Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the UCO Bank Q3 FY26 earnings conference call. Today, from the management side, we have with us Mr. Ashwani Kumar, MD and CEO, Mr. Rajendra Kumar, Executive Director, and Mr. Vijay Kamble, Executive Director. With this, I hand over the call to MD, Sir, for his opening remarks, post which we'll have a Q&A session. Thank you, and over to you, Sir.
Thank you. First of all, let me welcome all our analysts and investors to this post-December results con call. With me, I have our EDs, Shri Saboo-ji; Shri Kamble-ji; our Corporate General Managers, CFO, CRO, CGM IT, CGM HR; all are available. First of all, let me wish you all a Happy New Year. And now, I'll just give you a small brief of the financial performance of the bank. We have already uploaded the presentation. I believe that every one of you have gone through. But brief about the results of the bank, I will like to share with you all.
So far as business growth is concerned, the bank's business grew by 13.25% on the YOY basis, which was backed by a deposit growth of 10.64% and advance growth of 16.74%. Deposit growth was backed by growth in CASA deposit by 11.49%. Within CASA, savings grew by around 10%, and current grew by 23%. Our CASA ratio improved by 44 basis points to 38.41%, and we have been able to maintain our CASA in the ratio of 37% to 38% consistently for the last seven quarters.
In advances, the growth of 16.74% was backed by growth in the RAM segment, which increased by 25.86%, and that was backed by growth in retail advances by 24.69%, agriculture by 23.56%, and MSME by 23.56%. In MSME, we have seen that the last three quarters we are growing more than 20% consistently. Within retail, housing grew by 19%, vehicle grew by 73%, and RAM share in the overall credit mix works out to be around 66%.
So far as NPAs capital adequacy of the bank is concerned, the capital adequacy ratio of the bank stood at around 17.43%, with Tier 1 capital at 15.41% and CET1 at 15%. If we include this nine-month profit also, then our capital adequacy ratio stood at 18.67%. PCR of the bank has been improving on a quarter-on-quarter basis. In March 2023, it stood at around 65%. Now, in December 2023, it has reached to 78.56%. Every quarter, there is an improvement in our PCR.
Coming to profitability, the operating profit of the bank for this quarter stood at around INR 1,680 crores, registering a growth of 6% on a YOY basis, and net profit was INR 739 crores, registering a growth of 15.65%. During this period, NII, net interest income, grew by 11.27% on a YOY basis, and on a nine-month basis, it grew by 9.38%. Net interest margin improved to 3.08% on the global and domestic. It stood at 3.27%, as against 3.03% global and 3.23% domestic last quarter. Our cost of fund also improved by 25.7 basis points, came down to 4.48%.
Yield on advances stood at 8.06%. Cost-to-income ratio, that is an important parameter. It has again improved to now. It has come down to 52.20%. It is a 330 basis points reduction on a year-on-year basis. Return on asset, which is another important parameter, it has improved to 0.83%. Last quarter, it was 0.71%. Fee-based income also grew by around 30% on a YOY basis, and on a nine-month basis, it grew by 22.46%. Then, coming to asset quality, gross NPA has improved to 2.41%, as against 2.91%. That is a 50 basis points reduction on a YOY basis. Net NPA also improved to 2.36%, as against 0.63%.
That is 27 basis points reduction on a YOY basis. PCR improved to 97.32%, and tangible PCR also now stands at 85.47%. Slippage ratio for the quarter improved to 0.85%. Slippages were mainly from the MSME, retail, and agri, not from the corporate segment. So total slippages, 419 crores, were from the RAM segment itself. And that too, majority of the slippages were less than INR 10 lakh accounts. If I have to look at SMA, more than INR 1 crore, we always, in every quarter, declare more than INR 1 crore SMA book. INR 1 crore SMA book of the bank, SMA-0, 1, 2, all three segments put together is only 1,605 crores.
