Good day and welcome to the Q3 FY26 earnings conference call of HDFC Asset Management Company Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. From the management team, we have Mr. Navneet Munot, Mr. Naozad Sirwalla, and Mr. Simal Kanuga. I now hand this call over to Mr. Simal Kanuga, who will give us a brief, following which we will proceed with the Q&A session. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you very much. Good evening, everyone, and appreciate you all joining this call. We trust you have had an opportunity to review our presentation. I'll begin with an overview of the industry. As of 31st December 2025, the total AUM stood at ₹80.2 trillion. Equity and equity-oriented net new flows continued to see healthy momentum during this quarter, adding another ₹1188 billion. For the calendar year 2025, net inflows into this category added up to ₹4752 billion, compared to ₹5420 billion in 2024. In aggregate, over the past two calendar years, net new flows have exceeded ₹10 trillion, or approximately $115 billion. Systematic investment plans remained a key structural driver for the industry. Monthly SIP inflows reached ₹310 billion in December 2025, highest levels recorded to date.
The SIP asset base increased to ₹16.6 trillion, accounting for over 20% of industry AUM and a significantly higher proportion of equity and equity-oriented AUM. For calendar year 2025, total inflows from SIPs amounted to ₹3.3 trillion. Debt funds saw net outflows of ₹163 billion during the quarter, while liquid funds witnessed net inflows of ₹147 billion. An additional ₹112 billion came in arbitrage funds. Quarter-ended December witnessed ₹327 billion of net new flows in gold and silver ETFs. This category now contributes to the tune of 18% of industry ETF AUM. We now move to us. Overall, AAUM / QAAUM crossed ₹9 trillion, while equity-oriented AUM exceeded ₹6 trillion, resulting in an asset mix with equity at 65.5%. The number of unique investors for the industry increased by 6.4 million as compared to December 2024.
For us, this increase was 2.8 million, taking our total unique investors to 15.4 million, a penetration of 26%. Systematic transactions, which includes SIP and STP, reached ₹47.3 billion in December 2025, representing a YOY growth of 24%, or an absolute increase of ₹9.1 billion. Turning to our PMS business, AUM crossed ₹50 billion during the quarter. We also secured a couple of large mandates during the quarter. In alternative, we completed the first close of our structured credit fund, raising commitments of approximately ₹13 billion from institutions, family offices, and UHNI investors. Now on to financials. Total revenue for the quarter was ₹12,332 million. Operating revenue came in at ₹10,743 million, a growth of 15% YOY. Other income was ₹1,589 million. Total expenses were ₹2,186 million. As a result, operating profit for the quarter was ₹8,557 million, with an operating margin of 36% basis points.
Profit after tax stood at INR 7,701 million, translating into a YOY growth of 20%. So thank you very much for patient hearing. Navneet Munot and Naozad Sirwalla and I are here to take all questions. We can start building the question queue, please. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We'll take our first question from the line of Kushagra Goyal from CLSA. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you for taking my question, and congrats on a good set of numbers. Just had one question. So your operating profit margin, that sort of went up by one basis point or so. So 35 basis points went to 36. So just wanted to understand if there was some specific reason. I see your other expenses were materially lower, but just wanted to understand more on that.
Yeah, hi, Kushagra. Naozad here. So other expenses, you're right, it's up by one basis point on a quarter-over-quarter basis. That's largely because other expenses were lower for this quarter. Previous quarter, we had a larger expenditure on CSR. Also, certain marketing business promotion expenditure was slightly more in the previous quarter as compared to this quarter. So that's done.
Got it, sir. Also, just one more question. In terms of your growth momentum, how do you see it going forward if you could share some guidance or something on that? That's all. Thank you.
Growth in context of?
In general, for the industry, and how do you see HDFC placed, if you could?
How do you see overall industry growth and how are we placed?
Yeah, yeah. Share some thoughts on that aspect.
