Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q2 and H1 FY 2025 Earnings Conference Call of Bank of Maharashtra. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. We have with us from the management, Shri Nidhu Saxena, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Shri Ashish Pandey, Executive Director, Shri Rohit Rishi, Executive Director, and all general managers of the bank. I now hand the conference over to Shri Nidhu Saxena. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Yeah, good afternoon. Thank you so much, and thank you to all the analysts to join this call. And I'm happy to share that we have done our half-yearly results today, and the numbers are very encouraging. A lot of strategies were put in place in the beginning of this financial year in areas of concern like deposits, and those all are yielding good results to the bank. And I will very quickly take you through the major achievements.
So my total business has seen a growth YOY of 17%, and total advances have grown by 19%, while the deposits, which were continuing as concern in the industry, in the system, last Q, we had seen single digit growth, but a lot of improvement has happened in this Q2, and total deposits have grown by 15% YOY, and within which CASA also has seen traction. CASA has grown YOY by 12%, and in terms of absolute number, we have added INR 15,000 crore of CASA. In our book, the ratio stands at our level of guidance, which is to maintain it around 50%, and that's what the CASA ratio is there with the bank.
Coming to the RAM side, the loan book, so all the three parameters, retail, agri, and MSME, have seen a high double-digit growth of 23% YOY in retail. Agriculture, 34%, wherein the large part of contribution has come from agricultural gold loans. And then MSME also has seen a YOY growth of 25%. Corporate book, for me, has grown YOY at 9%. As I said, gold, so gold has been a focus product for growth this financial year, and which has seen a YOY growth of 60%. In terms of asset quality and stress SMA position, we are again very comfortable. GNPA has improved, has come down to 1.84% against one year back of 2.19%. NNPA is at 0.2%.
Recovery also has been good in this Q2, and with cash recovery of INR 120 crores, upgradation around 100 crores, and write-off recovery of INR 255 crores, we have a total recovery of INR 475 crores. PCR is standing at a healthy level of 98.31, and CD ratio we are maintaining at the desirable level of 78.72, against our guidance of maintaining it around 79-80 levels. Net interest income also has seen a good growth of 15% YOY, with an addition of INR 375 crores. NIM also has been on improvement, and NIM has grown 3.98 from 3.97 and 92 in the last two, three quarters.
Whereas the concerns were getting expressed in the industry, whether banks would be able to maintain the NIM, and there may be a level of reduction in NIMs being reported by banks in this QoQ basis at least. But I'm happy to share that we are able to maintain that high NIM of 3.98%. Operating profit also has grown year on year 15% at INR 2,203 crores. Net profit has seen a remarkable improvement of 44% YOY growth, and we have added INR 406 crores more than previous year at INR 1,326 crores. ROA, year on year, has improved by thirty-six basis points, and it stands at 1.74%, ROE at 26.01%. We are adequately capitalized with CET1 of 12% and CIR of healthy 17.26%.
Overall, what we have seen that the guidance that we have kept for this financial year on various growth and profitability parameters and other efficiency ratios, we have achieved those guidance in the half year, and at many of the parameters, we have only surpassed the guidance. And going forward, we are confident that this trend will be only seeing improvement in the Q3 and Q4.... of this financial year. So I think over to you, Mr. Srivastava, CFO, will take you through the presentation or-
We can start question, since we have already uploaded the PPT, our result and PPT is optional.
Okay, so broadly, this is from our side, and we'll be open to your questions on any of the issues that you would like to take additional information on. 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 phone. 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. Our first question is from the line of Darshil Jhaveri from Crown Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello. Good evening to all from Audible. Hello?
Yes, yes, yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So firstly, congratulations on a great set of results. Like, so I think whatever guidance you've given, you've, you know, actually surpassed most of them. So just wanted to ask, like, would you want to revise the guidance, I think, in terms of ROA as well as NIM, we've been outperforming what we said. So, you know, could we, you know, how do we look at it going ahead? Like, could we expect, you know, a more robust, like could we go to a 2% ROA and a 4% NIM?
Yeah. So, both these parameters, which are important, we are performing consistently on the ROA and ROE and the NIM, what you mentioned, over the past few couple of quarters. Although going forward, we are also mindful that if you talk of NIM, there is a likely rate cut that is being discussed. We really don't know when it will happen, but if that has to happen, I have a loan book of 37%, which is linked to repo. And with rate cut, that loan book will get immediately repriced.
While I am maintaining a NIM of 3.92-3.98 level, and we have grown NIM YOY almost nine basis points, but we are keeping a conservative guidance for ourselves of 3.75-3.85. Because of this factor that when the rate cut is to happen, I am going to, for some time, when the repricing or the deposit repricing, which will happen only with a lag, for that reason, I'm keeping a conservative NIM. And my ROA, which is 1.74, again, there is a guidance of 1.6-1.65, that would be maintaining for this financial year.