That works out to 0.68% of the total book. And if I look at SMA-1 and 2, that is only 848 crores, and that works out to less than 0.5% of the book. Within the SMA book, if I have to look at the corporate SMA, SMA-1 and 2 in the corporate segment, it is only INR 316 crores. Coming to recovery, recovery during this nine-month period, total recovery is INR 2,215 crores, and against a target which we have given, guidance we have given of INR 2,200-INR 2,700 crores. During these three months, the recovery this quarter was INR 383 crores, and last quarter it was INR 366 crores. So that is on the recovery front.
Our recovery and upgradation is always in excess of the slippages during this quarter. If I have to look at the efficiency of the bank, business per employee improved to INR 26.12 crores in December 2025, as against INR 23 crores in December 2024. Similarly, business per branch also improved to INR 166.32 crores, as against INR 149.74 crores in the last financial year. As far as some provisions which banks have been carrying, there is a buffer or floating provision, you can say, or you can say that forward-looking provision towards ECL. We have already started making the provision.
This quarter, we have made additional provision in the standard book. So now the overall provision which we carry, forward-looking provision, is INR 1,252 crores, which includes INR 530 crores of COVID-looking provision which we have made earlier years. So total provision towards ECL today stands at INR 1,252 crores. As far as LCR is concerned, 110%-112% LCR is maintained by the bank. These were all about the performance of the bank. Now, a few of the initiatives which bank started this year and previous year, we have already completed those initiatives.
A few of the initiatives bank is now planning in this year. Also, I'll just highlight a few of them. Previously, we started the digital transformation project, Project Parivartan. Bank has already implemented more than 30 journeys which have been made live, and which in retail, agri, MSME, and liability segment as well. So total 15,900 crores of digital business book has been built by the bank, and of that, more than two lakh customers have been given credit through digital means. So through STP journey, two lakh customers have been given loans by the bank. Today, when I speak, more than 50% of our FDs are made digitally.
Loan-based FDs, more than 50% is happening digitally. More than 61% accounts are opened through tap banking digitally. Mobile banking users have also increased four times over the last two years. Now it stands at more than 64 lakh. Bank's mobile app rating continues to be at 4.8, which is one of the best mobile app ratings of the bank.
WhatsApp Banking we started last year. Now we have reached, we are giving 47 services through WhatsApp Banking, eight regional languages plus Hindi and English. So total 10 languages are there in WhatsApp Banking. In almost less than one year, 17 lakh customers are now using WhatsApp Banking. In addition to this, CBDC has also been implemented. PMS has been implemented. Learning and Development Center of Excellence has been made. Then new treasury solution, which we were talking last year, that has gone live this quarter. Then data center consolidation also we talked last year.
So this last quarter, that has also gone live now. Data center consolidation at Kolkata has happened. Then API gateway also has been implemented. We have already completed our automation of ALM TPM solution. Application performance monitoring system has been implemented. In order to improve and to gauge the level of customer service and customer resolution, grievance resolution mechanism, we have started a feedback mechanism also where customers are giving feedback about our current services by our staff members. That is also now happening. Now, MuleHunter and I4C integration is also completed.
So these were the initiatives which we had started, and they are already completed now. What we are planning is Omnichannel experience. That Omnichannel project is already on way. In next year, it will be completed. Cash management services, then supply chain finance, robotic process automation, Forex Travel Card, CASA Back Office, DMS, IDAM, Cybers ecurity. Then 10 more digital journeys are in pipeline in the Project Parivartan. Then, last year, we revamped our call center.
Now we are planning to make call center as a profitable center by using call center for the digital services like digital cross-selling of the products and digital journeys also. As far as IT expenditure is concerned, we have kept a budget of more than INR 1,000 crores. Around INR 700 crores has already been now spent. So next quarter, hopefully, we will be completing the digital budget, IT budget also. Also, thank you very much. And now we are available for your question answers. We are open for that. Thank you.
Thank you, Sir. We'll start with question and answer session. Those who have any question, please raise your hand. The first question is from the line of Ashok Ajmera. You have been unmuted. Please go ahead with your question.