Sure, sure. So you would have seen the latest number on the SIP where they crossed INR 31,000 crores in the month of December, despite the fact that there has been quite a bit of volatility in the market and returns have been muted for the last 15, 18 months. But I think the momentum in the SIP book has been continuing. Industry has been adding more number of investors, more number of folios month after month, quarter after quarter. We have been participating very well. There is a slide on our new account addition, our new investor addition, and you can clearly see that we have been participating very well across all channels, across all geographies, across all asset classes and products. And I feel like very optimistic on the overall industry growth for the next several years.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Mohit Mangal from Centrum. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening. Thanks for the opportunity and congratulations on a strong set of numbers. My first question is on the PMS and AIF. So I think you have put a separate slide on that. So I've got two, three questions within that. So first is basically just wanted to know what is the NDPMS and PMSE, if you can just separate it. Second is that how big is this EPFO mandate? And thirdly, if you can tell me the growth overall in the PMS and AIF segment.
So on the PMS side, we have two segments, discretionary and non-discretionary. We have been adding accounts and growing on both sides. We have focused on both sides. On the EPFO and SPFO mandate, as you would appreciate, this segment operates with very, very tight economics. It's very competitive. But these mandates allow us to participate meaningfully in the ecosystem. We build execution capability. We announce our platform and gives us an opportunity to offer that product to many other clients in the same segment and related segment. So we see this as a strategic phase where capability building and scale take precedence over immediate margins from a quarter-to-quarter perspective.
Okay.
I think Simal mentioned earlier that we have crossed the INR 5,000 crore number in terms of AUM, apart from these two mandates where I think we are in the process of signing and executing the agreement, etc. So they will get executed in some time. But on the team side, we have hired senior resources across investments and services that will help us build this business. So PMS on the fixed income side, on equity side, both discretionary and non-discretionary, we would like to build that gradually.
Also question on the.
On overall alternatives, so most of you are aware about the first VCP Fund of Fund. You might have seen the recent announcement. We announced the first close of our Structured Credit Fund. And what humbles us is our partnership with IFC. We are very proud of our partnership with the IFC. They're coming as the anchor investors. The fund has declared its first close and has raised commitments of about INR 1,290 crores. And another feature of that INR 1,290 crores is that almost 70% has come in from investors who have contributed INR 25 crores or more. So underscoring strong participation from ultra-high-net-worth individuals and institutions in the fund. So we have got institutions, family offices, ultra-high-net-worth individuals participating in that. And IFC, as a partner and anchor investor, will contribute up to INR 220 crore to the fund.
Our partnership with IFC is rooted in a shared vision of expanding access to financing for mid-sized corporates, mid-sized enterprises that drive manufacturing output, that drive employment, that drive regional development. This is the first step in what we think will be a long and meaningful journey of working together, developing the private credit market in India. Overall, on the private market side, we have been engaging with a lot of other global institutions and domestic institutions. The team is working on creating a second fund on private equity and venture capital front. We did that first VC and PE fund of funds, and a large part of that is already committed. We would soon be coming with the second fund, and we'll be engaging with a few large global institutional clients for that as well.
Understood, sir. This is very helpful. So just one follow-up, sir. In terms of yields, so how much are discretionary PMS earns, and how much are non-discretionary PMS earns? If you can just throw some light on that.
We are not kind of given those yields out.
Okay. Understood. Thanks, and wish you all the best.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, we'd like to remind participants to ask a question. Please press star and one on your phone. Next question is from the line of Devesh Agarwal from IIFL Capital. Please go ahead.
Good evening, everyone, and thank you for the opportunity. So my first question would be on the asset class yield for the quarter. Could you just share those numbers?
Yeah, sure. So equity is around 56-57 basis points. This includes index funds. Debt is 27-28 basis points, and liquid would be 12-13 basis points. And the blended yield is around 45 basis points.
Blended, you said, is around 45, 46 basis points.
For the quarter, it's 45. For nine months, it's 46.
Right. So we see that overall, the yield number has been decently resilient over the last six quarters. I'm assuming if we remove the passive from the equity, the active would be closer to 58, something around that number. So despite the growth in the AUM, we are seeing this resilience. So is there anything to read into this?
