out of the ECL model and the overlays that the company wants to carry on its books on a conservative basis. Restructured book continues to show a very encouraging trend. Most of the book is in the standard category. In fact, the overall restructured book has actually come down to 0.66% of our overall book, and even on this, we maintain close to a 50% provision coverage. So we don't really anticipate any risk emanating out of this restructured book in the quarters or the years to come.
PAT registered a 8%-9% growth from about INR 184 crores last quarter to INR 199 crores sequentially, and year-on-year, it went up from INR 144 crores to INR 199 crores. Net worth continues to remain robust. Capital and equity is almost close to 60%. So I think all in all, it's been a very encouraging quarter in terms of asset quality, profitability, and the growth. And given the branch network that we have built in, I think today we have a very solid platform to ensure that we we build our growth on this strong edifice in a very safe and secure manner. So whatever guidance we have given you, I think continues to trend.
We are hopeful of, you know, coming out with a strong set of results in the quarters to come as well. On that note, you know, I will hand over to Renish for the questions. Happy to take the questions.
Thank you very much. We'll now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question 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 while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Mahrukh Adajania from Nuvama. Please go ahead.
Hello. Congratulations. My first question is on your collection efficiency. You've always delivered well on collection, and you seem very confident that the customers in areas will improve from here on as well. So what gives you the confidence? Because your collection infrastructure has always been strong. Is it that their business environment is improving or that your collection efforts have intensified further? That's my first question.
Yeah, good morning, Mahrukh.
Good morning.
Yeah. Yeah, the business model what Five-Star has built for last 20 years plus or more than that is from the back of the assessing the collection first and assessing the customer on the cash flow and character, leaving the collateral aside. So, what gives us the confidence is the profile of customers whom we are backing for last 2 decades, purely the shopkeepers and self-employed of our country. They are quite busy now, and their sales are coming back to the pre-COVID level, and their margins are sticking very well. So this is from one side. Second side, as you know, we are a secured lender. We lend our entire loans are secured. We lend on the residential property where the customers and family members live in.
This also gives the emotional attachment and seriousness to the family members, even during the downturn cash flow cycle. So these two things, the service sector, whom we are backing, and we are backing them with one of the strong collaterals. And of course, the third one is important, the collection infrastructure, what we have put at the ground level. We are able to reach customers, our customers are able to reach us in 30 minutes of time. So all three put together, our collections are always on the good side. There was some kind of pressure during COVID times because we didn't restructure a lot, so we are correcting those things, and we are bouncing back better than all COVID, all pre-COVID collections metric, whatever Five-Star has seen.
So the strength of the cash flow, and the underwriting strength and the infrastructure collections we put up at the ground level, all three are giving us a good results quarter on quarter. That gives a strong belief that going forward, our collections will be better, better every quarter.
Got it, sir. So and so, as the business environment is improving, which is why you're confident of holding credit costs here, is it? Or because there has been strong growth post-COVID, so as the portfolio seasons, do we see inching up of credit costs or, it's going to stay at these levels?
So I think the credit costs will stay in the same sub 1% level. Even during demon COVID one and two, we didn't see this getting spiked up. Just spiking it with a very short period of time in COVID and got settled in where our eventual credit cost has to be. So I don't think the credit cost will have any impact even the growth fixing for Five-Star, because the growth what we are getting into the guidance of 35%+ year-on-year it's not going to be a big growth for Five-Star because we have already seen big growths pre-COVID. So we know how to underwrite the customer, keep the collections intact, so it doesn't have any impact on the credit cost going forward.
Got it, sir. My last question is on attrition. So, in your segment of business, what has the attrition rate increased over in the last six months or in the last nine months, or is it manageable? Because attrition rate in the other BFSI space is on the higher side.
So Mahrukh, attrition has not specifically increased. It is remaining at the same level. We are expecting that over the next 3-4 quarters, things will gradually come down. But I think we measure attrition very clearly at what level is the attrition happening, both, you know, from an experience perspective and from a, you know, the internal levels perspective. For us, you know, the attrition largely is happening at the people who are less than 12 months old in Five-Star. So, you know, that's a manageable attrition, and also it's happening at mostly junior levels. If you have to measure attrition at branch managers and above, it's an extremely low number for us, and we continue to be one of the best in the industry as far as that is concerned.
It's on the manageable level.
Thank you so much. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shubhranshu Mishra from Phillip Capital. Please go ahead.... Shubhranshu Sir? Please go ahead. So actually, we'll probably move to the next question, which is from the line of Sameer Bhise from JM Financial. The next question is from the line of Aditya from Girik Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello, yeah. Am I audible?
Yeah.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Good, good morning, and congratulations on a wonderful set of numbers. I just have one question. Regarding the portfolio yield on your slide 38, we can see there's a 20 basis points drop in the Q4, Q2 FY 2024. Any reason for that?
So, you will just have to look at this a little differently. We will always have about 20-25 basis points movement in the yields because the way that the entire accrual process happens is on an ideal basis. While whatever is the difference that is charged to the customer on an overdue account, it's because of the, it's through the penal interest methodology, which doesn't come into the yield. So whenever there is a reduction in overdue or whenever there is a little bit of ideal numbers not coming through in terms of the repayment schedule, you will see a slight movement in the yield. So our submission is that, you know, don't give too much of importance to a 20-25 basis points movement in yield this way, that way.
