Ladies and gentlemen, good day, welcome to IndusInd Bank Limited Q1 FY 24 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, 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. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sumant Kathpalia, Managing Director and CEO, IndusInd Bank. Thank you, over to you, sir.
Good evening, and thank you for joining this call. Let me start with some macro commentary and then go into the bank-specific detail. Economic activity gained momentum during the quarter and is visible from various high-frequency indicators, such as PMI. Monetary policy pause was extended with CPI inflation easing below 5% level, and liquidity conditions in the banking sector improved over the quarter. Bank credit growth stabilized around 15%, with personal loans category contributing as the main growth area. Deposit growth picked up, helping to bridge the gap with higher credit growth. On the demand side, private consumption and public investments help support activity. The strong ongoing pickup in the services sector is supporting urban demand, recovery in rural demand, and improving conditions for capital formation would help growth remain reasonably strong.
Relatively bright growth prospects, easing inflation, and overall macroeconomic stability has revised foreign investor interest in India, with net inflows in debt and equity surpassing INR 10 billion in the last quarter. Coming to quarter-specific developments, our focus areas for the quarter were loan growth momentum. We maintained a healthy growth of 22% year-on-year and 4% quarter-on-quarter, driven equally by consumer and corporate business. Our vehicle business maintained a 21% growth. Vehicle-originated loan growth improved to 14% year-on-year. Other retail growth remains strong at 27%. We are thus seeing loan growth momentum across segments. Maintaining deposit traction. Our retail deposit growth, as per LCR, accelerated to 21% year-on-year versus 19% in the previous quarter. Share of retail deposits improved to 43.4% versus 42.6% in the previous quarter.
Our savings account too grew by 6% quarter-on-quarter, reversing the attrition trend for the last few quarters. Overall, we achieved total growth of 15% year-on-year and 3% quarter-on-quarter, driven by granular retail growth. Continued investments in new initiatives. We continue to invest in our franchise, both in physical as well as digital distribution, scaling our presence in new products and customer segments. Our affluent deposits grew to INR 44,400 crores, up 22% year-on-year. NRI deposits grew to INR 37,200 crores, up 39% year-on-year. Loan book under merchant acquiring business via Bharat Financial grew 89% year-on-year to INR 4,229 crores. Our home loans pilot has reached INR 665 crores. We have soft launched our digital platform, INDIE, and open for public access.
We have hired around 12,600 employees in our distribution over the last four quarters. This is all reflected in the OpEx growth of 24% year-on-year and 6% quarter-on-quarter. Improving asset quality. Our gross slippages reduced from INR 1,603 crores to INR 1,376 crore quarter-on-quarter. That is from 0.59% to 0.4% of loans, quarter-on-quarter. Our restructured book too reduced by INR 475 crores from 0.84% to 0.66% quarter-on-quarter. Our net NPA is at 0.58%, with provision coverage ratio stable at 71%. Our contingent provisions are at INR 1,700 crores, with total loan-related provisions at 121% of gross NPAs. Our credit cost has reduced to 33 basis points from 36 basis points quarter-on-quarter. Sustaining profitability of the franchise.
Our net interest margins improved by one basis point quarter-on-quarter and eight basis points year-on-year to 4.29% with effective balance sheet management. Client fee income grew by 19% year-on-year, driven by strong continued retail momentum. Our PPOP margin to loans for the quarter was at 5.5% versus 5.6% quarter-on-quarter. Steady improvement in return ratios. Our profit after tax grew by 4% quarter-on-quarter and 30% year-on-year to INR 2,124 crores. Our return on assets was at 1.90%, and return on equity was at 15.24% for Q1. Our capital adequacy ratio remains healthy, with CET1 of 16.44% and overall CRAR at 18.40%. Coming to individual business. Vehicle finance.
The vehicle finance business maintained healthy loan growth of 21% year-on-year and disbursement growth of 18% year-on-year. The segments showing strong disbursements were commercial vehicles, utility vehicles, cars. Disbursement were muted in tractors and two-wheeler segments. The bank has maintained or improved its market share across all vehicle categories. We have also implemented Salesforce loan originating system across all our locations for cars and two-wheelers. This should further improve our efficiency and bring down turnaround time for these segments. Historically, 1st quarter has been a seasonally weak quarter, whereas Q4 is a seasonally stronger quarter. The second half of the year contributes larger share of disbursements as well as recovery, we expect that trend to continue this year, too.
The gross slippage in vehicle improved to 0.77% versus 1.11% year-on-year, whereas higher than 0.61% quarter-on-quarter, due to seasonally weak quarter versus Q4. The slippages are expected to come down as the year progresses. The restructured book in vehicle finance also reduced from INR 1,475 crores to INR 1,182 crores quarter-on-quarter. The collection efficiency of these customers remained comfortable, with bulk of the reduction happening through upgrades and recovery. The vehicle portfolio has now shown strong disbursements for two years. This also reflects into increased share of new loans and repayment drag coming down steadily. The loan growth thus should now move broadly in line or ahead of the disbursement growth.