Oh, fair enough, sir. That makes sense, sir. I also just want to know, in terms of our gold loan, we said that, you know, agri loan has been also boosted by gold loan and in turning, gold loan have grown a lot. So could you just, you know, describe what's happening on ground? Is it like the price of gold has been battered by that helping us or, you know, just somewhat how that been?
So if you talk of these gold loans, there is a huge market out there, and it is only that, despite, you know, banks which have grown this portfolio, commercial banks, over the last two, three, four years, in fact, after the COVID years, gold loan has seen a lot of traction in all the banks. Still, I feel there is a huge scope, and we have also reoriented ourselves, because gold loan, there are two basic requirements. One is the safekeeping of the pledged gold ornaments, and the other is the, you know, appraisal infrastructure that is required to appraise the gold jewelry when you are coming for a request from the client for extending your gold loan.
So with these two infrastructure, once they are provided, there is a huge scope, still, for all the banks to grow, and it is a very beneficial product. Is able to easily be onboarded by branches. It is quite a stable advance. It is also giving us that, good pricing, and plus, the risk weight is zero. So with all these, incentives around this product, we have also grown this portfolio, and going forward, also, we maintain to be remain bullish on gold. And the pricing which has gone up is only, you know, creating a lot of comfort around this, scheme, because over and above what the RBI prescribed LTV, we are only getting more traction there.
In terms of gold also, we are mostly able to take it in the agri gold loan as per the RBI permissible scheme. My portfolio has already touched INR 13,000 crores, and by end of the year, we plan to take it to minimum INR 15,000 crores, which I see is quite achievable. Also, we have done some co-lending partnerships with leading gold loan NBFCs, and we are also building a sizable co-lending loan book in this segment of gold loans.
Oh, great. That's great to know. So I'll just, like, last question on my part.
Mr. Jhaveri-
Okay.
I request you return to the question please.
Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah.
Thank you so much, sir. So, ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all the participants in the conference, please restrict your questions to two per participant. If you have any follow-up questions, you can rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Pinaki Banerjee from AUM Capital Market Private Limited . Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good afternoon, sir, and thanks for the opportunity, and congratulations for the good set of numbers. Sir, actually, then coming to the page 7 of your investor presentation, that agricultural sector has shown the maximum growth of 34%. And sir, if I recall, in the last con call, you had mentioned that you are in the process of doing away with farm credit and moving more towards this investment credit like cold storages and food processing. So, sir, can you give me an update on this, please?
Yes, Pinaki, what we have said, we are. Actually, if I give you the numbers, the YTD growth, if you see, my agri gold loans in the investment credit and these gold loans-
Okay.
They have grown YTD at 29%, whereas the others, which is the working capital, KCC, has seen a growth of 6%.
Okay.
So what we have experienced around that, certain concerns in the area of KCC loans, we have also tried to see that we are not growing the agri book in that segment where the concerns are lying. So we have done a lot of changes in our underwriting as to who is actually sanctioning. The sanctioning in the KCC has now been not allowed in branches, and there is a centralized cell housed in the respective zonal office, and that's where the underwriting for agri loans is happening. So we are comfortable growing this portfolio and where the large part is coming from contribution, as I said, from gold loans, a gri gold loan to INR 8,000 crores, agriculture portfolio, INR 8,000 crores have grown, out of which INR 5,000 crores have come from Gold Loan alone.
Okay, sir. Sir, actually, my next question is, like, your corporate loan portfolio for the last five quarters, we've seen that it is, as a percentage, your gross advances have remained static at 38%-39%, and year-on-year growth is 9%. So, sir, have you taken any strategic decision to lower your exposure to the corporate sector?
Pinaki, I would like to say that bank will not be missing any emerging opportunities which are available there in the market.
Okay.
Today, we have kept the guidance of RAM versus corporate at 60/40.
Okay.
Plus, minus, 2%.
Okay.
So, currently, we are looking at sectors, proposals which are coming from the upcoming sectors, the infra, the renewable energy and the like. So there is absolutely no such thought process to not grow the corporate book. Wherever we see opportunities emerging, like the PLI sector, where the government emphasis is coming, we would definitely want to be present there.
Okay. Sir, and just one last question, regarding your term deposits, which have grown about by about 19% at around, like, INR 40,000 crores. Sir, actually, can you give a breakup of what is the amount of new deposit and what is the renewal deposit percentage?
You would have the number.
...
We just noted this, Pinaki, and I think we will share the number with you.
Okay.
We can go to the next question.
Okay.
We will, this data, we'll just work out and let you know.
Okay, fine, sir. That's all from my end. Thanks, and all the best for the future.
Thank you, Pinaki.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Deepak Gupta from SBI Pension Funds. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you for taking my question. So my first question is on asset quality. If you could give us some perspective on your SMA book, which has increased, especially SMA-2 book, which has grown by almost about 100%, for the quarter, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, and your perspective on credit cost and slippages, which remained at similar levels as per last quarter.