You will always see that happening, you know, depending on how the DPD numbers stack up, because we assume that the customer has actually made the payment while doing the accrual for the, for the next month, and the overdue also gets added to the denominator. So both these aspects may pull down the yield 15-20 basis points this way, that way. Unless the yields are going to go, you know, above or below by more than 25-30 basis points is when the concern should be, which we have never seen in the past. So 15-20 basis points, it is, it is more accounting methodology rather than anything, you know, impacting the underlying portfolio.
Okay, sir. Sure, sir. Thank you so much for that.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sameer Bhise from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Am I audible?
Yes, Samir.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity, and congrats on a strong set of numbers. Pati Sir, just wanted to ask on the competitive intensity in our core products, given that we've been doing so well, have you seen competitive intensity increase? And just some sense on the landscape going ahead.
Yeah, of course, competitive intensity will be there in the minds of many lenders. Whether that is going to actually take part at the ground level, we have to wait and see, because everyone wanted to get into the lending to the shopkeepers and lending to the self-employed of this country. That's the buzzword today. But my own view, it's my own view is, the competitive intensity is increasing sub 1 lakh level and above 10 lakh level. There is a reason for it. Sub 1 lakh level, generally it's microfinance or unsecured loans, where your underwriting takes very lucky, right? You can underwrite it quickly. Whether it is accurate or not, we have to wait and see. But your underwriting and your turnaround time is very quick.
For a 10 lakh loan and above, you spend that much of good time for underwriting that. It is worth spending for that. That's what market thinks. But within between 1 lakh and 10 lakh, we see lesser people getting into it. Either they see it is operationally not viable or the underwriting, it becomes more challenged. I think that's where Five-Star kicks in. We have been doing it for last two decades very well. Our sweet spot is between 3 lakh-5 lakh. Here, the turnaround time for each file takes close to 5-7 days. We spend almost 3 days at the ground level to underwrite their character, cash flow, and collateral. You know it very well.
But people find it very difficult to get into these kind of loans to spend this much of time. But for us, it makes more sense because we have been doing it year on year. So keeping these things in mind, I'm saying the competitiveness is increasing, but it is not as heavy in any other products that what we see, vehicles, gold or home loans. Comparing to that, the competitive intensity is lesser here, because a lot of work has to be done by any lender if he wants to be a long-term lender.
Okay. And what kind of players have you seen incrementally looking at this product? IB, RBS, SB or smaller NBFCs or any of the technology-led companies also are looking at this product?
Samir, I will say all. I don't want to miss anyone because everyone wanted to get in. But let me put a important point. See, everyone wanted to get into at their different... at their experience and, and their beliefs. For example, just to take Fintech, I have already said in the conference call, Fintechs, they, they wanted to get into this, shopkeepers lending, but I don't know how successful they are. Only the data you people have to share with us, but their product is little different and their place of operation is little different. They are operating in Tier 1 and Tier 2, whereas we are, we are operating at Tier 3 to Tier 7 towns, which is even at 25,000 population, Five-Star branch will be there.
But at that location, the technology penetration or the QR code penetration is not high. So their place of operations are Tier 1 and Tier 2, and our place of operation is very different. And coming to the product also, they lend to unsecured short-term, cash flow based algorithm. Whereas we lend a bigger ticket size to set up a business or to repay a money lender's borrowing, for a longer term, seven years. So I think you have to see, lending to a shopkeeper can be the same, but the product is different, the, the place of operation is different.
Fair enough. This is, this is actually helpful. Secondly, in terms of the technology piece, are we, like, fully live on Salesforce across all branches now?
Yeah, I'll ask Ranga to explain that. So, Samir, we had given a gliding path wherein we wanted to move from the old ERP that we had into Salesforce. So as of the first quarter end, we had gone live only with, you know, one state, which is Tamil Nadu.
TN, yeah, yeah.
As of Q2, we have gone live with Karnataka and all the central Indian states, and we have given a clear path that by end of Q3, we'll be fully live. So as we speak in October, we have gone live with one of our biggest states, which is Andhra Pradesh. So that leaves us only with one state, which is yet to go live, which is Telangana. And incidentally, we are kicking off the training in Telangana today. So we are well, you know, clearly on the path to a complete integration into Salesforce by end of Q3. So Samir, I just wanted to highlight one point here. Transforming from one ERP to another ERP is a big exercise.
Five-Star started this exercise from Q1 of this financial year, and we are successfully doing it on a quarter-on-quarter basis. If you see our disbursement or our growth didn't come under any effect at all.
Right.
So the credit has to be given to our teams for planning which state to go live and when. So I think we will completely move from our existing ERP to the new ERP without any disturbance in the growth and disbursements. So that is the key point. I don't see any growth disturbance happening because of the ERP transition.
Great. This is helpful, sir. One final question to Srikanth on securitization. How do we see the opportunity going ahead, or you want to keep the share at current levels?
Samir, so we are definitely looking at, broad basing our, our borrowings, in terms of, you know, various structures, in terms of the type of lenders, from whom we borrow. Securitization is definitely an attractive, source, given that it's an installment sale of receivables, there is a great enhancement that we offer to the, lender. So we are looking at securitization as one of the key avenues for us as a funding resource. But having said that, given that, you know, at the time of, giving these loans, these probably are a little more, cherry-picked as compared to the other, loans, we would not want to be, you know, very high on securitization. Specifically, we try and maintain it about, 25%-35% of our overall, you know, overall borrowings.