The asset quality should improve from there, with seasonality benefits coming in the rest of the year. Bharat Financial Inclusion Limited. The year-on-year growth in microfinance and merchant acquiring book accelerated to 14% versus 11% in the previous quarter. The share of microfinance book increased from 7% to 12% year-on-year. The Bharat Financial Inclusion consists of three key segments of microfinance, BharatSuperShop, and Bharat MoneyStore models. I will update on all the three segments. Microfinance. We had disbursements of INR 8,406 crores during this quarter, registering a growth of 12% YOY. Our new-to-bank disbursements are up 19% year-on-year in terms of number of borrowers. Historically, Quarter 1 is a seasonally weaker versus Quarter 4 and reflected in quarter-on-quarter reduction in disbursements.
MFI book at the end of Q1 was INR 31,981 crores, up 9% year-on-year. Active borrower base of about 78 lakh microfinance borrowers, up by 5%. New customers added during the Q1 were around 504,000 customers. MFI standard book net collection efficiency for Q1 was at 99.2%. BharatSuperShop, that is a merchant acquiring business. With strong demand and large pockets of growth available, we continue to expand our merchant acquiring business under the banner of BharatSuperShop. Portfolios sourced through Bharat Financial under this business has grown to INR 4,229 crores, up 89% year-on-year and 5% quarter-on-quarter, with 660,000 active borrowers. The total disbursement during this quarter was INR 1,522 crores.
The book continues to report healthy growth along with strong asset quality. Our standard book net collection efficiencies on this book during Q1, financial year 2024, was 99.2%. Bharat MoneyStore, the kirana stock model. We have around 115,000 active Bharat MoneyStores providing banking at the doorstep in remote areas. Liability book sourced from customers and serviced through Bharat Financial increased by 44% year-on-year to reach INR 2,108 crore and 1.545 crore accounts. Our focus remains to be the banker of choice for our customer segment in Bharat. Overall, on the asset quality side, MFI gross slippages during the quarter reduced to INR 369 crore, as compared to INR 599 crore in Q4, financial year 2023.
We're adding emphasis on recovery, with recovery of INR 52 crores from NPAs and INR 32 crores from ARC return of accounts during the quarter. The vehicle standard 30 DPD book remains stable at 1.1% of loans. We expect disbursements from microfinance to pick up as we progress the year. We continue to work on the diversification initiatives and becoming a micro banker from a micro financer. The asset quality has improved this quarter, and we expect the trends to continue in the rest of the year as well. Corporate bank. Our corporate loan book maintained healthy growth trajectory of 4% quarter-on-quarter growth. The overall growth continues to be led by growth in small corporates, with small corporates growing by 10% quarter-on-quarter.
Within small corporates, our focus strategy on corporates with less than INR 500 crore turnover segment has been bearing results, growing at 14% quarter-on-quarter. Growth across large and mid corporates was 3% quarter-on-quarter and 19% year-on-year, in line with our expectations. Majority of the corporate loan book is floating rate in nature, and we were able to pass on increased rates for the customer due to reset. Our yield in the corporate book thus improved by 10 basis points quarter-on-quarter. Yield increase year-on will be muted, with benchmark yields stabilizing or coming down. The proportion of A and above-rated customers has improved from 73% to 76% year-on-year, and weighted average rating improving to 2.61 from 2.63 year-on-year. The gross slippages in corporate book were only INR 43 crore for the quarter.
Our corporate restructured book, too, remains low at INR 327 crores. Over the last couple of years, we've consciously changed our guidelines, policies, and coverage model. We have put in place tighter policy norms for complex transactions, rationalized borrower limits linked to internal rating and much below the regulatory threshold, conservative capping of sensitive sectors, strengthened post-disbursement checks, and developed early warning systems, et cetera. Similar coverage models were reoriented with a focus to scale up small businesses and increase wallet share from identified large strategic client groups, thereby improving our risk density and RORWA. Overall, we continue to progress on the granularization of the corporate franchise through small businesses and diversification. Our small business, as a percentage, is planned to increase from the current 10% to 20% of the corporate book.
Within our large and mid-corporate verticals, our focus is diversification across regions and more acquisitions, especially in the mid-corporate segment. Global diamond and jewelry business. The demand for diamond remained muted, with sluggish growth in key consumer markets of US and China. Our diamond book has thus grew, was up 10% year-on-year, but down 7% quarter-on-quarter, with working capital utilization coming down. The slowdown, however, does not have any impact on asset quality, with number of clients getting into SMA-1 and SMA-2 categories. Overall, we remain comfortable on the diamond portfolio asset quality, while the growth will be dependent on the recovery in the global economy. Other retail assets. We saw another quarter of growth momentum in other retail loan book, growing by 7% quarter-on-quarter and 27% year-on-year. The growth was broad-based across business units.