I think the stress in the loan book is well managed. If you see, year on year, it was 7.54%, and now we are at 5.8%. I'm talking about the total, not SMA 2, but the SMA and the total position for the bank. And within which 5.8% what I have said, it is few of the state entity accounts, 4-5 accounts, which has actually moved to the SMA category, and INR 1,542 crores are contained in these five accounts. Already, while I'm talking to you, one account, the major one, INR 717 crores from that state entity is already moved to the standard category.
So if I'm discounting, removing all this, my stress in the overall loan book is 5.09% only. And as regards the SMA two, I think, Kanwar Pal, you would like to-
Yeah. In SMA two, there are only two accounts and nothing major, and all the accounts are below 60 crore.
... to this one account is around INR 50 crore and one is INR 32 crore. I think more major accounts are there into the SMA-2 book.
I hear you, and sir, any thoughts on your slippage in the credit cost? We say at about one point one and-
Sorry to interrupt. Sir, Mr. Gupta, your voice is breaking up in between.
Can you hear me now? Is it better?
Yes.
Yes, we were talking about credit cost, right?
Yeah, credit cost and slippages, if you could give us some perspective on that.
Sir, if you see the credit cost, is the, we are maintaining a net NPAs of 0.20%. So almost everything we have to provision in part of the credit slippage. So, and if you talk about IRAC, credit cost IRAC requirement, then it would be below 0.40%. So that is the case in the credit cost. Regarding slippage ratio, you can see that we are able to maintain a slippage in quantum of roughly around INR 600 crore. So that, it will continue in future also, the slippage will be within the range of INR 500 crore to INR 600 crore.
I hear you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Samrat Jadhav from Prosperity Wealth Advisors. Please go ahead.
Am I audible?
Yes, sir, please go ahead.
Yeah, great. Okay, so first, congratulations on a good set of numbers. I have two questions. One is on the co-lending book, which you have. So, what was on the last quarter, and how much is for this quarter?
Do you have that numbers, Amit?
Five hundred two.
See, co-lending is again from among the various segments. We have looked at this growing the co-lending book, and this co-lending has gone up to almost INR 2,000 crores we are reaching. And for this, what we have done is, we have identified NBFCs double A and above rated, and we have seen how the processes and how the audit system, how the compliances levels are getting maintained. And wherever we have seen our comforts, we have joined hands with them. Our experience is that, we are able to negotiate a good NIM. The entire product is technology driven in our bank.
For example, one of the NBFC in the gold loan segment, so whatever the NBFC is doing loans today, from 10:00 A.M. till 5:00 P.M. in their branches, I'm able to underwrite and take the share in my books the next day. But the entire flow of accounts, the disbursements, the collection, the reconciliation is entirely digitized, and we have developed this in-house, along with the IT of the concerned NBFC. And that's how we are seeing that not only this portfolio where we are comfortable to grow with, but we are able to manage this also well, and see that the issues around reconciliation are well taken care of. And as I said, I'm finding a very good pricing. We are able to negotiate in terms of service.
Through this technology, we are able to give good service, add value in the partnership, and I'm able to, in return, get a good pricing. My NIM, typically, in some arrangements, is 5% plus. And these are all, you know, practically classified business that I am able to do. Like, if it is a MSME, it is impacting my micro segment. So there again, I'm able to meet my PSL targets and we have the opportunity to even, wherever we surpass, we can do a PSLC sale and earn additional one, one and a half to two percent going forward. So that's how the co-lending we are looking at, and we are diversifying.
Today, we have around six to seven partnerships, and another three to four partnerships are under discussion at various stages, and which we'll be onboarding very soon.
Okay. And so do we have any number that how much this co-lending book would be there at year-end?
So currently, we have not kept any number as such, but we have been for the last four to five months just in the discussions. We had experiences with one or two good rated NBFCs. We have watched how the portfolio is moving, how the recon, disbursements, collections, everything is working now, having drawn a lot of satisfaction. So now we are actually scaling up. As I said, six already have been tied up, and another three are under discussions. So we have not put any number as such, but yes, we want to grow this co-lending book in a major way in this financial year. And we will see that this entire portfolio is a high-yielding portfolio for us, and it is well managed through the technology part of it.
Great. Okay, my second question is on the number of branches. So we added around nine branches last quarter, and majorly was into metro, urban, and, I think two branches in semi-urban. We had closed some branches in rural also, I think two branches in rural. So, is it a part, like you said, majorly the income is from the gold loan side book, which is mainly again, from the rural. So do we have any strategy like closing the non-performing branches or increasing it in the rural, or majorly it is from metro or urban side?
...So if you see, we have a robust branch expansion plan. We have in fact gone to our board and gone with a five-year roadmap as to, a thousand branches is what we have envisaged, and board has approved this, plan of ours, thousand branches in the next five years. And, we are, we've done, around six hundred branches were opened in the last three years. And, before going into this, new branch opening in a major way, we are also taking stock of how these six hundred branches opened are performing and whether there is any learning for us, going forward.