In fact, we onboarded, you know, one very strong name, that's the name that I said, which ideally should have gotten signed by 29th September, but because of the change in holidays, it got pushed to 3rd October. So Deutsche Bank has actually taken a INR 350 crore exposure through a investment in one of our PTC. So you know, we will continue to keep evaluating that, from, you know, the right kind of lenders and for, you know, good amount of quantums. Given that it's an on-book treatment today, we don't really distinguish too much between a term loan and a securitized receivable. So we continue to look at it, but we will ensure that, you know, we don't probably cross, let's say, one third of our borrowings in the form of securitization.
Okay, great. This is helpful. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the lines of Nischint Chawathe from Kotak. Please go ahead.
Thanks for taking my questions. The first one is on the borrowings mix and the share of NCD has kind of come down to 4%. You know, any specific reason? I mean, it's come down or it's kind of collapsed from, like, 35%-40% in the past.
So Nishant, you know, there's no specific reason as such. A lot of NCDs got onboarded, especially, you know, during the COVID first wave and the COVID second wave, you know, as part of the TLTRO and PCG schemes, all of which got redeemed in the recent past. And today, the markets are a little choppy while definitely we are exploring raising NCDs from mutual funds, from you know, alternative investment funds, wealth people. The interest rates are not that conducive. You know, if you compare the differential between a bank term loan and an NCD interest rate, the difference is almost like 50, 25 basis points. So today, given that we are getting a good traction from banks through the term loans and the fact that, you know, these are coming in at more attractive rates and for longer tenures.
Today, markets are not willing to take exposures of more than, let us say, 2 to 2.5 years, while our product is a 7-year loan. So keeping in mind the cost consideration, gain and considerations, we are being a little more skewed towards term loans. But having said that, we are making all our efforts, you know, towards penetrating the NCD markets across various categories of institutions, and you will see that going up in the next few quarters.
Because, I mean, if I look at it, your cost of funding is 9.5. You know, if you are seeing 50, 75 basis points, you are effectively saying that, you know, the NCD demand is coming closer to around 10, 10.25, which is, you know, somewhere closer to probably what an A-rated company product may be borrowing. So, you know, I'm just wondering that, so where the investors in these NCDs, whether they are mutual funds or whether banks or, you know, is it something that probably a set of, you know, kind of lenders are today missing in our borrowing profile?
I would probably say, you know, mutual funds are one set of categories that we have been targeting. But you know, they have been a little, you know, choppy to say. They are not extreme. Like I said, you know, they're not willing to take a longer tenure bet on an NCD. If today we have to do an 18-24-month tenure on NCD, I think we will get that for, let's say, 9.7, 25 basis points over than what we are coming through. But other than that, especially in the past, like I said, the TLTRO and PCG NCDs were subscribed to by the banks. So you know, as a category, mutual funds have been a little more nascent in our portfolio.
We probably had mutual fund borrowings only from one or two AMCs, but that is something that we are trying to, to address. But today there is also a good amount of demand for NCDs from AIFs, from, wealth management firms. There are corporates who want to, subscribe to the NCD as part of their investment strategy. So I think we will definitely see traction coming through. We are also, you know, making some headway with, mutual funds, but like I said, you know, it's a little, it's a little time-consuming process, given, you know, given the lack of complete stability in the market. But, sooner than later, I think we will have, NCD traction building up substantially.
Sure. The second question is on growth. You know, the way you're tracking growth in the first half of the year, do you want to increase the guidance for the year?
On parity here, if you recollect, in the month of May and June, we came to the market and we revised our guidance from 30% to 35%. Having said that, our growth is becoming stronger quarter-on-quarter. We are able to give 9% sequentially, that, and that will continue if next quarter also turns out well. We don't want to revise the guidance immediately. We will wait and watch how this demand at the ground level is picking up. As we guided to the market, we've opened 70-80 branches. Already we have opened 100 branches in first six months, 83 branches, more precise.
So that shows that the demand at the ground level is picking up very well. But I don't want to give too much of guidance changes this way and that way. So we will wait for next two quarters. Definitely, if the same trend continues, March quarter, I will come out with a revised guidance if needed. But as I speak now, the 35% growth guidance which we changed now becomes more stronger and stronger in our mind. This will be there for a longer period.
So the question actually essentially was that, are you able to see anything in the ground because of which you would sort of have a slightly softer guidance for the year? Or you say it's just all very different?
I understood. I understood that. I don't see anything affecting our guidance growth because we have said 35% growth, and we have been growing at 40% year-on-year comparatively. I don't see anything affecting at the ground level. The cash flows are good, the demands are good. As I said, we opened more branches, seeing a good demand, mostly in the southern states and the new states which we wanted to get in. And month-on-month also, our disbursements are going up. So I'm not seeing any significant insights from the ground level that will affect the growth trajectory.
Thank you very much, and all the best.
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ajit Kumar from Nomura. Please go ahead. Go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for taking my questions, and congrats for great set of numbers. So 2-3 questions from my side. First one is, if I look at your state-wise AUM numbers, growth in AP has been quite strong from past 5-6 quarters, higher than the overall AUM growth. Any specific reason for this, and do you expect this trend to continue? That is my first question.
Yes, yes, Ajit, I'll take up the first question. See, I think, the southern states are, have a big contribution for our disbursement and our AUM. Close to 96% of our growth comes from south. If you bifurcate south, Andhra is now becoming a leading contributor to the disbursement and AUM growth because we see good demand there, the population is very good, and you see a lot of towns interconnected very closely in, especially in the coastal part of Andhra, where most of our branches are being present. So we also see a very good collection traction in Andhra. Keeping all this in mind, we are investing a lot in Andhra.