Yes, Ajmera -ji.
Can you hear me?
Yes, yes, Ajmera -ji. Now we can hear you.
Sir, compliments to you, Ashwani Sir, Saboo -ji, Kamble -ji, and the entire top management and the entire management of UCO Bank for fantastic results. Even continuously, I mean, maintaining good results quarter-after-quarter. This quarter is no exception. My compliments to you for the same. In fact, generally, there was a concern on the credit growth in most of these banks, barring some two, three banks. But in your case, you have excelled very well on the credit also, 10.73% only in nine months, against your whole target of the whole year of 11%-13% to 14%.
So of course, on the deposit side, in nine months, we are only 5.63%. My first question is, Sir, on the credit growth, when you already achieved a handsome growth of almost about 11% in nine months, why don't you just revise the overall year's credit target? Because your CET1 ratio is still comfortable, good LCR, and deposit also, I'm sure you will meet the target of 10-11% which has been given. So this is my first question. And Sir, I need your comments and feedback on this, please.
Yeah, thank you, Ajmera -ji. Thank you for your compliments. And you see, the bank has been consistently showing stable growth in each of the parameters quarter-after-quarter. So whereas credit growth is concerned, if you look at on a quarterly basis, YOY basis, we are growing more than 15%. But on a conservative basis, we always keep our guidance 12-14%. Because in this current market, though we are growing well in RAM, but in corporate, if you look at our corporate credit growth, there is slight muted growth in the corporate segment. That is basically because of some pricing issues.
If you go deeper into the details, you will find that our PSU exposure has come down by around INR 6,000 crores. So if you look at our corporate growth, corporate book, so INR 6,000 means around 8-9% of exposure, 8-9%. So had that been, our corporate credit growth would have been better, and our overall credit growth would have been much better.
So looking into all those things, we always keep our guidance within the trend, slightly higher than the trend, rather, I will say, because when we look at the economy and the credit growth in the overall system, we don't want to outgrow beyond a reasonable margin. So that is the reason we are keeping our growth targets within. But every quarter, if you see, we have been surpassing our target. So we expect that we will be achieving and surpassing that credit growth target also. But we'll continue to keep our credit growth target of 12%-15%, 14%.
Yeah, why I said, Sir, that because our base is still comparatively small, you know, in the size of near to the, say, Bank of Maharashtra and some of the other banks. So here, there is a lot of scope, and you have got a strong team, strong management, strong balance sheet also. Your provisioning is almost about 97%-98% already there. And I think the current underwriting book is also very good, as I see. So anyway, Sir, now coming to this, you have already talked about ECL provisioning of INR 1,252 crores of this.
But Sir, what will be the total quantum of the ECL if you have done some calculation and whether you are going to complete it in one or two, 2027 and 2028 only, or you are going to also take the benefit of that five years, Sir, in that?
See, if you look at our back of the envelope calculations which we have done, it should be in the range of INR 2,500-INR 3,000 crores currently, as per our estimates. So around 50% of that, if I take a lower band of INR 2,500, so 50% of that we have already built in, right? And I expect now we have still five, six quarters, rather, because in June 2027, we have to go live with that, right? So we have six quarters. This quarter, we have also again built around INR 200 crores towards ECL.
So going by this trend, if profitability supports, everything supports, I believe we should be near to our requirement by the time it is implemented. We should be near to it. And if at all not, then probably within one year, I think we should be in a position to achieve what is required to be achieved. So I don't think that bank will need a longer period of five years' time which is required, which is permitted, because we have already started building, and I expect that by June, we should be near to the numbers required.
Sir, my second question is on the impact of this labor code, new labor code. Have you calculated, because I don't find in this quarter any hit has been taken, rather, I think if you look at the employee cost, which is lesser than the last quarter. So how much impact do you see? Is it significant, or it's a small impact which you are in the normal course going to pass on it?