So, what we are trying to do is identify the center bases, you know, growth where the growth potential lies. We would like to be present there, and present there in a meaningful manner. So maybe one center, if we decide, we feel that it should not be a representation of one. It could be between four to five. So we have been following some set of branch opening strategy. We are just in the process of relooking that, but ideally, for the next 12 months, we have 200-220 branches to be opened as our plan in mind. And this first quarter has been more to take stock, take review of what the performance or the desired outcome of the branches opened so far have been to us.
Going forward, if required, we will modify our way of identifying the branches, if required. Otherwise, this is the plan we have in the next 12 months, around 200-220 branches that we plan to open.
Any plan for international branches? Expansion of international branches.
So currently, we are mindful of the fact that there is a GIFT City opportunity with us. We have already gone to the board. We have board has approved our proposal, and we have submitted our request with the regulator. And we will be in discussion with the regulator and pursuing our case with them to give us the GIFT City license as early as possible. And I think with that, there will be a lot of opportunities opening for doing some ECBs or participating in some global syndications, which are there in our thought process.
I think with that GIFT City formal application already launched with the regulator, no sooner this approval is granted for opening the outlet, we would be ready with our plan in terms of manpower and going forward the strategy to grow business in the GIFT through GIFT City.
Great. Thanks. Thanks so much for questions.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, please restrict your questions to two per participant. You may rejoin the queue for follow-up questions. Our next question is from the line of Jai Mundhra from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, good evening, sir, and thanks for the opportunity. Sir, a couple of questions. First is, sir, in your retail loans, you have around INR 17,700 crores as others. If you can, share a few heads, I mean, which all products are there, and do you have any unsecured personal loan book?
Yeah, as far as these other retail, it includes the loan against property, then top-up loans, our personal loans and other loans, which we are granting to our customers. And in addition to that, the gold loans, which are classified under retail gold loans. So these all constitute nearly INR 17,000 crores.
How much is the personal loan, sir? Unsecured personal loan out of this?
Gold Loan is around INR 3,500 crores. Personal Loan is around INR 2,500 crores, and loan against properties are around INR 2,000 crores. So, almost in all the segments, it is more than INR 2,000 crores.
Right. And sir, if you can highlight any asset quality trends in unsecured personal loan book of INR 2,500 crores, how has been the slippages or GNPA? Is there any change in the last one, two quarters?
So if you look at my unsecured personal loans book, it is entirely to ETB customers and especially wherever we have salary tie-ups . So typically a government department or a corporate whose entire employees are banking and drawing salaries through me, I have done this personal loans and with the salary disbursement we are able to recover our monthly EMIs, and then the remaining portion is made available to the customer to draw from their savings account. And likewise in the unsecured with the pensioners also, we have some portfolio built, and wherever we have pension is there, is where we have actually done this unsecured lending.
So, to say that, this personal segment put together, this pension and, other things, it is INR 3,350 crores, and only INR 15 crores is NPA out of that. So it is, it's a high-yielding product for me, and it is very much in focus. The concern, I think, where you are coming from, Reserve Bank, regulator also highlighting this. So, absolutely, this part, I am completely comfortable, and we are having these unsecured loans only where the salary types or pension payments are through my branches.
... Right. So understood, sir, and thanks for the detail. So you have the GNPA at only INR 15 crore, but the slippages, let us say, out of this INR 3,300 crore portfolio, slippages would also be quarterly slippages, I mean, in Q1 or Q2. Would it be safe to say that the slippages would be around INR 30-40 crore on a quarterly basis, or would it be even lower than that?
Would he have the number?
It would be on the lower side, because as I told, it is backed by the salary. So whatever the salary-
Right.
First salary being credited in account, and from that we are taking the installment. So, we have not seen that, we have seen the individual default in that portfolio, and we have not given unsecured loan to the non-salaried class. So in our case, it is almost secure portfolio.
See, fifteen crores also, out of that thirty-three hundred crores book is maybe where because some demise of the employee, and there's a process of getting the money from their terminal benefits and terminal benefits are in the process of settlement. So that kind of tie-up arrangements are existing with the organizations who are disbursing salary through our branches, and only against that salary disbursement, this kind of loan product is built for them. And mostly are in the government PSUs and central and state PSUs is where we have grown this portfolio. There's hardly any personal loan segment in the non-salaried. There's no, in fact, focus, no product for the non-salaried person to be availing an unsecured loan from the bank.
Right. Understood. Understood.
Hardly 0.05% and Gross NPAs.
Sir, I missed your comment wherein you mentioned that-
Mr. Mundhra, if you have any follow-up questions, may we request you to rejoin the question queue?
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you so much, sir. The next question is from the line of Rohan Mandora from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, I had a question on the provision that we have taken in the P&L. So we have almost INR 585-900 crores of NPA provision, and if I look at the net slippages adjusted for recovery and upgrade, that comes to around INR 400 crores, and the PCR is not improved. I just want to understand the consumption of this provision that have happened.