Even from out of these 80+ branches which we opened for the first six months, I think more than 50% of the branches would have gone to Andhra. So we see a good demand there. The collection culture is good there, and the team what we have gathered there is also giving us a very great result. All put together, we are... Andhra is improving on their AUM and Q-on-Q basis. That doesn't mean Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka is lacking that... but comparatively, the Andhra's growth is looks pretty good, and we are very happy with the way in which we have taken up Andhra.
Sure, sure. Thanks. Second question is: How should we look at the branch addition going forward? You had guided earlier, you know, 50-70 branch addition every year, but this quarter itself, we have added, you know, roughly 70 branches. So what will be the momentum going forward, Ashok?
Yeah, momentum will be strong, is what we hope, because one of the key metric which induces us to open branches is the demand at the ground level. How do we measure that? When a branch is getting breakeven in 6 months, that means the branch is garnering close to INR 2.5 crores of AUM in first 6 months. So that gives us clear indication that the customers wanted to move from informal to formal side and come to Five-Star for their business and housing needs. So this is the first and foremost indication what we have to see at the ground level. Till now, it's very encouraging. The branches what we have opened is breaking even at 6-9 months, as we speak.
So I'm thinking, we will revise the guidance of branch opening now, moving from 70-80, what we said, this year, we will be at close to, surprisingly, at close to 120 branches for this full financial year. If all things goes well, we will add another 40 branches in next six months.
Thank you. Thank you. Lastly, 30+ DPD has come down to 8.6%, which is great. So looking at the current situation on ground, how should this number trend, let's say, in the remaining half of the year?
So Ajit, there has been a clear focus in making sure that, you know, the collection efficiency is stacking up extremely well, especially the unique collection efficiency that we track. We have given you the numbers. So the unique collection efficiency that Mr. Pati also mentioned in his opening remarks, we have crossed 98%. So that's clearly arresting the forward flows to a very, very significant extent. So you will see this number getting improved even further when we say that the current portfolio will go closer to 90%. Obviously, the 30+ will drop even further to where we expect in the next 2-3 quarters.
Sure, sure. Thank you. That's it from my side. Thanks a lot.
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jaip rakash Tosniwal from LIC MF. Please go ahead.
Thank you, sir. Sir, taking the question of Nishant on NCD side, is there a discussion with credit rating agencies to improve our rating? And if yes, then what are the KPIs we are looking to increase our ratings?
So, Jay, I think we have gotten the rating upgrade from A plus to AA minus over the last couple of quarters. Some of the rating agencies came up in the December to March quarter, and one rating agency upgraded us in the last quarter. So I don't think there is any immediate rating upgrade on the anvil. The next rating upgrade will probably depend upon the kind of portfolio growth that we get to, and maybe a little bit of comfort of the rating agency in terms of the seasoning of the portfolio. But having said all this, Jay, I think the NCD market not coming in is because, not just because of company-specific factors. There are a lot of macroeconomic factors which are at play.
Especially, you know, there are companies who are willing to offer significantly higher rates to onboard the NCDs, and especially companies, you know, the gold loan NBFCs, microfinance companies, and even vehicles. They are willing to take monies at shorter tenures, which is more attractive given the volatile interest rate environment. People are not willing to commit for a longer period of time. They don't know, you know, how the entire interest rate scenario is going to stack up. Which is where we are probably not able to raise as much of NCDs as we would have liked.
Because we want at least for a 3 or a 3+ year kind of a tenure, and the rates to stack up, you know, closer to what we are borrowing, either through the term loans or securitization, but the numbers are a little wacky. And given that, you know, our demand is being met by banks through term loans and securitization transactions, we have not aggressively gone out to, issue NCDs for subscription. But having said that, there is a very clear, you know, mandate to the treasury internally, that we will have to push the NCDs both through the private placement and also, you know, public issue of NCDs, which may come in, you know, during the later part of this year or early part of next year.
So I think you will start seeing traction coming in the next few quarters, and the NCD proportion also going up, significantly. Hopefully, the interest rate environment also will get a lot more benign. And then, you know, with that stability, I think we should be attractively looked at even by the NCD players, be it the mutual funds, AIFs or the wealth management funds, for them to invest monies into our papers.
Okay. Got it, sir. Thank you on that. Second question is, sir, on our AUM state-wise. So if we look into the last 2 quarters, you have added Rajasthan, and if we see earlier from September 2022 presentations, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, the growth is pretty slow out there in terms of they're not also adding branches. Earlier you added 2 branches in Rajasthan, so... So, anything specific you want to highlight, or it's just that you're building up the portfolio and being cautious on that, those, those, these states like that?
Yeah, Jay, this is Pati here. Jay, your point is very clear, and you picked up very well. That is our style. If you have been hearing our conference call since last 5 times, we are very clear here to say we are not going to rush for the growth in the newer geographies. We don't want to do that. So the growth is going to come from the southern market, where we have been lending and collecting for last 20 years. That gives us a great confident whom we are lending, how we are lending, and how we are collecting the EMIs back. Having said that, if you see 3 years, 5 years down the line, we don't want to be in a southern market alone. We want to be a pan-India market.
We are starting to lend in the newer markets slowly but steadily. So, whatever the growth guidance I have given, I have only given keeping the south market in mind, and I don't want to pressurize my rest of the country team to show the growth and lend into a wrong hands. So we want to be very slow, and we want to be very steady. If you see quarter-on-quarter or year-on-year, the states what you said, we'll have a steady growth. But please don't compare that with the southern market, because that's our growth engine, whereas the rest of the country will become a growth engine at the right time.