It's very insignificant because we have a very small number of contractual employees. We don't have a large number of contractual employees. It is very insignificant. May not be even 25 lakh. May not be 25 lakh.
Sir, my next question is, Sir, on the capital raise. You had done the QIP INR 2,000 crores in, I think, the March 2025 quarter. And still, the government holding is very, very high, 90.95%. So is there any plan in the immediate future? You must have got already the approval, I suppose. But are you planning to raise any, I mean, doing any further QIP, or government is going to planning for any OFS to reduce the government holding?
See, there are two ways. One is QIP, one is OFS. I think OFS is already government is planning. Two banks, it is already done. I think two, three banks are there in the pipeline. We may see that anytime there will be OFS also. So by that, it will come a little bit lower. As far as requirement of capital is concerned, I have already shared that we are adequately capitalized. Otherwise, if we add our nine months profit, even with these profits itself, we are more than 18% CRAR. But nevertheless, we have to achieve the requirement of SEBI also by bringing down the shareholding of the government to 75%.
So we have already taken board approval, AGM approval, EGM approval. Our approvals are in place. At the right and opportune time, we'll come to the market for QIP also. We have taken approval of INR 2,700 crores from the board.
Sir, my last question in this round is on the treasury book. Some color on that, because our treasury income, though in this quarter, is little better than the last quarter. But overall, if you see, the treasury income contribution is coming a little down in the overall banking profitability. So going forward, how do we see our treasury behaving?
See, if you look at our treasury book, we have been maintaining this book almost at the constant level. We are not outgrowing. And if we look at March, from March, a little bit, we have increased from September, rather, after June. March to June, we have not grown our treasury book. That was within the range itself, because that time the yield was low. After June, the yields have again spiked. So we have started building up in some SDLs and all that.
So wherever we are getting an opportunity through OMO, we are exiting also, and we are buying OMO also. So if you see, our yield also is improving. And our, I think, modified duration is around in the range of 3.6, 3.6. So 3.6. So we are well placed as far as treasury book is concerned. We don't foresee any challenge as far as income from the treasury book is concerned, because very cautiously, we are investing and liquidating the treasury portfolio.
Sir, very good, Sir. Thank you very much for having replied to all my queries in this round, because I suppose many other people also must be waiting. Though I can discuss for another 10 minutes on some of the other points, but I will give opportunity to others, Sir. Thank you very much, and all the very best. And let's see that you grow much, much higher than what the targets which you have given. Thank you, Sir.
Thank you. Participants, please raise your hand for the question. We have a next question from the line of Sushil Choksey. Sir, please go ahead.
Yes, Choksey -ji. I think you need to unmute.
Sushil -ji, Sir, please go ahead with your question.
I think there may be some network issue or something. Yeah, Sushil -ji.
You can take somebody else also. Otherwise, then if Sushil is taking some time.
Yes, Sir, please go ahead with your question. If you have any further question.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Sir, my third in this round, you have got, I mean, you have in this quarter, you perform very well on the NIM front also. The NIM is 3.08 as against, I think, your guidance of 2.9 or 3. So going forward, even in the, I mean, going back, even in the last quarter, it was 2.9, and now 3.08. So going forward with all the kind of impact of the earlier liability mismatch and other thing and the deposit getting into the picture, because now the, I think, burden will get reduced. So do you think that the NIM will further keep improving in the or improve in the coming quarter to finish a good FY26?
I think NIM will continue to be in this trajectory only because if you look at the pace of reduction in the deposit rate, that is not in line with the reduction in the repo rate. Still, deposit is at a very reasonably high rate, not at lower rate. So I believe that the NIM should be in the range of this trajectory only going forward in the next quarter.
Okay, Sir. Sir, in the case of this SMA, though the SMA numbers are very much under control, and where rarely you see this kind of only 0.68 or 0.5 for the corporate book, the entire SMA, including, I think, in your case, even SMA-0 also. But you said that corporate SMA was around something around INR 300 crore or something, isn't it, in the SMA-2? 316. So is it one or two chunky, I mean, bigger accounts which have slipped to SMA-2, or is there, I mean, variety of the corporate accounts, Sir?