As you know that, whatever slippages are happening, we are almost taking 100% provision. And,
Net net was around 400, so at 90% provision, it was-
I come to that, and there is aging provision also, that you have to take care in the total sum asset. Overall, that if you see that, we have made the provisions accordingly.
Right. Because, sir, even if you look at, absolute slippage was around 600 odd crores.
Right.
If you adjust for the recoveries and upgrades, 220 crores, so you come to around 400 odd crores of net slippage this quarter, right? On that, if we were to build in 90% PCR that we are maintaining on 98%, including technical write-of f, then that would be around a similar number, 400 crores. So we are still left with around 200 crores. So just trying to understand where is that getting kind of addition? Because the technical, adjust for technical write-off, the PCR is not improved.
We'll provide you details in this regard.
Sure. Sure. That's it, sir. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ashok Ajmera from Ajcon Global Services Limited. Please go ahead.
Thank you, finally. Sir, compliments to you, sir, Nidhu sir, and the entire team of Bank of Maharashtra, and not only for the good set of numbers, but also recently celebrating your ninetieth foundation day, where the chief guest was the finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman Ji. She spoke very nice words about the bank. And, second compliment is for you recently successfully raising INR 3,500 crores of equity, which is, I think, the, fourth largest, I mean, the largest in the fourth QIPs which you have done in last five, six years. So my compliments to you, sir. Having said that, sir, most of the questions have already been answered in this long discussion by the various colleagues. I would have only, I have little, rather concern or maybe I need your, feedback on the overall business growth.
Because if you see at, credit growth also, if you don't annualize it, just look at the current, financial year, six months. Our advances have gone up by only 6.80%, and our deposits have gone up by only 2%, and six months have gone. Even though you are comfortable on capital adequacy, and you raise the capital also, but ultimately, the bank needs to grow, its business. And as for the past glory of the bank, you know, where you used to be 25 plus, 20 plus percentage, what is the, what is the strategy now going forward, and what do you think your target going to be for the credit and, deposits, sir, for the bank?
Ajmera Ji, first of all, thank you for acknowledging whatever you just mentioned about, and if you look at my total business, our guidance for this year is to grow the business at 16%, and the advances would grow at 18%-20%, and deposits will be growing at 12%-15%. The first quarter w as not very encouraging and that ought to be. But I think a lot of things have started to look up when we entered the Q2. And today none of my growth performance is lower than what the guidance we have kept for ourselves.
So I think we are on the right path of growth, and going forward, the Q3 and Q4 are only going to be better quarters in terms of banking business. We all know about that. So the overall guidance that we have kept for the full financial year, I see absolutely no concern, no challenge in achieving or even surpassing those.
We just discussed about the aggressive branch opening strategy, and since this 600-odd branches that have been opened in last three years also are helping in lot of fresh business generation in the bank. Going forward, the 12-month plan of 200 to 20 branches, I am sure that the pace of growth of business in the bank will only be going up with this new branch expansion, with bank being present in more and more geographies.
Sir, I mean, with this kind of maintaining the targets for the credit also and deposit also, for credit, if you look at it, you know, in order to meet the target of whatever 18-20% or 17-18%, you need to disburse the credit of almost about, I think, INR 25,000 crore just in now coming in five, six months now, which are left for this financial year. So what is our pipeline of the sanctioned amount as well as the advanced stage of sanctioning, so that we can be sure of this INR 25,000-26,000 crore credit disbursement in the remaining four, five, six months?
Yeah, Ajmera ji, as far as the sanctions are concerned, so far in the first half year itself, we have made sanctions of around INR 39,000 crore, of which around INR 30,000 crore pertains to corporate credit segment. So disbursal in such projects is based on the various milestones. So they will get disbursed over a period of time. There are certain takeover cases also. So we have that visibility to achieve that growth of around 18%, plus minus 2% in advances going forward.
Yes, sir. Point well taken, sir. My last point is, sir, on the digitization, on the IT front. Where do we stand, sir, after having, I mean, spent a good amount on IT, and I think we are doing it for last aggressively, last one and a half, two years. Now, what is the status today? At what stage we are in the our IT total digitization implementation end-to-end products, whether in retail or SME credits?
Yeah, thank you, Ajmera sir. Actually, you have seen last almost three years, we have continued with around 2,700 crore budget, in which the utilization was around 1,900 crores. So because major of the things we really required the overhaul. So in total, if I am not wrong, around 138 RFPs are floated in last three years period. Now, it is across the board, like in the retail side, in the corporate side, in the operation side, in the customer service side, in the efficiency enhancement side, and even on the compliance regulation side.