You know as well, for us, scale and quality, profitability, all three are important and we don't sacrifice profitability just for market share or for scale. For us, that's very critical. We've been able to maintain it very well and overall operating margins also. I think being a tight leash on the cost side, we have been able to maintain operating margins. Of course, the deliberate pricing has an impact, but we've been trying to kind of impact through the.
Sorry, sir, your audio was not very clear. Can you just repeat the last part, please?
I'm saying of course, there is an impact of telescopic pricing. As market goes up, there would be impact on the fund level or overall asset class level margins. But the overall operating margins, we've been able to maintain well with tight leash on cost.
So that is exactly what I was wanting to understand, that the impact of telescopic pricing has not been visible. So what is that you are doing to offset that impact, or what is leading to that impact not being visible? And how do you see the trajectory going forward? Do you think this yield will remain steady at this level? So we are expecting that for a 10%-12% growth in AUM, there will be some decline in the yield.
No. So on the equity margins, I mean, I mentioned that some degree of compression is inevitable over time because you have a sliding scale structure of TER, which naturally leads to lower expense ratio as the AUM scales. So we're conscious of this dynamic and therefore make this reality into our pricing decision on the incremental and the new flows. So they constantly keep getting adjusted on the new flows, and now new flows are also becoming sizable. So over a couple of years, they also make an impact. But as I mentioned earlier, that despite the impact of telescopic pricing, we have been, I mean, so far, we have managed to keep our margins in the 33-36 basis point range. That reflects disciplined cost management as well as the operating leverage.
And you ask going forward, so we continue to work hard to maintain margins within this band. We recognize that this is easier said than done. But I've mentioned this earlier, that margins are only one way of looking at the business. We keep a close watch on that, but the real focus has to be on growing absolute profits in a sustainable way. And as long as profits continue to compound, I mean, we are comfortable with how the business is evolving.
Right. And sir, what is the impact of the two regulatory changes that are expected to go live from 1st of April? One is, what is the gross impact, and how do you see how this will be passed on?
Sure. So what has changed? Firstly, removal of five basis points of additional TER, which AMCs were allowed to charge in lieu of exit loads. So exit loads since 2012 were going to the books of the fund. Once the new regulations come in place, this is gone. The impact for the industry as a whole is definitely material. Active equity-oriented mutual fund industry is at INR 44 trillion. And five basis points on that comes to about INR 2,200 crores. To put numbers in context for FY25, total operating profit of the industry as a whole was around INR 16,000 crores. This is definitely material. Second change in the expense ratio construct. Rather than all statutory levies, which were inbuilt as part of the TER, now we have base TER plus statutory levies. Methodology or for that matter, accounting has changed.
The slabs have been accordingly readjusted, realigned. You would have seen the new slab table. The smaller schemes will benefit to an extent because of this change and will largely set up the loss due to five basis points reduction, which I spoke about earlier. Lastly, third thing is the rationalization of brokerage limits, what we pay on our transactions. So this is in reference to brokerage we pay to buy and sell securities. So brokerage for cash market transactions is now reduced to six basis points from the cap of 12 basis points earlier. But this six now excludes levies. So comparable number to 12 is now from eight and a half basis points on. So between the first and the second point, that is the five basis points and the GST, etc. Few of our larger schemes will see an impact. That is reduction in TER.
Smaller schemes less affected as TER reduction due to this five basis points going away is largely offset by redefined slabs. Larger schemes definitely are getting impacted. Actually, you'll be surprised, Devesh, that many of the smaller schemes will see increased TER. So we are evaluating the way forward with an objective to contain the financial impact, if any. All I can say is that you have a precedent on how we handled the same in 2019. We understand the sensitivity and will optimize to the finest in terms of impact on margins. The positive side of this change, if I can highlight, one is reduced TER and hence even better alpha. So clearly in favor of larger size funds. I've mentioned this several times earlier that the larger funds, because of the telescoping pricing, charge lower TER, and the alpha keeps getting baked in.