This is not SMA-2. This is all SMA- 0,1, 2 put together is INR 316 crore. So this is not only 2; 0, 1, 2 put together. And there are various corporates, not some. Sorry. INR 316 crore is corporate only. Corporate SMA-2. SMA-2.
Sorry. Yeah, SMA-2.
That is why I raised that question that whether-
The total is 511, SMA-2 is 316. See, it is not a, it's not a one or two account. There are few accounts which are in SMA-2. But if you look at their SMA-0, SMA-1 is zero. So there are certain accounts which are there in SMA-0. They will come back to SMA-0 because of some reason they have come to SMA-2.
No, no. By the time, like, we are already one month, you know, like, we are in January. So whether this SMA-2 was under control, I mean, regularized, or okay. So no chance of slipping into.
No, not, not, not.
Into the NPA.
Yes, yes.
Can we discuss something more?
So we'll take the next question from the line of Sushil -ji.
Sushil -ji, aaiye.
Welcome. Sushil -ji, unmute [Foreign language] .
I think he is. Unmute[Foreign language] I think he is not able to. We have already unmuted him. I know. He is logging from two. Ha, okay. Unmute [Foreign language] . Sushil -ji, unmute [Foreign language] .
Sir, good evening. Congratulations to UCO Management for very stable number. Good evening.
Good evening. Thank you.
Thank you, and sorry for all the hiccups which we are having with various technology platforms. Sir, seeing our result, if I have to look at growth, which is the core understanding which we need to have in the current economy, PSU banks is the flavor of the season in stock market as well as on credit performance. What we should look forward from UCO in the quarter to come by and for the year of 2026?
See, if you look at our growth, more particularly credit growth, and you look at the composition of credit growth, the proportion of each segment in the credit growth, and not only in December quarter, but previous quarters as well. So every quarter, like, I'll take an example of retail. So retail is growing more than 20% for the last four, five quarters. And within retail, housing is in the range of 18%-20%, 18%, 19%, 20%. Car loan growth is 40%-70% in this range.
Car loan growth is there. So retail is growing. Each segment is growing. And both the segments, major components of retail, housing and car are growing in proportion. So there is no challenge on the credit growth concern. And the subsequent quarters also will continue to grow in the same way because there is a set pattern and stability is there. It's not that one quarter we have grown and one quarter we have not grown. Similarly, agri also. Agri also on quarter on quarter, consistently we are growing. This quarter growth was around 23%, 24%.
And previous quarter it was in the range of 20%, 17%, so 17%, 20%, 23%. Similarly, MSME for the last three quarters is more than 20%. Prior to that, there was some slowness in the MSME, but last four quarters, it is 18%, 20%, 23% plus 23%. And similar growth we can see in next quarter also. And how and why this growth is coming because last year we revamped our underwriting standards. We started retail hubs and MSME and agri hubs. Now the decision-making has happened centrally.
Our TAT has improved. As a result, the quality of underwriting has improved and service delivery time has also improved. So that is leading to the credit growth in various segments. So next quarter, I think, 2024, in the fourth quarter, similar trends we will see and we will achieve our guidance which we have already given at the start of the financial year.
Sir, if we can sustain our RAM growth with retail growth as a part of the story, how are margins in home loans, how are margins on auto loans, and how are margins on the other products where we are likely to be, whether it's education or any other loans where we think we'll grow well? I understand that home loan in India is not a, I mean, there is a big market yet to happen looking at the urbanization and development.
Education within India itself can become big with all the noise which is coming from Mr. Donald Trump. So keeping in mind what product is very profitable, I understand second-hand car market, you are far ahead of many banks and I think leading PSU banks also have opened their eyes that Mr. Ashwani Kumar is doing well at UCO Bank on this product. Let's look at it. So can you highlight all this product? What will lead to a betterment compared to competition and where we can grow fast er?