So now I'll hand it over to Ranga to talk little bit more on the rest of the country. So, thank you. Satya has rightly summarized it. As far as any new state is concerned, we've always been guiding that we will be extremely conservative in the first 24 months. So in the first 24 months, we'll hardly be opening maybe 4-6 branches only in the newer state. Because the 24 months conservative period is an extremely critical period for us, where we get to see a variety of things clearly on the ground. That includes our own people, that includes the first few loans that we have lent.
We've also told you in the past that, you know, for the first probably a year or so, every loan that we give out in a new state is approved either by MD or myself. So, you know, we are that much very, very clearly focused on what is the set of customers that we are building in a new state? Who are the teams that, you know, we're getting in the first, in a few branches? So these new states, we will pick it up slowly. If you look at Madhya Pradesh, which we opened about five years back, today Madhya Pradesh has more than 50 branches. So it's not gonna... growth is not going to come in a sudden manner in newer states. The growth is more than adequately compensated in the southern markets.
In the newer markets, this year we've identified Rajasthan, UP, and Gujarat, apart from expansion in Maharashtra. So these are the newer markets where you'll clearly see us putting up branches and putting up an investing teams, but the growth will definitely take time to pick up in the newer states.
Okay. Interesting, sir. Thank you. And just last question, sir, while you mentioned that competitive intensity is there from everywhere, you're not concerned much about it. So what are the key areas or pointers you are right now focusing on in terms of concerning points or anything you want to highlight?
We are focusing on what we have been focusing for the last 20 years. Nothing special that we are taking from a competitive intensity perspective. As I said, a competitive intensity should be there for a right product, so people are all willing to get into this segment, bigger NBFCs and smaller finance banks. But the experience says it's not so easy game to play. But the good part to play sub INR 1 lakh and more than INR 10-15 lakhs area, where people find it very comfortable. But nothing specific that we are worried about competitiveness and we are not growing aggressively, or we are not growing slowly, or we are tweaking our lending rates. Nothing doing from our side. We are doing our business as we've been doing.
But, one point what I wanted to emphasize here, we don't want to be a southern lender anymore. So we want to be a pan-India. Maybe this is maybe the competitiveness is maybe one of the reasons where we wanted to get into newer locations also. So we are very keen. As Ranga said, today we are at nine states. We'll be at 10, 11 states a year or two. So that also keeps us more safer that we have reached to the more geographies and more people, more Five-Star.
Okay. Great, sir. Thanks all the way.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vivek Ramakrishnan from DSP Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Sir, most of my questions have been answered, and good wishes to you all. Just as a follow-up, in terms of when you go into a new state, are you finding any major cultural differences when you compare to the southern states where you are comfortable in? That's question number one. Question number two is, in terms of attrition, when you do it at the lower, at the lower management level, which is what you said, where do they usually go? Do you have any idea whether they're going to another bank or an NBFC? That's question number two. And question number three, I don't know, we buy into your optimism, but if you could tell us what worries you on the ground, that would be useful also. Thank you.
From a newer state, I'll ask Ranga to answer. On question number two, I can't answer anything with whom we are going towards. I think, see, this business model is very unique. I don't think no one does this kind of business model, underwriting, collection setup, which I have not seen any NBFCs, because we are not copied from anyone. Everything is being built here on the base of the experience. So we don't specifically take people from a specific name or specific entity. Anyone wishes to grow their career can join Five-Star, because they can grow their careers because the company is good, the growth rates are good, the incentives are good, the business model competitiveness is lower comparing to other products.
So anyone can join Five-Star and earn a good name and career in Five-Star. Talking to the third point, which you said, nothing specific concerns me at this given point of time. It is good that people all talk about lending to small businesses. We are happy to register ourselves that we are a category creator. When no one saw this as an opportunity 20 years back, we saw this as an opportunity, and we never diverted into any other product. We just stick down with the same customers, same profiles for decades. So we are very happy that more people are looking into it. So I don't feel any concern. I feel a bit proud that we are able to take this category from informal to slowly to the formal side.
So Vivek, on the first question where you're asking about newer states, there will be definitely cultural differences. I think in India, you know, taste changes every 50 kilometers. So you will not find that even restaurants are very similar in 50 kilometers. So which means when we are entering a new state, there will be cultural differences. See, there are fundamentally the set of customers that we target, that does not differ. We still go behind essential services. We still go behind the self-employed category. But within that, you know, there will always be slight nuances in cash flows, in repayment track. I think more importantly, there is a lot of cultural differences between people, which is our own people.
So, you know, the every state has a unique culture, you know, in terms of loyalties, in terms of people sticking to a particular company, people building careers, admission levels are very different. So that's every state is different. I don't think, you know, we are saying one state is better than the other, but it's important for you to understand the nuances of that state to make sure that, you know, you are an attractive employee in that new state. Also, what differs significantly between state to state is land records are very different. The way you evaluate legal risks, the way you evaluate title deeds and, you know, go and get your mortgage registered is different. You know, it's not one country still.
So there are multiple, nuances, especially when it comes to dealing with ancestral properties and the way title deeds have been passed on through generations. It's a very different and nuanced market. So it takes time for you to learn, you know, these things. Which is why in the first 24 months, of entering a new state, we don't put pressure at all from a growth perspective for the newer state. It's more important for us to understand all the nuances, get the fundamentals, right, and then, you know, set up the state for, growth for a longer period of time. Vivek, sorry, I misunderstood your question. If your question is on the attrition, where does our people go?