The secured assets, including LAP, business banking, grew 5% quarter-on-quarter, while unsecured assets of trade card and personal loans grew by 10% quarter-on-quarter. The secured assets growth has bounced back as with pickup in the new to bank acquisition, the momentum gain gathered in Q4. We are scaling up our home loan pilot with the book size growing to INR 665 crore. We will go full steam with the marketing plan during the course of the year as the pilot stabilizes. Our digital lending platform for small business segment was launched for term loan and non-fund products for easy credit last quarter. With this, we have a full inclusive asset suite on digital platform for less than INR 2 crore segment.
The stack is fully enabled to process sanctions with a single day backed by Bureau, banking, and GST-backed data for the small business customers. On unsecured side, the credit growth was driven by new card acquisitions and highest ever quarterly spend. Credit card spends were at INR 20,189 crores, growing by 20% year-on-year. Overall, the focus on ramp sourcing and digitization of small ticket acquisition, we expect growth momentum in retail business to continue in the current financial year. We do, however, remain watchful of inflationary economic conditions, particularly on the unsecured consumption spends. Now, coming to liability. Our deposits grew 15% year-on-year and 3% quarter-on-quarter. The growth was driven by granular acquisition, with retail deposits as per LCR growing by 21%.
The share of retail deposits improved to 43.4% as we progress towards our ambition of 45%-50% by PC-6. Our savings account deposits too showed a reverse growth of 6% quarter-on-quarter, reversing the attrition seen in the last 3 quarters. Current accounts moderated as some of the quarter-end flows of the previous quarter ran off. Overall, CASA was stable quarter-on-quarter at 40%. Our affluent segment deposits grew 22% year-on-year to INR 44,400 crores during the quarter. Affluent AUM was also up to INR 68,750 crores, showing a growth of 17% year-on-year. Our NR deposits grew 39% year-on-year and 9% quarter-on-quarter to INR 37,200 crores. We continue to gain market share in the non-resident segment, with market share above 3% as of latest available data.
We have 30 branches launched ready currently and around 27 leases finalized. We will aim to be adding 250 to 300 branches during the course of the year. We reduced borrowings during the quarter by 7% quarter-on-quarter. The borrowings form only 10% of the liabilities, and almost all are long-term in nature. We continue to carry healthy liquidity position, with LCR at 132% and average surplus liquidity at INR 44,000 crores for the quarter. Overall, we remain focused and comfortable towards achieving our retailization objective. The liquidity in the system has improved during the year and rates in certain buckets are coming down. The continued investment in physical and digital distribution, along with maturity of branches, will aid our retailization drive going forward. Digital traction.
Bank continued to register strong growth in its mostly active user base on both IndusMobile and Indus Merchant Solutions, 30% year-on-year and 20% quarter-on-quarter, respectively. Mobile transaction volume for the bank grew 82% year-on-year. Retail and MSME business across products, most of the business is now digital. In some products like savings, wealth, credit card, it's almost completely digital, while in MSME it is still about 65%-70% digital. Share of digital on its assisted direct-to-client acquisition continues to grow. Card, it is 25%, in liabilities it is 40%, in personal loan it is 15% in terms of loans to new to bank, loans pre-approved customers with real-time decisions. Bank continued to focus on optimizing digital platform, marketing, and across products we sell digitally. Customer acquisition costs have come down substantially year-on-year.
In loans, it has come down by 60%-70%. During the quarter, Bank also launched its CBDC app and joined other pilot banks in RBI's initiative on digital currency. Last but not the least, the Bank has soft launched INDIE, its digital platinum platform, open for public access. INDIE has seen an installed user base of 50,000 plus and a customer base of 10,000 on the app. We'll do a full-scale launch during the quarter. Coming on ESG. We're committed to integrate ESG principles deeply into our business, product, risk, and management and operations. We are proud to announce that all our pioneer branches have achieved LEED status certification, showcasing our commitment to environmentally friendly operations. Additionally, we have mandated a leading Big Four consultant to formulate a strategy to make IDBI carbon neutral by 2032.
We are honored to have been recognized as the best bank in India for ESG by Asiamoney for financial year 2023. This prestigious award, received for the second consecutive year, is a testament to our dedication to environment and social responsibility. We extend a heartfelt gratitude to all our partners for this invaluable support in helping us achieve this remarkable milestone. Coming to the financial performance for the quarter. Net interest income grew by 18% year-on-year and 4% quarter-on-quarter, in line with the loan growth. Net interest margin improved to 4.29% versus 4.21% year-on-year and 4.28% quarter-on-quarter. The net interest margin was supported by repricing on the asset side as well as active management of the liability.