Yeah, if you look at our first, let me talk about, you talked about margins. Our growth has come mainly from RAM segment. Even then, our margins have improved. If you go back to the history, our margin used to be 2.8% in NIM. So now we have already crossed three, and we are consistently above three in last quarter. I think 3.03, this quarter 3.08, we have improved our margin. So we are growing each segment, and we are growing in profitable segments. If you look at the segment where we are growing, car loan growth, our growth is around 70%.
We have revamped our entire product profile of car loans, education loans, and home loans. So agriculture loan, MSME, more than 30 products we have launched in the last two years' time for various schemes to cater to the requirements of our MSME customers. So the NIM is coming from better NIM is coming from MSME segment, even education loan, second-hand car loan, even car loan also. Because when we take car loan, we have the opportunity of taking his CASA account also.
So salary account, current account in case he's a businessman, or family accounts. Similarly, so we don't look at purely a transaction of housing loan and car loan. We look at the whole book of products which we are able to offer him and generate some revenue by way of cost reduction through CASA or by cross-selling of the product. So that is the, that is the way you can see that many of the banks, you can see there is a CASA reduction over a period of time.
Right? But if you look at our bank for last, I think March 2023 onwards, we are continuously maintaining our CASA ratio in the range of 37%-38%. So we have not seen a decline in our CASA ratio, except in one quarter, it was 36.91%, but again, next quarter it was 38%. So overall, the strength from where the margins are coming through cross-sell also, through generating their CASA accounts, and we'll continue to explore and deepen the relationship with our customers. And another important thing which is adding to our margins is our digital journeys. In the last one year itself, we have digitized 30 journeys.
And we have built a book of around INR 15,000 crore in digital journey. More than 50% FDs are happening online through mobile banking and loan-based FD. So all this is adding to reduction in my cost also. So that is the way on a progressive basis we are trying to improve our cost also and income also by combination of various products and services.
Sir, reply to my question. I accept that you are able to master CASA also along with selling retail products. On a hypothetical or reality, on an average basis, if I'm generating 100 loans, how many accounts are converting to other products?
See, our endeavor is to get at least one more product from each customer. Our endeavor is there. But definitely not every customer, maybe 40%-50% of the customers we are able to onboard on some other product.
Okay. Now, looking at geographies where we are stronger compared to pan-India basis, how is the behavior on acceptance of our new products, existing products, and saving products? Are we able to penetrate better compared to where we stand today, or the outlook is getting better, or we need to enter with new geographies and new branches for expansion?
See, if you look at our strength currently, more than around 30% plus branches are in East and Northeast, and similar is the trend in North. So far as expansion is concerned, we are more focused for expansion towards Western and Southern part because there our presence is slightly less, and they are the more contributing states in the GDP of the economy, so that is one strategy we are working that we are planning to open branches in those geographies where the GDP contribution is higher, and we also look at the PIN code-wise deposit and credit profile of the area while we open the branches.
Number one. Number two, as far as the penetration of products in the areas where we have strength or not, that itself speaks about the quality of our CASA which we have maintained. Our CASA, had we not penetrated in those areas, we could not have, would not have been able to maintain our CASA in the range of 37%-38%.
We have revamped our entire saving or current account products, entire saving. And we are more focused towards the salary. Recently, the Ministry of Finance has announced a comprehensive salary package for the central government employees, where our bank is also participating, and we'll be opening now more and more salary accounts of various central government employees as well. And the benefits will continue to come to the bank. So that is the way we are working. And where we have strength, we are giving better products also to those areas.
Apart from product, the differentiator I think will be more important is the customer service and the ambiance of the branches. In these two fronts also, the bank is continuously working to see that our customers get better quality of service and quality of resolution of their grievances also improved. So on these fronts also we are working.
Sir, answering to my question, you already elaborated that service and digital both are key towards whether to sell product or attract customers for deposit or any other services.
Yes.