If that is your question, yes, today, as this business model is getting more hotter and hotter, people finding, right talent from here, they choose Five-Star employees to pick and build it. But it's not so easy for that, to people just to poach our employees and start building the Five-Star model. But as you rightly said, this is not a model that can be built in overnight. It has to be built with the exercise. So I can't name where the people are moving in. Yes, there is a good amount of demand, from our employee side, which is getting poached by other NBFCs and small finance banks.
Sir, thank you very much, and wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pallavi Deshpande from Samiksha Capital. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Thank you for taking my question. Just wanted to know of these new branches that you'll be adding, what would be the spread of South, South versus non-South? And second was on the collections in cash, what would be the percentage of time?
So what we have been guiding to the market is close to 75-25, 75 to 25. That is, 75% of the branches will be in South, and 25% of the branches will be in rest of the country. So that's what we have been guiding. More or less, it's aligning with the same percentage what I said. From a cash collection versus non-cash, we are at close to 55% of our collections comes from cash, and 45% comes from non-cash in all types of digital media, including digital type, including the NACH.
It used to be around 65% more, that is slowly coming down to 55% now, and it may also further come down as we move forward. But we are not, we are not here to guide market that we'll be at so-and-so percentage of cash, because we are very comfortable in cash. As long as customer is comfortable, we are comfortable. As long as customer feels digital is comfortable, we are comfortable. So there's nothing hard and fast from our side. As we speak, we have 55% of our collections coming in cash.
It's around the guidance with regard to the branches, right? So, not wrong, a year back, we were looking at a, you know, more spreading out to the non-South region. Is there anything or is there a change in, strategy? Just, wanted to understand that, because, I mean, the opportunity may be still big in South. Is that the reason or no?
No, opportunity in... See, we have, we have not changed this pattern what I guided earlier. It was 75%-80% of branches in South and 25%-20% of the branches will be in non-South, to be more specific. One or two branches can miss this way or that way, but broadly, our thought process is very clear. We want to be a very strong player in North, going forward. Going forward means going forward for next few years, not few quarters. But having said that, South is a very big market. Just to give a comparison, HDFC has close to 500 branches in Tamil Nadu. I just saw it in public domain. It's a public data. So we have only 120 branches here.
If a bank has 500 branches, why can't we? So that's from one state. If you multiply that with four big states of south, that is Andhra, Telangana, and Karnataka, you have a very huge opportunity in south itself. But as I said, from a competitive intensity to, improve our presence, where we are not there, we are very clearly focused to focus on, non-south, which is the central and the northern, western part of our countries. So there is no change in that thought process. Still, we feel south is the dominant, place to operate, and, non-south is very key, from Five-Star perspective, so we are investing a lot in non-south too.
Great. So two years hence, do we see this mix changing? Because like you said, you know, you wait for two years for the branches to mature. You open only 3 or 4, you see, you learn about the state, and then you open more branches. So does this mix change two years hence in terms of 75, 25?
Definitely it will change. All depends upon the results that what we are getting from the non-south branches. Now, what we have put in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and expanding in Gujarat and Maharashtra. So we, we'll wait and see how the results are. But as I said, we will not push for the results. Let the results comes as it comes. When the results are good, when the green shoots are able to... we are able to see there, definitely we will not shy away, by revising the guidance of 75-25.
Right, sir. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Saptarshe Chatterjee from Groww MC. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir, and congratulations on the great numbers. My question is on more on the environment part that already I've touched upon it, but like we are seeing in commentaries from the consumption companies, that rural and semi-urban consumption demand has been slow. But on that perspective, we are seeing that growth or you as well as some of the valuations have been very strong. So can you please touch upon how you are seeing more of the, like, demands and cash flows of your customers? And there, are you do you have to, like, paddle more to, more towards distribution-driven growth and customer acquisition-driven growth for more customer acquisitions, or it, it is a strong demand in this space?
So Saptarshe, you know, there are two ways to tackle, you know, this question. One is, what are we seeing primarily from a consumption perspective on rural and semi-urban? And our growth is purely not dependent only on that aspect. Our growth is also dependent on how much of conversion that we are able to do for people who are moving from unorganized to organized sector. So as far as that is concerned, we are clearly seeing a trend in market after market. Wherever we are able to open new branches, we are seeing very, very good traction, and we're able to convert more and more people from, you know, unorganized money lending to more organized this one lending. So that is what is giving us a solid growth on the ground.
So, the strategy has not changed, for us. I think that is what is giving us the confidence from a growth guidance, perspective also. Of course, it is going to be a combination of distribution-led, growth. So that's where we have now increased the guidance in terms of number of branches that, you know, we are willing to open in a particular year. We have already opened 83 branches for this year, and Mr. Pati has guided, just now that we will be at least opening another 40-45 branches during this year itself. So it is going to be a combination of distribution-led strategy and the fact of people moving from unorganized to organized that is giving us a combination of good growth guidance.
Understood. Very helpful. Just one part on this is that, these increased revisions of branches, are we going much deeper into the geographies like from Tier 3, Tier 4 to Tier 5, Tier 6 for the branches?