The cost of fund, as well as yield on assets, increased by around 40 basis points each during the quarter, resulting in the stable margin quarter-on-quarter. Other income grew by 14% year-on-year and 3% quarter-on-quarter. Core client fees, excluding trading income, grew by 19% year-on-year and 2% quarter-on-quarter. We had positive non-core income of INR 91 crores during this quarter. Share of retail fee improved to 73% from 70% year-on-year. Our total revenue for the quarter was INR 7,077 crores with 17% year-on-year growth. Operating expenses grew by 6% quarter-on-quarter, with cost-to-income ratio of 45.9%. The operating floors were driven by employee addition, investment in distribution, technology spent for the new platform launches, and preparing for annual appraisal action.
The operating profit for the quarter was at INR 3,831 crores, growing 12% year-on-year and 2% quarter-on-quarter. The PPOP margins to loans continues to be healthy at 5.5%. Core PPOP growth was at a 14% year-on-year and 1% quarter-on-quarter. On the asset quality and provisioning front, our provisioning for the quarter have reduced to INR 991 crores and are below INR 1,000 crore mark for the first time in the last 3 years. The annualized provisions to loans are thus down to 132 basis points now, versus 142 basis points for previous quarter and INR 155 crores for the previous year. As expected, we saw a reduction in gross slippages from microfinance, corporate, and other retail segments. The vehicle finance unit saw increases in slippages, given Q1 is seasonally weak than Q4.
On the restructured book, the retail slippages were down quarter-on-quarter, and there were no corporate slippages. The restructured book was reduced by INR 475 crore during the quarter, from 0.84% to 0.65% quarter-on-quarter, with bulk of the reduction due to upgrades and recovery. The net security receipts have reduced to, from 51 basis points to 44 basis points. The bank made additional provision of INR 129 crore towards the SR book during the quarter. Overall, GNPA for the banks were at 1.94%, and the net NPA was stable at 0.58%. We have maintained provision coverage ratio of 71%. Our contingent pro-provision, excluding specific provisions, were at INR 1,700 crore. Total slippages from the restructured book in the last five quarters were at INR 2,324 crore.
We have utilized contingent provisions of INR 1,628 crore during the same period. With this, we expect that the utilization of contingent buffers to be behind us and will aim towards adding into the buffers with support from operating environment. Total loans related provisions are at 2.4% of loans and 121% of GNPA. Our SMA-1 and SMA-2 were at 4 basis points and 19 basis points respectively. Profit after tax for the quarter were at INR 2,124 crore, growing 4% quarter-on-quarter and 13% year-on-year. Our CRAR, including profits, remain healthy at 18.4%. Return on assets was at 1.9% and return on equity at 15.24%. Overall, the first quarter of our planning cycle fixed strategy saw progression towards the stated objectives.
Loan growth was at 22% against our expected range of 18%-23%. Seasonally, the first quarter is softer quarter for vehicle and microfinance business. Seasonality should support the loan momentum during the rest of the year. Retailization of liabilities continues with 21% growth in retail deposits as per LCR, and healthy 6% quarter-on-quarter growth in our deposits. The share of retail deposits as per LCR has improved to 43.4%, and we aim moving towards 45%-50% in 2026. Asset quality improved in all businesses except for vehicle due to seasonality. The annualized credit costs are down to 132 basis points, entering towards our expected range of 110-130 basis points for the year.
All key profitability metrics across NIM, PPOP margin, ROA, and ROE have maintained healthy position in line with our communicated aspirations. We continue to scale up new initiatives like affluent, NRIs, tractors, merchant acquiring, home loans, and digital launches. These provide further growth avenues for the bank. We have thus begun well on the '26 strategy execution, and are committed to the ambition laid down, outlined in our strategic plan. With this, we can open for question and answer.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Participants, you may press star and 1 to ask the question. The first question is from the line of Nitin Agarwal from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, Sumant. Congrats on a good quarter. A few questions from my side. Firstly, we have seen a sharp rise in cost of deposits over the past one year. How are you looking at the deposit repricing over the next few quarters? When will this likely peak out? If you can also give some color on what has driven this strong mobilization, and how sustainable this growth rate is.
Our cost of deposit, I think, you should see the peak out in Q2, and I think, what has happened in Q1 is a lot of maturities which have come in and which are contracted at a low, lower price, got repriced in the retail side of the book as well as on the wholesale banking side of the book. That's number one. Of course, the renewal process which happened at a higher rate because our rates on the term deposits were higher. So that's the reason, and I think, you should start seeing a stabilization or a bit rise in the Q2, and then a stable phase and a decrease in cost of deposit as we get into Q4.