So the long-term positive impact of this, in my opinion, is not as well understood. So I mean, I can say classical bitter pill theory, long-term good for the alpha. So my investment team is smiling for sure. The positive aspect is that regulator and industry is always focused on enhancing transparency. So this is another step forward where one knows what are the fees and what are the statutory levies. To sum it all up, we'll work on managing financial impact and, on the other hand, further optimize alpha for our investors.
Right, sir. Yeah, absolutely, sir. And one final one, sir. What are the plans for the schemes that were managed by Roshi? I know currently those have been allocated within the team. So that is how it's going to be, or we are looking to hire? What exactly are the plans?
I mean, you have heard the change in the fund manager posting. I mean, you would also know Amar Kalkundrikar, who joined us a few months back. He was with us for over 15 years, left us for a few years, and has come back as senior fund manager. I think he's managing almost like INR 40,000 crores or so across equity funds. Maybe let me take this opportunity to talk about the overall investment team, Devesh, if you allow me. I'm sure many of you would agree because several of you also interact with all of my colleagues on the investment side that we are one of the most experienced investment teams in the industry. Not only experienced, but an enviable long-term track record across market cycles. All of them have seen multiple market cycles and have done well.
So on the equity side, we have head of equities and senior fund managers who manage the diversified funds. Least experienced among these would be like 20, 21 years of industry experience. And over and above, we have a team of analysts. Several of them are designated fund managers for their respective sectoral and thematic funds. Clearly, among the most experienced teams in the industry, we take deep pride in them. Some of them have started managing more diversified mandates. You are aware, like Anand Laddha has been managing our value fund. So I think a firm that has been around for 25 years, we have seen transitions in the past, and our view is that we have handled the same extremely well. We continue to expand our team and remain very confident.
All right, sir. Thank you so much and all the very best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Sukrit D. Patil from Eyesight Fintrade. Please go ahead.
Good evening to the team. I have two questions. My first question is to Mr. Munot. First of all, congratulations on the quarter. With HDFC AMC's strong brand and evolving investor presence, how do you see the next two, three years shaping up in terms of product innovation and investor engagement, especially as passive flow rises and digital platforms reshape the distribution? What should the stakeholders expect as the defining theme from your leadership in this space? Yes, sir. Thank you. That's my first question. I'll ask my second question after this.
The first question is on the overall product pipeline. If we look at our product portfolio, I think it's largely complete across the key categories. Whether you look at active equity, fixed income, money market, both on the active side, passive side, we are more or less complete. From time to time, we may look at select sectoral or thematic funds, but only where the investment team has strong conviction and sees a clear opportunity. These launches are likely to be few and far between. Otherwise, I think we have a best-in-class product portfolio with a long-term track record, and we continue to focus on all of them. If we're talking about the overall platform, then apart from the mutual fund, we continue to enhance our PMS, AIF, International GIFT City offering because these platforms allow us to address a wider range of client requirements.
So I think the overall approach is to deepen and strengthen what we already have and add selectively where it genuinely makes sense. Your second question was on.
Hello.
Sukrit?
Yeah. Yeah. So my second question is to Mr. Naozad. On the financial side, beyond margins, how are you thinking about capital efficiency in this space, balancing shareholders' returns or any tech investment or any cost structure discipline in place? Do you see the scope for a shift in deployment priorities as digital adoption accelerates? Yeah. Thank you.
From a deployment of capital towards digital, I think that's an ongoing process. We continue to invest in technology and digital platforms over the years. That's already baked in, whether it's in the form of certain CapEx or large equity OpEx. So that doesn't really change. From the balance sheet utilization of cash, if that's what your question is to, our dividend policy, sort of our dividend payout for the last two years has been almost close to the entire post-tax cash profits that we generate as a business. We have paid out. That's what the board has done for the last two financial years. We have also used capital to good effect to seed our alternative platforms. So we are a material investor in our alternative fund of funds that we launched a couple of years ago.