So we have two branch-led strategies. One is what do we do in the Southern markets, and second is what do we do on the non-South markets. So as far as the Southern markets are concerned, the clear strategy of the company is penetrate deeper and deeper. We have already, you know, going up to Tier seven cities, and we still have huge opportunity for us, you know, even within Tier six, Tier seven cities in each of the Southern markets where we are already present. So as far as South is concerned, the strategy clearly is penetrate deeper and deeper, open more branches, you know, expand the franchise and attract customers more and more. But as far as the non-South, you know, locations are concerned, we are just putting up the first few branches probably in a particular state.
In these states, you know, we are still not going very, very deep. Most of our branches are still in probably Tier 2 to Tier 3 or Tier 4 cities. We will penetrate these larger cities first, you know, get a hang of, you know, the culture and the state, and slowly penetrate in, you know, these states as we move forward from here.
Understood, sir. Very helpful. And last question is on the yield part, like, wanted to know... You have already touched upon on the competition, but wanted to know what are the yield level that your competition is working on, and therefore the differential of your yield versus competition. And overall, let's say from two, three years down the line, do you see that growth and yields will be a challenge? And if the situations and demands worsen, which one will you prioritize more on, either on yields or on growth?
So Saptarshe, I think, you know, on the yields, if you look at from a competition perspective, we are, we are probably lower, if not, we are at least at par, if not lower than our competitors. So, you know, it is not very differential and the kind of demand that we are getting. If we are way off from the market, you know, this is not the demand that we'll be getting. So we are at par with the market. In fact, we are actually better than some of the bigger players also in terms of the yields. And like we have been guiding, see, our intent is not to keep the yields at where they are today. Our intent is to ensure that we maintain the spreads.
Now, we had, we had quite some benefit on the cost of funds coming through in the last about 4-6 quarters. Given the very volatile interest rate environment, we have not passed some of these benefits to our borrowers, which we will start gradually passing on, you know, once the interest rate environment becomes a lot more predictable. So the question is not compromising yields or compromising growth or whatever. I think the question is more towards ensuring that we are a responsible lender, lending at the right interest rates to our borrowers. See, the segment is not very price sensitive, so, you know, a percentage difference in yield for a 7-year loan will probably translate to about 70-80 rupees or EMI every month for a lakh of loan.
So it's not a very price-sensitive segment, but at the same time, we want to be a responsible lender and, you know, operate at around 12%-13% kind of a spread in a steady state scenario. So once the interest rate environment settles, I think we'll start seeing some benefits that we pass on to our borrowers. So, you know, in terms of not with a view to ensure that we get the growth that we want, but like I said, you know, being a responsible lender and ensuring that the borrowers get the optimal cost for their borrowings.
Great, sir. Wish you all the best. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aravind from Sundaram Alternates. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Thank you so, so much for the opportunity, and congratulations on the great set of numbers. Most of my questions are answered. I just have, like, one question on this gross Stage Three assets in terms of one-year lag. I can see that, like, from fourth quarter of 2023, it's been inching up. Is that like, is there any some cause of concern there in the, in those terms? And, I have one more question on other income. I'll come to it.
So I think the intent is not, you know, concerned. The point is also that when you are growing, the lag is slightly higher. And, you know, compared to what we have been seeing in FY 2021 or FY 2022, the growth was also much, much lower, so the build-up was much lesser. But having said that, you know, if you look at the last quarter numbers also, typically the one-year lag has always been around the 1.75%-2% level. And this is something that we have shown, you know, be it Q2 FY 2021, which was a COVID period, Q2 FY 2022, which was again a COVID period, and Q2 FY 2024.
So I think largely the numbers will be around the 2% level, which is, which is where, you know, this number has always been even in the past. In fact, it used to be more. If we extrapolated a few quarters earlier, when we were on a, you know, much faster growth phase, this number would have been higher. But a one-year lag will typically settle at around the, you know, 1.75%-2% level. This, and this also has the new RBI norm built into, right? It's 1.35%. So you should also take that into consideration. When you look at the Q2 FY 2021 or a Q2 FY 2022, that does not have the RBI norm getting built.
So technically, if you see 1.10% of Q2 FY 2022, is not an apple-to-apple comparison as against 1.95% of Q2 FY 2024. There is a-- the Q2 FY 2022 would have been a 90+ number of about 1-1.1%. Recently, what we are looking at the new IRAC norm of 1.35% for Q2 FY 2024. So you'll also have to factor in for the 20-30 basis points increase.
Thank you, sir. Thank you. I have just two more questions. So one is on other income. Like, other income doesn't look like it is connected to disbursements, even though the disbursements have grown quarter-on-quarter, like, other income hasn't, especially the fee income, core income hasn't grown. That is one thing. Operating expenses, I have one question on that. Like, so we are investing heavily in the IT, like, either for ERP or other technological, like, transformation stuff. Will that have an impact on, you know, OpEx to assets ratio or cost income ratio, like, in a significant way?
So firstly, I mean, on the your observation is right on the other income. The other incomes are predominantly, you know, investment income that we earn on our FDs, that we earn on our mutual funds, on the excess liquidity that we carry. So it does not really have a straight correlation to the disbursements that we do. It depends on, you know, the kind of borrowings that we do and the yields that are available out there. So last year, the other incomes were actually lower because the yields were much lower in the market. Yields are definitely, you know, getting better, and this is why, you know, we are seeing the other incomes getting higher.
See, in terms of the operating expenses, while we are definitely putting, you know, a lot more investment into the technology and all that, rather than looking at either an operational expenses in absolute quantum or whatever, I think the way that you'll also have to see is look at the cost to incomes. So this is where we guided our cost to incomes is expected to be around the 35%-37% range. And this is what has remained range bound for the last, you know, 4-6 quarters ever since we have been, you know, even prior to that, it was range bound. But the last 5 quarters when we've been public, I think it has remained range bound around the 36%-37% level.