We've always said that by Q4, we should see a cost of deposit decline by 10-15 basis points, and you should see that. Having said that, I think our savings accounts, I think the growth, you know, we always said that the savings account growth was affected because the bulkiness on our portfolio. There was one such account where the bulkiness on the portfolio was there. I think, once that bulkiness in the portfolio, the acquisition ramp up, as well as, you know, has helped us to grow the savings account. I think, what we have seen in the last three quarters is the bulkiness of the portfolio removing, and I think the growth has come back.
Even if you look at the LCR growth, you would see that the LCR growth is about INR 7,800 crores-INR 8,000 crores as a consequence of that.
Right. If I look at the slide 20, and we have, 10 odd basis point increase in the wholesale lending yield and another 8 basis point in the consumer banking, but our total yields has gone up by 22 basis points. What am I missing here?
That is because of the mix change is more in favor of retail. Q4, if you remember, there was microfinance strong disbursements. During the course of this quarter, averages were higher for retail compared to last quarter.
Okay, that explains it. Okay, sure. One more question on the cost-income ratio. This ratio has been increasing over the past few years. We have now it is 45%, 46% now. How should we look at this as you go on to add more branches and invest in the business? Where are [Crosstalk] you-
I said that this year we will end the year at 45% cost to income ratio, and that is what we said, going up to 41%-43% in year 2, and stabilizing at about 40%-41% in year 3. That's what we will be. I think, don't look at this. I think, while we may go at the end of the year, you will see us stabilizing at 45%, and we'll come back to 41%-43% by year 2. We have some initiatives and of course, the salary, so this quarter has the salary appraisal part also, so that will all stabilize.
Right. One clarification, like, have you got any RBI circular in respect to overdue UCBs loans in the MSME segment? Any impact that you have seen from that?
We don't have a significant book there which impacts us.
Okay. did you see some downgrades because of that circular this quarter?
No, we don't have any significant impact because of that. The numbers reflect the all the circulars that are out there.
Right. Lastly, if I can squeeze in one more question. Any thoughts on the promoter shareholding plans? Because this has been in the news for some time, where is the application really with the RBI? What stage it is, and any color as to what are the promoter plans in terms of increasing stake, if you can give some color on this?
The promoter has issued a press release, and we can only talk what is in the public domain, that they want to increase the stake. As and when, the bank does not need the capital as of now. We also know that the process is still continuing, and there is no approval from RBI from on the Form A, as of now. We have to wait for the formal communication of the Form A, which is the due diligence form from RBI. That's a process which takes three months. Almost two months are over, and I think they should be, we have to wait for that announcement from the RBI or from the promoter.
Right. Sure. Thanks, Sumant. Thanks so much, and wish you all the best.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Adarsh from CLSA. Please go ahead.
Hi, Suman, congrats on good numbers. Couple of questions. One on the cost of funds, just wanted to understand.
Adarsh, sorry to interrupt you. You're sounding a little distant. May I request you to speak a little louder?
Yeah. Hopefully this is better. On the cost of funds, Suman, just want to understand from a deposit maturity and a renewal perspective, where are we in that journey? Like, is it 50%? Broadly, any sense that would help, because you said maybe one more quarter of cost of fund increase. Where are we in that journey?
I think, I think, you would see that the yield curve between 90 to 1 year is almost flat, and it has come down. It's from 7... What happened in March was Magnus, and we had to raise some borrowings also as a consequence of the effect which was happening in the U.S. market and the liquidity market. We raised cost of borrowings at a little bit higher cost, and that impact you are seeing happening.
I think, with the deposits now, the bulk deposit rate stabilizing and our retail journey growing, I think over a period of time, I think for maybe this quarter, I think you should start seeing the stability in the cost of deposit as we go forward into the years as we, in quarter 3 and quarter 4. You should start seeing that. I've said that you should start seeing a 10 to 15 basis point decline in our cost of deposits as we go forward.
If I use that data with the fact that our loan mix is improving, it then looks like our margin guidance is kind of conservative, right? We are already at the higher end. If it's a quarter more of cost of fund increase with the improving loan mix, is there any upside risk to the margins or what are we missing here?
No, I just have always said our margins will be between 4.2%-4.3%. Don't forget we have a book which is 45% corporate, 44%-45% corporate book. On this book, you would see a margin suppression as because the MCLR or the EBLR will continue to change as we go forward. If they don't, I think you will start seeing the margin expansion, otherwise you will see what we've said, 4.2%-4.3%. We are assuming that there will be a decline in the corporate yields as we move forward into Q3 and Q4. Yes, those will more or less be substituted by the gains which we will get in the cost of deposits.
In our opinion, I think our margins, when if you look at 6 quarters in the presentation in the investor, we've been very stable and will continue to be stable in our margins.
Got it. My second question is on capital consumption. Your risk weight, you know, assets have come down in the quarter with a decent balance sheet growth, so if you can explain that. Your credit risk weight to loans are probably lowest I've seen for many years.