You would have probably read, and we discussed in the credit fund that we have just announced the first close. Again, the asset management company has meaningfully committed around 14% of the corpus is committed by the balance sheet of the asset management company. So we will use the balance sheet judiciously for seeding businesses. And the third option of strategic acquisitions or any kind of enhancement always is on the table. We do have a look at a lot of transactions that happen in the market. So whenever the time and the pricing and the business works out for us, we'll look at that as well.
I think that's good guidance from your part, and best of luck for next quarter. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Dipanjan Ghosh from Citi. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening, everyone. So just a few questions. One, you kind of articulated on your investment management bandwidth. But since the time this news regarding Roshi exiting the company and some of the funds kind of being in a transition phase has been floating around, let's just say over the last two, three months, in terms of flows into this particular fund, if you can give some granular understanding of how the trajectory has been. And also in terms of your communication to the distributor or interactions with the distributor, has there been any back and forth in terms of customer interactions or some negative sentiment floating around? My second question, you mentioned that on the MF circular, you will be kind of following a similar practice to that of 2019. And to the finest possibility, you will be trying to mitigate most of the impact.
But internally, have you kind of deliberated what can be, let's say, the worst-case scenario despite all the mitigants and whether you're confident of, let's say, mitigating the entirety like you did in 2019? And the third and last question is on the alternatives business. Obviously, you have launched a few funds over the last two or three quarters. If I were to take more of a long-term view, let's say, over the next three to five years, what sort of AUM or revenue mix do you really aspire from the segment? Yeah. So those were my three questions.
Sure. So first, on the one fund manager, if I can really appreciate. I mean, we have been around for 25 years, and we have seen transitions in the past. And I think we have handled it extremely well. You would give us the credit. I mean, we had a legendary CIO. I mean, we have always have been and will always remain in deep gratitude to him for what he has built and what he has done. But at the same time, the strategies that were managed by him, some of them are the ones which have seen the highest growth at our end in the last couple of years. And the overall team's experience, the pedigree, the overall quality of our research, the quality of our risk management, governance, long-term orientation, fundamental research, and all of that. I don't have to overemphasize on that.
So we do everything in our power to retain talent across the organization and not just in the investment team, but we have handled a few transitions here and there very well, and we remain very, very confident. I also mentioned about, I mean, one of the fund managers who was with us for 15 years left us and has come back. You will see, you will hear some of the, I mean, some of the funds getting managed by fund managers who are, I think, the current analysts who are managing sector and thematic funds, increasingly managing diversified equity funds because they have handled size for a couple of years.
And we continue to remain on the lookout for, at any point in time, we see a differentiated skill set who fits in nicely within the culture that we have, within the team that we have, and the setup we have. We would continue to build our investment team, and we'll share more on this as we go ahead. Yeah. Your second question was on the PR. How do we optimize it? Yeah. I mentioned earlier that, I mean, 2019 is a classic example. You can go back and see the playbook, how we handle the same. We understand the sensitivity around it, and we will optimize that in terms of impact on the margins. Yeah. Also, I think, Dipanjan, if you look at versus 2019, the magnitude this time is much smaller, right? That time, we had an impact of nearly 25-odd basis points.
What Navneet touched upon earlier, this time, there is a five basis points. Some of the smaller schemes are seeing realignment of expenses, and thereby, the kind of reduction out there is virtually very small or, in some cases, even zero. I think net-net this time, in terms of prudently managing, we think we'll be able to handle it well. On your third part on the alternatives, etc., it would be pertinent for me to state that the core business itself, where we have done reasonably well over time, that continues to grow, and we'll put in all the effort, time, money, everything for that to see continued growth across equity and debt, across active and passive. Beyond our mutual fund business, we do have our eyes well set on whether it's PMS, whether it's alternatives, whether it's international business.