So in all the areas we have done, actually right now, still this year, we are having a budget of around INR 1,000 crore, but the pace of that RFPs will not continue to that extent because in all the areas we have floated the RFPs and all the projects are going on. Most of them are completed, and it will take 6-9 months time to get the result. So you must be remembering that we created a digital business zone, which is headed by a general manager. Now, that zone is nearing INR 5,000 crore, approximately as on today. So it is between INR 4,500-INR 4,700 crore. So here, no employee is actually involved in the business and through only digital. They have an entire setup like a physical zone.
So they have their marketing team, strategic digital marketing course they have done from IIM Rohtak and IIM Bangalore, and they have a risk management team, so they have the entire team. Now, coming to the point, there are certain very big projects which bank is right now running. The one is the CRM module, which bank is running. Second is the lifestyle banking, which bank is running. Now, somewhere it is 30%, 40%, 50%, all those are completed. The next is that entire hardware and software overhaul of the bank. So with this, I think by next six months' time, the entire, the hardware, all the servers, will be a refreshed one in the bank.
Now, with that, we are actually to that extent confident that next two to three years it will be, not more so on a capital side, but there will be a recurring expenditure on the IT, so with this INR 1,000 crore, which we have taken approval and last board also our MDs have told, so that is going on. Coming to the RPA side, earlier, we used to tell around 35, 36. Today, I think we are standing, we have 60 is implemented today. And from the board, we have taken approval of 150. So you can think of that 90 still it is there. Now, coming to STPs journey, around, 12-15, we have already launched. Around 5 are there, which are in the CUG stage.
Because we, because see, the technology pertaining to the customer side should not be straight away, you know, or put to production. So what we have done in our bank, you have seen earlier also is a risk mitigation, that whenever journeys they are moved to production, we first move to some two or three branches. Then we move to one or two zone, and then we take stock of the situation for a month or so, and then we move to pan-India bank. So right now, I think the 3-4 journeys are there, which are in the CUG stage for last 15-20 days. So you will be seeing all these things which are going to be rolled out in the present quarter. And then RPA also around 10 to 15-20, which the team has planned, they are working upon that.
The hardware refresh is taking place, the entire at DC and DR and our even the on-prem our servers. So all those are getting refreshed, and I think that will be completed by February 2025. So this is the right now scene, and journeys, I think next 5-6 journeys will be launched in this quarter, and similarly, 2-3 journeys will be launched in the next quarter. Because March, we don't keep anything as such, because, you know, it is a quarter end. One more very important that we build a very good audit software, and which is having almost 18 modules, which is going to be rolled out, I think, phase one in this quarter and phase two by February 2025.
So these are the status as on date on the entire IT infra in the bank.
Thanks, sir, for such an elaborate information on the IT front. Definitely, I have been watching you at that center also, I think, which is created here in Mumbai. You know, that IT, you call it what? IT. So very impressive. Thanks a lot, sir, and all the best to you.
I think, like what you asked about the business growth, they will also be a good contributor going along, you know, when more and more journeys are launched, so they will be a good contributor in this total growth.
No, no. Yes, I am sure that that would definitely yield the results, there. Only, you know, because we compare only quarter to quarter, and especially in this year, even up to September quarter, our credit and deposit figures, it's there in the entire industry, it's not there only your bank. But I keep Bank of Baroda separately, you know, in a very, very high esteem, and I'm sure that you will definitely meet the targets, whatever has been given, sir. Thank you, Nidhu sir, and thank you the team, Ashish sir and Rishi sir. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, you may press star and one to join the question queue. The next question is from the line of Bhumika Jain from Espresso Advisory. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Congratulations on a good set of numbers. My first question was, the cash flow from operating activities shows a negative movement approx around INR 14,000 crores in the first half of this year, compared to the positive INR 14,000 crores in the last first half of the fiscal year. Which was basically driven by the advances . So my question is: How does management plan to manage the liquidity in the coming quarter, especially considering the online ongoing bond issuances and rising interest rate and volumes?
Liquidity management. You are talking about liquidity management?
LCR?
No, ma'am.
Yes, liquidity.
Your voice is not clear.
Madam, it was not clear. Can you please just explain, the-
Bhumika, if we talk about the LCR, is what you are looking for? Or liquidity.
No, my question is on the liquidity part. Yes, sir.
With the bank or with the... Okay. So liquidity, that, if you are talking with the cash flow... Hello?
Yes, sir.
Yeah. So in the terms of the liquidity, that we are quite comfortable. And if you see that we are having the sizable investment portfolio, and most of the related to the SLR security. And recently that we have raised the INR 3,500 crores equity capital, as well as the infrastructure bond, INR 811 crore. And that to INR 1,000 crore we have raised. Apart from that, the deposit growth to fund the advances. So from the liquidity plan to fund the growth, there would not be any problem. And we are-
I think what she's asking is, that is from our statement. Madam Bhumika, if I am correct, please, correct me.
Yes, sir.
CRR, we are having, SLR, we are having.
Mm-hmm.
So around, I think, 20-25 thousand, that total 40,000 crores is in liquidity. So I think your question is from that?