Yeah. A couple of key reasons for that. One is the some of the unrated portfolio got rated during the quarter, so that relieved some of the risk weights. We also had some of the non-utilized limits getting reduced quarter- on- quarter, both for funded as well as non-funded, which caused some of the relief in the RWA.
We're done with that process?
Unutilized limits, they vary depending on the, you know, customer preferences, but rating, unrated to rated, I think that's behind us for a large extent.
Perfect. congrats again, and thanks. That's it.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Kunal Shah from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, Sumant. Congratulations for those set of numbers. Firstly, on the slippages and the credit costs, credit cost is still at the upper end of the guidance. When we look at it, in fact, we have utilized INR 200 crores of contingency buffer as well. You highlighted earlier that maybe we are largely done with the utilization, and we will try to create further buffer as well. How confident we would be with respect to the credit cost trajectory of 1.1-1.3 odd percent? Even on the slippages side, it seems to be relatively high. Maybe you mentioned because of seasonality in 1Q.
Maybe if you can just highlight in terms of how much was vehicle and MFI within the same?
First of all, I think I'm very comfortable with the 110 to 130 basis point, including the contingent reserve of INR 400 crore-INR 500 crore. We will do that this year. We will add to the contingent reserve. We've said that. We will make sure that we do that. That's number one. We are very comfortable with our, with our numbers, and I think, with the recovery, focus which we put on the MFI, we believe that we will be able to manage that. Having said that, the second question on yours was on the?
Slippages from vehicle increased from INR 383 crores to INR 581 crores. We will upload, as usual, the segment-wise slippages in our opening remarks when we upload on the website, so you will get the segment-wise slippages.
Okay. MFI would be, [Crosstalk] sorry, if you can just highlight that number as well.
MFI has come down from INR 599 crores to INR 369 crores.
Okay. INR 370 crores of MFI and INR 560 crores of vehicle.
Correct.
Okay. Yeah. Secondly, in terms of, say, the overall OpEx, not much of addition to the branches which we are expecting. But still, is that maybe whatever has been the rise primarily because of the annual incentives bunched up in 1, 2? Maybe we see now that employee costs regularly would be at the current level.
The employee costs will be elevated. Some of them is, some of it is fixed, but I also believe that we've expanded our distribution, specifically in the microfinance segment, where we've added if you look at the cost, INR 65 crore-INR 70 crore of that cost has come from the microfinance segment because we are expanding our distribution in the microfinance to get the business done in a bigger way and get new to client customers. I think on the vehicle finance side also, there's a INR 30 crore cost increase, which has happened because of the. Yep. The other thing is the full cost of the new branches has now got absorbed into the quarter, and that has also come in.
When you remember in Q4, we had a huge expansion of branches. That cost has fully got absorbed because it would have come for 30 days or 45. This has come for the full 90 days. That cost has also come in into this quarter.
Okay. There's no branch acquisition this quarter, but still, a quite a rise of almost like 7 odd % in the overhead cost. What would I learn through that?
I have told you, I think there is an increase in number of employees. There is an increase in our digital capabilities and the cost which we are incurring of that. Microfinance expansion, which we are doing. I think our cost on the retail assets which we have grown, I think at a faster pace, that cost is coming in. Of course, the CFD costs are where I think we are expanding our businesses into new domains, like affordable housing and two-wheelers, where I think we have, we've seen some costs coming in. I think that's a matter of time that you will see, start seeing stability of that cost coming in.
I think, like I said, I think you will see a 45%-46% cost in Q1, Q2, stabilizing to 45% as we end the year. You should see next year a 41%-43% cost-to-income ratio.
Okay. Lastly, in terms of MFI, still, I think in terms of the sales compared to where the competitors are, in fact, our growth rates are relatively slow. Last time also you highlighted, when do we see? We were expecting some kind of a sequential momentum in this quarter, and you highlighted that the MFI will be one of the growth drivers. When do we see that change in trend in terms of sequential momentum catching up with the peers, given that investment is also being done in this franchise now?
We've said the overall micro banking book will grow at 28%-30%, but within that, microfinance will grow at 18%-20%. We are at 14% year-on-year. I think you will see an 18%-20% growth. That should start coming in the second quarter itself. I think, what you will see is the other businesses growing at a very fast pace, and you will start seeing that growth also. In Q2, I think Q1 is relatively a weaker quarter in the microfinance segment, and I think it's the second half of the year where the growth actually comes in. You will see that in Q2 itself, that our growth will be there in the microfinance segment.
I think, in Q1, I think, we have implemented a new technology. We wanted to make sure that our collections were reduced and flows reduced, and I think that's what we wanted to get into. I think, the momentum is now back, and I think you. We're already seeing in the first 15 days of the month, very good momentum in the disbursements in the microfinance segment.