How much spend are we likely to do on digitization over a period other than what we have spent over the next 12-24 months? I know it's a repeat question from every analyst.
No, no, no, no, no, no issues. No issues. We are more than happy to answer.
And second is, yeah, yeah. Customer service, human resource, empowerment, and decentralizing a lot of processes. Centralizing the TAT would be important, but decentralizing sourcing. When you are looking at expansion, what kind of unique measures and what kind of spend are we doing so that we garner those customers and our performance gets better than where we stand today?
Okay. Going by the first question, I think about the IT spent, IT and digital spent. This year we had kept a budget of around INR 1,100 crore and around 700+ crore is already spent. Next year, all our teams are already working for the plan for the next year. I believe the next year, because now majority of the projects which we thought of in the last three years almost are nearing completion. But still, there is a lot of scope for further improvement and enhancement in our existing IT infrastructure also.
I believe that next year it should also be in the range of INR 800-1,000 crore because many projects are still in pipeline, like I talked about, various projects which we are thinking omnichannel, Forex PC, Forex card. Our new DR we are planning. And then supply chain we are planning. CMS we are planning.
CASA back office, EMS. So on cybersecurity also, enhanced tools we are planning. And we are planning to convert our call center into a profitable center through digital use of digital journeys through call centers. So there are a number of initiatives. Robotic process automation is also in the plan. So a number of initiatives are there. I think it should be in the range of INR 800 crore-INR 1,000 crore in the next year itself, next year also.
Sir, East is well known for resources, whether it is some of the agri-related specifically or even in minerals. The world is changing minerals, which is very visible. The country which has now India also for becoming a big manufacturing hub. We'll need our captive resources, and there's a lot of demand likely to emerge in the part where you have good focus. Can you indicate if people are approaching you for some kind of working capital or term loan facilities where resources companies are concerned?
See, there is, we have not seen much attraction in this part. We have not seen it yet. Maybe in the next quarter or so, we'll get some good proposals in that. Till date, we have not got any bigger big ticket proposals in this area.
Sir, how is our international book shaping up?
International book is steadily increasing. I think deposit, if you look at our deposit growth in the international, is around 18% growth in overall overseas deposit is concerned. And domestic, sorry, overseas advances around 12% growth is there.
So the public numbers, public numbers I've seen it. I'm seeing from a future point of view when the fight is for lowering interest rates. At the same time, there are very many challenges on each geography-wise based in Singapore and Southeast Asia predominantly or GIFT City. How is demand coming for those kinds of loans on a fully hedged basis or international market? Can we have a good growth because Indian management are also looking at opportunities of acquisition?
See, proposals are coming, and the only challenge is in the pricing. So that is the, we are taking a very calculated call where we have a good pricing and some margins are there so that we are able to generate revenue for the bank. Only those proposals we are taking. That is the reason I think you can see that growth is around 12% only in the advances. So whereas sources from the overseas market concerned, we are raising resources in the overseas market.
That is not a challenge, but landing at a profitable margin is a challenge. But we evaluate each and every opportunity and also the repayment, if it is coming at what rate, the earlier loan repayment is coming at what rate the new loan is giving, whether it is giving some better margin from the previous loan. So all those avenues we consider before taking a call to go ahead or to say no to any proposal. So opportunities are there.
Opportunities, there is no challenge about the opportunities. And with this, I think opening up of the M&A also, new opportunities will be there. And I expect the margins may be better in the times to come.
Sir, my next question to Saboo-ji, what is the outlook on G-Sec based on current yield?
You know the markets. Nobody can say anything about the markets as to how they will behave in the future. But yes, we have seen that G-Sec yields have strengthened in the last quarter also. And currently, in this cycle, we are at the upper end of the yield. We may see further a little bit maybe, but I think this will remain in this range only because RBI has been taking good initiatives, many new things they have done. I mean OMO has been brought, and then again, they are coming with VRR and all those things to manage the liquidity. So the liquidity RBI is watching for, and we get good support from them.