We have taken meaningful steps over the last couple of years to build these businesses. I mean, we're building their very, very solid foundation, brick by brick. But you would appreciate, I mean, we have grown our business with a sharp focus on quality, scale, and profitability. So even beyond our mutual fund business, whatever we are doing, we intend to replicate this approach. So in PMS, alternative international, build meaningful, high-quality, and profitable platforms that strengthen the overall franchise over the long run.
Got it. Thanks, everyone, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please press star and one on your phone. We'll take our next question from the line of Divish Punjabi from Banyan Tree Advisors. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. I just had one question. So on the passive segment, we've been seeing good growth momentum. So can you talk about the underlying factors that are leading to this from the investor's point of view?
What was the question? Passive, what is leading to growth? What is leading to growth momentum from an underlying investor's perspective? I mean, a large part of that growth is from some of the institutional mandates. As you are aware, the EPFO and some of the other pension and provident funds have been investing into some of the ETFs. And of course, the exempted funds also invest in those funds. Then you have some of the insurance companies participating in a couple of products. And recently, we have seen a significant growth in gold and silver ETF and fund of funds. So some of these are the categories. We have been a pioneer on the index fund side. We were one of the first ones to launch those products, and they've grown meaningfully.
In fact, I mentioned this earlier that on the equity index fund, our market share on the passive side is higher than what we have on the active side, and then again, the value of the brand, franchise, distribution, all of that really matters. Of course, investment performance there is more about the tracking error than the alpha, so there is a preference among some of the customers and advisors for mirroring the market. We have a very comprehensive product portfolio and a full setup to make the most of it. I've always mentioned that our idea is that wherever investors and our partners want to participate in the market, be it on the active side or on the passive side, and we've spoken a bit about alternatives. I mean, we are fully ready.
For us, the core strength that we have as an organization is our investment management capability, our risk management capability, and our product management capability. And we continue to sharpen that. And whether an investor comes through any route, I think we have the best-in-class product offering for everyone.
For sure. And from a medium-term perspective, any insight on where we see this going? Currently, it's around 10% of the AUM mix. From maybe three- to five-year perspective, where do we see this going?
So, a couple of times, I don't know, on this call and maybe in some other forums, I've given parallels between the asset management industry growth in the US from the 1980s onwards and what we are seeing in India over the last couple of years. I think over the next several years, we are going to see significant growth in asset management. Formalization of the economy, digitalization of the economy, financialization of savings, financialization of assets, all of these are structural trends. Over a period of time, we'll see newer asset classes emerging, people investing in mutual funds, which has been time-tested, a beautiful product with a track record. Some of the fund houses like ours have a track record going back 30 years. Some of the investors may like to participate through passive within that, either the index fund or the ETFs.
We are seeing some of the other asset classes, whether it's REITs, InvITs, private markets. I talked about our plans on the alternative side to participate in the private markets. Almost all the segments are likely to grow. And you can see from 1980s onwards how several of these segments have grown in the U.S. And maybe, I think, in terms of the size of the economy, size of the market, structure of the market, several of those are very similar. And I think credit to our regulators who have been very pragmatic and have been deeply focused on investor education and investor protection. I think if we continue to do a good job on that, there is significant growth potential on all segments.
So people ask me active versus passive, how this will grow, and I say, I think I hope that in my lifetime, I don't have to answer that question. In my lifetime, it will remain active and passive rather than active versus passive.
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take our next question from the line of Madhukar Ladha from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening. Congratulations on a good set of numbers, and most of my questions have been answered. Just wanted to understand, did you disclose the asset class-wise yield this time around? As a data-keeping question, I wanted that, and it would be fair to assume that given these changes in the whole TER calculation system and the 15 basis points deduction and excluding the statutory levies, especially on that change, would we be able to sort of, would that be neutral to our P&L, especially on that specific change? Or my sense is that it should largely be neutral, but just I wanted to just confirm that.