Oh, okay. Okay, yeah. Thanks, thanks, and all the best to you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Abhishek from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening, Sumant and team, congratulations for the quarter. Most of my questions are answered. Maybe I just need a couple of data points. If you can share the weighted average cost of term deposits and SA, I think that would be great. Thanks.
We don't give those numbers. I think we never disclose that numbers ever.
Sure. Okay, okay. Thanks then, and all the best for the following quarters.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Saurabh Kumar from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Just one question. Your credit cost guidance this year would factor in any additional provision for the security receipt, contingent build out, and these net surplus, right? That 110-130 basis points includes all the three, right?
You're asking a question or a confirmation?
Yeah.
believe that all these costs are loaded into 110 to 130 basis points.
Okay, okay. Just in terms of if, you were to move to this ECL now, how much do you think you would need as a buffer?
Our contingent provisioning is what we are doing to make sure that we are ready for ECL.
Yeah, how much would you kind of need?
The attributes are still not finalized by the Reserve Bank of India. I think it's very difficult. We said that our ECL will be in the range of 1% to 1.2% of the book. I think that's what we are working on. It has to be amortized over five years. We don't want to wait for it. That's what we are working on.
Oh. Got it. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Jai Prakash Mundhra from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, Sumant. Congratulations on a good quarter. My question is that on loan growth, right? We have delivered 22%, Y-o-Y growth, and it is fairly broad-based, in terms of large corporate, medium, small corporate, and then retail, within retail, vehicle. Everything, every, you know, major segment seems to be growing at 21%, 22%. The question is, do you see within your broad 18%-23% guidance, the divergence of retail growing at a faster pace? I mean, when do we see retail growing at a faster pace versus corporate?
No, if you look at the retail growth, microfinance has degrown for me. I think if you add the microfinance growth, I think the percentage shift would have happened to 55%-56%. That's where I think. You will start seeing that growth happening over this next 2 to 3 quarters. I think by the end of this year, we should end at 55%-56% in favor of retail and 44%-45% in favor of corporate bank. We've always said that we want to continue to maintain a very balanced view on our retail and corporate mix, and I think that's the way.
I think the corporate will be in the range of 43%-45%, and retail will be in the range of 55%-57%.
Sure, sir. You had mentioned the security receipts, in basis point, and then you had provided some INR 129 crores this quarter. Just to confirm in absolute number, that security receipts, net of provisioning would be around.
I mean, what would be that number in rupees crore?
Uh, one three three three.
Sure.
INR 1,300 crore, roughly.
Sure. Yeah, that is it all. That is it. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Param Subramanian from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for taking my question. My question is again on, you know, the number given on slide 21. If you look at the segmental yields, you know, across corporate and consumer banking, it's up 8-10 basis points. I think you mentioned, you know, the increase in yield quarter- on- quarter of 20 basis points is being driven by mix. Even, you know, the mix seems to be stable, quarter- on- quarter between corporate and consumer. Could you help us out with what we're missing over there? Yeah.
No, you're looking at the period and numbers. Like we explained earlier, last quarter, microfinance disbursements were quite strong, and they happened during the course of the quarter. If you take the daily average, mix, this quarter is much better in terms of the retail portfolio, and that too particularly microfinance, which is the highest yielding segment. That is causing the yield moving the way it has been disclosed.
Okay. Okay.
Whatever we disbursed in microfinance last quarter was available full quarter this in this quarter.
Okay, okay. Got that. Okay. My next question, again, Sumant, you highlighted that in the opening comments, but on the diamonds, on the gems portfolio, it has seen some decline. If you could, you know, give us some outlook on how, you know, business is shaping up over there, both in terms of growth and, asset quality as well. Yeah, that's it for me. Thank you.
The growth is dependent on how the markets revive. We are in the working capital business, and we do a side business. I think, we have to wait and watch for the markets to revive, and I think it's the second half of the year is when you will see the revival, and we should grow the business at 10%-12%. That's what the growth on the business is. On SMAs or on, we have no SMAs, 1 and 2 in this business at all, and the portfolio looks pristine as of now.
Okay, thank you so much, and all the best. Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Manish Shukla from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good evening, and thank you for the opportunity. Can you quantify the size of the non-MFI micro banking book once again, please?
That's the merchant acquiring book that we disclosed in the loan mix. It's about INR 4,222 crores.
Okay. Thanks. On the affordable housing piece, right, How has been your experience so far, and how do you think this book scales up from where we are right now?
We've changed the team. I think we've not grown that book over the last two years. It's INR 1,700 crores-INR 1,800 crores. The experience cannot be in a such a small book, you cannot define an experience. I think we've started scaling up the book now. We've got a team in place, and I think we see that this book will touch about INR 5,000 crores-INR 5,500 crores in three years, and that's what our ambition is, INR 15,000 crores of mortgages and INR 5,000 crores-INR 5,500 crores of affordable housing.
Okay, INR 15,000 crore of mortgages. This mortgages is, I'm assuming you don't include LAP in it, in your own?