Sir, yes. My question refers to that we are operating expenses are more than that, the returns that we are getting.
Ultimately, it will convert into two things, madam. So there is no excess LCR we are carrying, second. Neither we are adding whatsoever, you know, there is neither a surplus, which we are deploying as a repo or maybe we are borrowing, number two. Number three is that, if you take, because it will straightaway convert into CD ratio.
... So when CD ratio is around 78% level, so that also shows that it is very well managed, not the aggressive side and not the lower side.
Mm-hmm. Okay, sir. Okay, also there is one more question that bank has comparatively smaller national market share, that is 1.2% as compared to other state banks, because it is mainly concentrated mostly in the western India. So do you think that there is less driving power as compared with other banks? But it can apparently make banks to increase its risk appetite to protect its margins and profits.
If you are mentioned about the market share that we are commanding, is that you wanted to know about? And, in terms of growth, how we want to go forward, is that your question?
Sorry, sir, you are not clear.
Okay. I was trying to understand, Bhumika, exactly what you would like to ask us, whether it is the growth you are trying to figure out how we are planning to grow our market share in the-
I want to know the risk appetite for the company, because it has a lower market share in the commercial market as compared to the other state banks, because it is mostly concentrated in Maharashtra, so.
Okay, got it, so I will try to answer that. First of all, some misconception is around that. We are not, you know, predominantly in Maharashtra. I think our 50%, more than 50% presence is outside Maharashtra. If you ask me, last three years, the new branch opening has all been outside Maharashtra, and going forward, we have a plan, as I mentioned, just now, of 1,000 branches, so I think the entire expansion is outside Maharashtra, not because Maharashtra is not important. Maharashtra is the state which is almost 27% contribution to the nation's GDP, but I am more than adequately represented here, and if at all there is a center new upcoming, I will definitely want to open my outlet within Maharashtra also.
But currently, as the situation is, we have our adequate presence within this state, and we are trying to identify and explore in areas where, you know, more emphasis is coming from the central government in terms of outlets to those states, going forward, or new growth centers that are coming up, or potential centers where we are currently not present. So broadly around these two, three areas, we are deciding to expand our reach, and this expansion, geographical expansion, currently is being emphasized all outside Maharashtra.
Okay. Okay.
And we are not averse to looking at growth opportunities wherever in whichever sector, whether it is a RAM, which currently is seeing a robust growth in the industry. And whenever in the corporate cycle we see an uptick, we will definitely want to participate in any of those opportunities that are coming.
Madam, regarding your question, cash flow, the surplus was there. In thirty-first March, there was a cash surplus in the form of the RBI balances. And that we have given to operating assets, so mainly to advances, so in to increase our interest income. So that's why there was a decrease in the overall cash surplus as compared to thirty-first March.
Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next follow-up question is from the line of Jai Mundra from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Sir, hi, in your opening remarks, sir, I think you mentioned that you have managed to upgrade or resolve INR 700 crores stress. What was that, sir? You can elaborate.
Okay. So, see, there are exposures in some state entities, and one of the accounts may move from standard to SMA zero, and that is why the SMA was 5.8%. But if I exclude those, one or two accounts, which are state entities and for some technical reasons moved to standard to SMA zero, that was the number I just mentioned. That INR 717 crores, I may not like to name the account, but it has moved to the standard category. So otherwise, my stress, overall stress in the loan book stands at 5.09%.
Yes. So, sir, 5.09 is excluding the INR 700 crore exposure, or this is including INR 700 crore?
No, this is excluding. Today, when we are talking-
Sure. Sure.
This account is already moved back to the standard category.
Right.
It is only that as of thirtieth September, this account appeared in the SMA zero category.
This is the entire SMA book, SMA zero, one and two.
Yeah.
But if you look at SMA above ₹5 crore, SMA one and two above ₹5 crore, then that figure is 0.19.
Point one nine.
0.19%.
That's good. So this was because this must have been large corporate exposure only, right? I mean, that is fair to assume, but which has now become SMA zero or standard only. It has become perfectly standard.
It is a standard, but it is out of SMA.
Right. Right. Okay.
Zero one. Standard category.
Right. So, and sir, there were media reports, of course, it looks like we don't have exposure to, you know, MTNL and RINL. But fair to say, I mean, there have been media reports suggesting that, you know, these two accounts may be downgraded or would have been downgraded, but we don't have any exposure to those two, right? Is it fair to conclude that?
You're right. We have no exposure to the two accounts.
Right. And sir, on recovery pipeline, right, sir, I mean, this quarter you have continued with your recovery remains more or less similar. Recovery from PWO is episodic. But how do you see recovery pipeline? I mean, are there any large cases where you have an exposure and which are seeing higher chances of recovery over the next six months?