So, Madhukar, repeating again that I explained in detail that larger schemes definitely are getting impacted. And I also mentioned that you'll be surprised that many of the smaller schemes will see increased TER. At our end, I've said that while the reduced TER means higher alpha, and particularly for the larger-sized funds, there is a long-term positive implication of that. But on the other side, whatever little impact of the reduction on account of exit load or the expense ratio construct is there, we will optimize it to ensure that we remain highly focused on our profitability.
So if we were to exclude the exit load construct and only look at this reduced TER, so there also, we would see a little bit of a negative impact. Is that what you're saying? And then, obviously, we would take compensating steps.
Madhukar, it would be both ways, right? In some of the schemes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There will be a positive impact. Some of the schemes, there will be negative impact. So as Navneet touched upon earlier, we'll optimize on both sides and make it sure that the net margins that we speak of remain within the acceptable band.
Understood. Understood. And the asset class-wise yield, sorry, I joined a little late. I may have missed that earlier. Yeah.
Yeah, Madhukar. We did give that earlier, but I repeated it for your benefit. So equity yields came at 56, 57 basis points. It includes index funds. Debt yields were between 27 and 28 basis points. And liquid between 12 and 13 basis points.
Got it. Thanks. And all the best.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Gaurav Jani from Prabhudas Lilladher . Please go ahead.
Thank you. And congratulations on a strong quarter. Two questions. One is, I don't know if you've laid this out. Is there a new ESOP issuance? And can you just elaborate as to then what does the ESOP cost look like?
Yeah. Yeah. So the question is on ESOP cost, right?
That's correct, sir.
I've given it out in the previous calls as well. The non-cash expense on account of ESOPs for the full year would be about INR 68 crores. For the first nine months, it's about INR 47 crores.
So that doesn't change, right? I mean, whatever estimates were given, that doesn't change. There's not a new ESOP issuance, right?
So the material ESOP issuance happened last year. But as and when additional resources and people join us, we'll have small incremental issuances. Today, also, we announced a small issuance. So that's an ongoing process that will continue. But that will not change these expense estimates we've given out previous quarter very materially.
Understood. Thanks. And secondly, Navneet sir, to you, you did mention the five basis points impact on the overall AMC profits. Just wanted to kind of have your opinion as to how are we thinking in terms of passing that on, and what is the dialogue with distributors?
Do you think how are we looking at doing it? No, I can't say. It will depend on the size of the scheme. And of course, wherever there was an additional TER, I mean, additional charge of that exit load, it is not the overall impact of five basis points on the AMC profitability. I gave that detail. I mean, I explained that in detail earlier. Yeah. So it's not. I think you said the impact for us is five basis points. That's not what Navneet has said.
No, no, no. I didn't understand. I do understand that. I was just trying to engage as to what's the dialogue with distributors as to how will the-can there be some pass-through or not?
Yeah. I mentioned it a couple of times that we will try to optimize and maintain our profitability.
Sure, sir. That is it for me.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please press star and one on your phone. We'll take our next question from the line of Abhijeet Sakhare from Kotak. Please go ahead.
Hey, hi. Good evening, everyone. I just have one slightly hypothetical question. Would you say that it's easier to cut commissions in better-performing funds generally rather than throughout most of the funds? I mean, just over the cycle, if one has to understand how easy it is to pass on some of these regulatory impacts or just the initiatives to protect profitability better?
I mean, we always try to make it win-win for everyone. I mean, whether for our investors, for our distributors, and for our profit, I mean, for us. And we have demonstrated that over a long period of time. You've watched us over the years, and we'll continue to do a good job, hopefully, on that.
Okay. Got it. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Madhukar Ladha from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for taking the follow-up. I wanted to get a sense of what has been the ramp-up from the HDFC Bank channel and any update on how this channel could contribute even more to AUM. Yeah.
Yeah. Madhukar, so firstly, as you all know, and I think HDFC Bank has been vocal about the fact that the bank has been and will continue to be an open architecture. Whether we like it or not, or whether this is the right thing to do or what other competitors are doing, this is a given. Of course, there is a positive rub-off with them being our parent and same brand. So not only from customer perspective, but even from relationship manager perspective, there is higher comfort in offering HDFC mutual fund product, which is visible in our market share in their AUM. So in equity AUM, our overall market share at the industry level is 13%. But if you look at what HDFC Bank has sold in that, it is somewhere in the late 20s. Also, this whole open architecture leads to material so-called event-based or seasonal challenges.