No, no. We are getting, as I told you, we've got into housing loan segment. We are doing a pilot right now. We have INR 665 crore. By the end of this year, we should be around an INR 4,000 crore-INR 5,000 crore book. We will start scaling up the book.
Sure. Those are my questions. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sumit Rathi from Centrum Broking. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, and congratulations on the good set of numbers, sir. I just wanted to check, our NPAs in the consumer financing book across the product has gone, GNPA numbers have gone slightly up Q on Q. How can we see it going forward, and what could it have an impact on our credit cost, prospects of 1.1% to 1.3%?
I think if you look at the Consumer Finance book, non-microfinance, it's about 14%-15% of our book. If you look at the numbers which are coming on that, I think, we had a INR 280 crore of flow which happened on that business. The recovery rates are also very high on that business. I think while, I think the credit card is the largest flow element in that business, the credit card is 3% of our book. I think we should be able to maintain our credit cost. When we've done our NG, we've given our calculations of 110 to 130 basis points.
We said 44%-45% of our book will be corporate, which will be come at 10-20 basis points of credit cost. I think, for the consumer bank will be around 150-180 basis points of credit cost. If you look at, microfinance will be 250 basis points of credit cost, and our vehicle finance business will be at 100 basis points of credit cost. You compute it will come to 120 to 115 to 120 basis points of credit cost.
All right, sir. On the corporate finance book, can you dwell a bit on, like, you said you have some early warning systems over there. What are these early warning systems, and what is the top 10 or top 20 big accounts we have, like, what % of our books? If you can dwell on that, sir.
The top 20 accounts from the large corporate side, which we don't disclose, is a very small percentage left of our book and very high, but it has now reduced sharply on our book, and I think it's about 12%-13% of our overall corporate book now. Having said that, I think on early warning indicators, I don't know how to explain it to you. There are 200 attributes which we use. I can't explain each and every attribute. There are different attributes which we use to identify early warning indicators, and I think we use them very effectively and manage our portfolio.
We don't not even manage our portfolio in the large corporate, we also use it in the MSME and the SME side of the business or any business owner segment side of our business.
All right, sir. Those were my two questions. Thank you for your time.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Jignesh Shial from InCred Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, and thanks for the opportunity. Just wanted to check on a couple of things. One, we are seeing that, you know, CD ratio has been increasing up sequentially right now.
Sorry to interrupt you. Your voice is not coming clear.
Is it better now?
Yes, sir.
Our CD ratio has been increasing up, and now right now we are somewhere around 86.8. At what level are we comfortable, or do you think it can still we have enough room to, you know, to grow it further? What, what's, you know, our comfort level, to, for the CD ratio overall?
Our comfort level on CD ratio is 86%-89%.
Okay. Okay. Understood. Understood. Secondly, if you see it up, there have been a sequential jump also that we are seeing it up on the investment book as well. Anything specific that we are into, or it's just generalized and, you know, we should see it normalizing over, you know, over coming quarters? Can you give me, can you give us some idea on it?
Yeah, sure. Yeah, so the increase in investment book is primarily due to excess cash being deployed in short-term treasury bills. We all know that the rate cycle is sort of benign at this point in time. The idea is that the excess cash that we get, we've got to ensure we get ample returns by way of having a secured portion through government securities, and that can come and help whenever we wish to, you know, if we see a higher credit growth. Having said that, I think, yeah, two or three avenues that you must see, that's cash in bank balances, the investment book, as well as balances, RBI.
You see a proportionate increase or a decrease in some of those getting mix or getting a change in mix and match. It gives me a high yield of 131 basis points.
Understood. Understood. Just lastly, on the corporate banking side, you know, we have been seeing, you know, a consistent sequential search on the small corporate portfolio. you know, over a proportion size or the quantum is still pretty smaller compared to large and mid. Can you give us some flavor on, you know, what kind of lending is happening out here or not? How much you are comfortable growing it up further from here on? That's it from my side. Thanks.
Our small corporate book, you know, 2.5, 3 years back was around 4% of our total corporate book. Today, as we speak, it's around 10.5%, and the idea is to take it to around 20% in the next 2.5 years. Of the corporate book.
Understood. Perfect. Thanks. Thanks. Just one add on to it. Will the yields would be relatively better off compared to mid and large corporate? Will that be a fair understanding?
Yeah. Yields are better. Obviously the granularity is much, it's much more diversified in terms of the ticket size and stuff like that.
This is secured.
These are secured. Yeah, these are all secured.
Perfect. Perfect. Sounds great. Thanks a lot, and all the best to you.
Thank you very much. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sumant Kathpalia for closing comments.
Thank you for participating in the call. As usual, me and Indrajit are available for any further questions which you may have. Thank you and God bless.
Thank you very much. On behalf of IndusInd Bank Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may disconnect.