Typically, we are doing fairly well in the recovery. In fact, in the last quarter, we did a mega auction drive, e-auction drive, wherein we could resolve almost 1,000 accounts, and these are the smaller category accounts, and around INR 300 crores were recovered in a drive which was for 45 days. There is a complete focus on recovery. I can tell you that around INR 4,000 crores is my gross NPA book, and we have also with us INR 21,000 crores of write-off book, within which the NCLT is almost 8,800.
Out of INR 8,800, INR 5,100 crores is already where the resolution has come, whether liquidation order has come to me or the RA has been declared under NCLT as a successful bidder. So this INR 5,000 crores of NCLT which have resolved, I sense that whatever be the rate of recovery, maybe if it is 30-35% is what we typically see as recovery. So this INR 1,500 crores from the NCLT book itself is somewhat recoverable within this financial year itself.
Wonderful. Okay. Yeah, that is all from my side, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sneha Ganatra from Star Union. Please go ahead. Ms. Ganatra, your line is unmuted. Please proceed with your question.
Sir, any CapEx driving story, any CapEx which are even loan book growth is, are you expecting?
Can you please come back, Sneha? We could not hear properly.
Yeah, on the corporate side, are we seeing any CapEx driver loan book growth which we are expecting?
Okay. So if you are asking about the private CapEx cycle, that issue which has been discussed quite often and only estimated to be happening, yet I think that private CapEx cycle in real term is not yet visible. But we are seeing some green shoots are there. In some sectors, you know, things are only moving up, traction is visible. Even in our limits, the sanction limits, we are seeing that utilizations have gone up, and which probably are indicators that going forward, there will be some project funding requirements emerging when the private sector is able to look at you know, new demand, and then they would like to go for expansion.
I think, in my view, another one or two quarters, we'll have to actually wait and see that complete traction coming from the private CapEx.
Large CapEx is not happening, but if you see, there is a good growth in MSME advances. And what is happening that the large corporate itself, they are not increasing the CapEx. Through MSME customer, they are increasing the CapEx. A lot of outsourcing activities are happening in the large corporate, and we are taking benefit. That's why you can see that our MSME growth is about 20%.
Okay. My second question is on the treasury income. Any thought on the treasury income going ahead, would be under the-
Sorry to interrupt. Ms. Ganatra, you're sounding a bit muffled.
Second question is on the treasury income. Just wanted to know your thought going ahead. We are seeing that interest rate cut cycle would be panning out for the upcoming quarters. So how do you advise the increasing the treasury income to be panning out for the bank?
Yeah, so if the further interests are softening, still we are at appreciation, and if the further interest is softening, then we will be able to incur that opportunity, but having said that, we will have to make a trade-off between trading income as well as yield, so we will continue to protect the yield and we will also hike the trading profit at the time of softening of yield.
Okay. And Sir, that you mentioned that additional branches are planning to expand up to 1,000 branches over the next year. So any additional OpEx requirement could be there, and how do you see your overall cost to income ratio to be panning out?
Cost to income, if you see my guidance, is to be maintaining it below 40, and currently, we have cost to income of 38.8. Yes, we do realize that with new branch opening, there will be some operating costs which will go up, but what our sense is when we are going to be operating in the growth center, very soon we can see that particular branch is actually contributing to the top line and bottom line of the bank also. So any cost increase and correspondingly, if we are able to generate more revenues and as a resultant, more income for the bank, is something desirable.
We don't want to limit ourselves in increasing that extra cost, but currently 38.8, and that's why my guidance is to maintain it below 40.
Okay. And the last question regarding your quality mention of the stressed assets related to business running with the levels. Any early signs or anything we would be watchful on, basically, the asset quality in any of the sector or the segments?
Currently, as was just shared, our stress in the loan book is well managed. We have proper systems in place to closely monitor the various portfolios. I don't see any whether corporate book or other loan books, they are behaving fine. There is no incipient stress that we are able to look at. I think overall, there is no immediate sign of concern. We have also been looking at our underwriting benchmark, underwriting standards. For some time, we have strengthened our standards, and we are seeing that we are onboarding the quality assets, and the loan book that is getting created is also of higher quality.
With this high growth rate, I am also able to maintain that kind of strict underwriting benchmarks that we don't underwrite a loan below a certain threshold in terms of, you know, the quality of the asset.
Last question, regarding on the monsoon. Hello?
I'm really sorry. Due to time constraint, we won't be able to take any further questions.
Okay, okay, no issues. Thank you.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
So, I think, thank you so much. You have been supporting us, and you have seen that the bank has been performing, which is a consistent one for last 15-16 quarters. We keep tracking our performance vis-a-vis the other players within the PSB space and also in the industry, and we find that we do lead in many of the parameters. And going forward, while we will be looking at growing our top lines, but we'll always remain mindful of how that growth in the top line is going to impact and whether it is going to impact favorably the bottom lines.
All these parameters where we currently are leading in the industry, we would like to see that not a single parameter we should be dipping in terms of future going in our performance. Thank you for joining this conference.
Thank you. On behalf of Bank of Maharashtra, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.