For example, in a particular quarter, when some of our peers have launched NFOs and our parent bank participates actively, it impacts our flow market share in that particular quarter. But the team has constantly been working on furthering our ties and offering best-in-class products. SIP, in particular, continues to be an important area of focus for us and even for this relationship. I mean HDFC Bank-HDFC-AMC relationship. So our share of SIP flows through the HDFC Bank channel is meaningfully higher than our overall book share with the bank. That reflects the emphasis on long-term investing and the quality of customer engagement coming through this channel. So this, in my opinion, will lead to increased AUM market share over time because the SIP build-up will only show over a period of time. But this aligns very well with our long-term objective.
So bank continues to be a very important distribution partner for us. It is a behemoth. And given our relationship, we work with the bank very closely at multiple levels and will continue to further our share with them. I mentioned in the last couple of quarters, we have built a dedicated team internally that works only on this channel. And there is a lot of, I would say, interaction between our digital team and the bank's digital team, the marketing team, so on and so forth, apart from the sales channel. So the whole objective of deepening engagement and expanding the relationship in a consistent and sustainable manner. I should also mention that our relationship with HDFC Securities on that, that Dhiraj and team are working closely with us on various initiatives.
So as a result, our share of flows through HDFC Securities is higher than our AUM share, reflecting the traction that we are gaining. But overall, yeah, there has been increased engagement, and the bank is a distribution powerhouse, with the brand familiarity and the relationship. Over a period of time, it'll reflect in the numbers, but we are happy with the SIP build-up.
Great. Great. Congratulations and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Mohit Mangal from Centrum. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the follow-up. So actually, I was looking at the last 10 to 11 quarters' market share, and we have been quite stable in equity as well as debt. But liquid, we have kind of lost the ground from 13%-13.5% to around 11%-12%. So just wanted to know your thoughts as to how we can increase the market share in that segment.
I think it gets impacted by few of the large corporate investors or institutions, kind of like any large movement of one client versus the other with one fund house versus the other. But I don't read much into that otherwise because sometimes I mean, share may look lower because some client where we are kept out in terms of total amount, as per their internal policy, have invested a further amount, and that amount hasn't come to us. And you can also see a reverse happening in another quarter where some of the large institutions have increased the allocation to us. But the overall institution team is on the ball and are focused on getting the maximum allocation.
I can also share that we have hired a senior person recently who's now been made responsible for Pan India Institutional Business apart from some of the other emerging channels that we are setting up.
Okay. Understood. Secondly, again, on the distribution channel, so we are seeing basically a direct share increasing within the equity AUM. So like you have been telling over the last few calls, that fintech has a major role to play. So I think that story continues.
Yeah. Yeah. So I think fintechs have been growing quite rapidly over the last couple of years and become a vital distribution channel for the mutual fund industry. They have played a very big role in expanding the reach and accessibility. In fact, fintech as a group have registered 25 million SIPs in the nine months of the current financial year gone by. And we have successfully built a strong presence on leading platforms, securing a notable share both in new flows as well as SIP registrations. We share very good relationships with all the larger ones and, of course, some of the emerging ones. That was the question, right? Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Understood. Thanks, and wish you all the best.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand this call over to Mr. Navneet Munot for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Thank you. So to wrap up, our total assets crossed INR 9 trillion, with equity assets exceeding INR 6 trillion. We now serve over 15 million unique investors with a penetration of 26%, reflecting the breadth of our franchise. Our objective at HDFC AMC remains clear: to be a one-stop partner for investors across mutual funds, PMS, AIFs, and international offerings. Thank you for your time today, and wish you a happy Makar Sankranti.
Thank you, sir. On behalf of HDFC Asset Management Company Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.