We are very confident that despite the investments that we make in, make into technology, we are not doing anything that that's probably a sunk cost or that will give us benefits over a longer period of time. We are reaping the benefits. So you will see the cost to income, you know, stabilize around those levels in the quarters to come as well. So no adverse impact expected on the P&L because of, you know, additional technology spends or the slightly increased operating expenses.
Sure, sure. My question was so on, just on the core, the income, the 42 growth, I guess, but yeah.
Is there something that is, that's remaining unanswered for you?
Yeah, sir, like, I was asking specifically on the core fee income alone, like the INR 42 crore, I thought that was just related to disbursements. I understand the other income is, you know, a summation of the core fee income of, you know, based on disbursements and then, like, investment fee and other-
Today, the core fee income is also part of the interest income. If you look at the interest income, it comprises of interest on loans, it comprises of interest on fixed deposits, it comprises of processing fees and the other legal and operational expenses where the proportion remains unamortized. So everything is getting clubbed under the interest income, you know, in slide 47 that we have given. The other two numbers that you're talking about, which is net gain on fair value changes, is primarily on account of the mutual fund incomes that we do. And fee and other income will be, you know, primarily recovery of bad debt and the other incidental incomes that we get on account of certain storage costs and all that. The numbers are anyway, you know, fairly muted. It's about INR 10 crores per quarter.
Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Harshavardhan Agrawal from Bandhan AMC. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir, thanks for the opportunity. I just wanted to understand, you mentioned that-
Harshavardhan sir, can you speak loudly? Your voice is very low.
Sure. Hi, hi, sir. So just wanted to understand, we mentioned that we are opening around 40 new branches in the second half of the year, and the total new branches are around 20. As per our earlier guidance was around 78. So just wanted to know, your thought process as to how our OpEx would look like in the second half, because I believe in the open branches, there are some marketing expenses, et cetera, that would inch up. So does that mean that our OpEx in the second half would be more than the OpEx on the... From the first half?
See, I think the good part is if you break that 120, 80+ 80 branches have been opened in first six months itself. So all the cost has been incurred in the cost as we have shown in the September itself. So it's only the balance 40-45 branches which will be opening in the next six months. But the good part is the 80 branches which got opened in the first six months starts to react more positively for the next six months. So that will adequately take care of the income side. I think I'll ask Srikanth to explain it little more.
Yeah. See, on the operating expenses side, you know, what we always say is, irrespective of the branches that we put in, our break-even is one of the strongest. In about 6-9 months, you know, we are able to break even at a branch level, and, even for recovering for fixed costs at the head office level, this is like 9-12 months that we are able to do. So from that perspective, there is no adverse impact that we are expecting, you know, either OpEx as a percentage of AUM or like I updated in the earlier question, in terms of the cost to income.
So the broad guidance around the OpEx to AUM of about 6%, 6-6.5%, and the cost to income guidance of about 35%-37% continues to stand even in the growing scenario.
Okay. Sure. Sure. Thanks. Thank you, sir.
We will take one more final question.
Okay, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nitish from Investec. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity, sir. Sir, a couple of questions. First is, how is the vintage, let's say, I think, 12-month annual, Stage Three for us? And second is, how are the BTL trades we are seeing in our facility?
So Nitish, I think the point is, in terms of the stage three, one-year vintage, we will not see much at all. Like, what we say is, you know, we don't... What we track as quick mortality account, that is very, very far and few for us. So you will not see one-year vintage loans which are getting into stage three. Typically, the breakup of stage three will be more like three plus years loans. Because our belief is, if for whatever, you know, little bit of shocks or delays that the customer could do, he may probably, delay, you know, 1 in 18 installments or so. So that means typically for him to get into stage three will be at the end of the third year or so. So you will not really see too much of, one-year vintage in stage three.
The quick mortality is extremely low. Sorry, what was the second question I just asked you?
What are the balance transfer rates for us?
Today, our balance transfers, both in and out, are extremely minimal. Like we said, our business model is built to displace the money lender. So while we will be taking a lot of loans away from the unorganized markets, those loans typically classify as balance transfers in. And similarly, you know, our borrowers are happy with us. As long as we provide them what they want in terms of the loan quantum, good service, and, you know, the flexibility in terms of repayment, they're happy to stay with us. So I think you will not see either of these numbers crossing above 2%-3%, you know, both BT in and BT out.
2%-3%. Okay. Okay. Sure. Thank you. That's it from my end.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Lakshmipathy Deenadayalan for closing comments.
Yeah, thank you, participants. I know there is a few more questions lined up, but we have already crossed 1 hour, 45 minutes. And thank you for patiently being with us. We apologize for the pending questions. Definitely, we will take it up in the next earnings call, or you can reach out to the IR team, where the number is being given in the website, where we will pick up your questions. To conclude, as I said, we have been with you for last full 1 full year, with 5 quarters of numbers. And what we say and what we deliver now matches very clearly. And we are very confident that this category, what we have built in last 20 years, here to stay and here to grow.
Five-Star has an edge comparing with other lenders. The experience what we got in last 20 years will help us to scale through with the right quality and right profitability without missing these two. So thank you again for reaching out in this conference call and waiting for a long time, and we will meet in the next earning call. Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of ICICI Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.