So I think the yields on G-Secs will remain in this range only where it is moving for the last one quarter at least and the last one month. So we don't see much movement into these yields for the time being because we know that RBI is having neutral stance and inflation has at least been in the range of the RBI. And any action further going forward will be only on the data basis. So which type of data comes on the growth front and on the inflation front, that will decide the future course of action. So we are also in the neutral position as of now as far as the yields are concerned.
Next question to Kamble, Sir, how much is unavailable credit from sanction today and what is the pipeline for the quarter? Specifically for corporate credit.
Yeah, yeah. So in case of the corporate credit, almost INR 4,000-5,000 crores are in the unavailable. In pipeline, almost INR 8,000-9,000 crores in the pipeline.
Total INR 10-12 thousand crores in the available in the corporates.
And this is credit which you have sanctioned, allowing the low yielding advances to be shredded and then new replacement or existing customers borrowing new, I suppose.
Yeah, it will be case to case basis, Sir.
Sir, what is the exposure between? I may be getting a little into specific, but SIDBI, NaBFID, NABARD?
Nothing. Zero. Zero, zero.
Congratulations, Sir. I'm happy that your, I mean, one side you are not lending to them.
All exited. IBPC also exited. Total zero.
Sir, I would take it as a good news that whatever your result, if there's no IBPC, there's no SIDBI, there's no NaBFID, government may not like that you're lending at 6.15% and 6.25%. But if you're yielding any assets at 8.5% and 9%, it's a very good news and congratulations to Team UCO and best wishes for 26.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Pashmi Chheda. You have been unmuted. Please go ahead.
Hi Sir. Hello. I just, I have one question. What is the quantum of MCLR cuts that you have taken so far in the year? And how much do you expect to cut in the next four to five quarters?
MCLR, I think 9.30 basis points cut is already in place. And expected cut, I can't tell you because it is to be decided by ALCO on a monthly basis. Next month, we'll have on 10th again, ALCO eight, nine, 10 because 10th is our date. So if you look at every month, there is some reduction in MCLR because it is based on the formula given by Reserve Bank of India. So I can't give you the number that how much will be the reduction in next quarter or next six months. But definitely, basis the formula, if the reduction is there, it will definitely happen. But till now, 30 basis points is already done.
Thank you. We have a follow-up question from the line of Ashok Ajmera.
Yes Sir. Thanks. Of course, Sushil has covered most of the remaining questions, which I could not either take it earlier. But Sir, I would still, luckily, we have some time and I would like to know the color of the NBFC book, Kamble Sir and Ashwani Sir. How do we stand there in the NBFC front and what are our policies?
I understand that we are a little choosy and rigid on the NBFCs. But having said that, what is our experience is that some of these NBFCs, even though they are small, but they are lending to the low-cost housing or low-cost and low amount of loan, average 7-7.5 lakh for the housing and other things. Even though they are not rated A, maybe triple B minus or so, but they give you the better opportunity to earn good money. The interest rate can be 9.5-10.5, anything between that. So what is the present situation and are we thinking on those lines to little bit liberalize the small loans to the smaller NBFCs?
See, Ajmera -ji, so far as NBFC or any other corporate is concerned, MSME, retail, bank looks at every proposal from bankable angle. If the proposal is bankable, we don't say no, even if it is a triple B or double B. But if they have an established track record, everything is there and it fits into our norms. So we don't say no to every proposal. So every proposal is examined on a case-to-case basis and accordingly, decision is taken.
So there is no no-go to anyone like we'll not go with this NBFC or this corporate or this MSME segment. So there is no such no-go type of thing. Every proposal is examined from the credit angle and the bankability of the proposal.
And what is the total exposure to the NBFC as on date? The
NBFC, if you look at our exposure, is around INR 27,000 crore to NBFCs. It works out to around 12% of our total book. That is INR 27,000 crore.
And what is our experience of those accounts?
There is no slippage in those accounts except in the MFI. There was one slippage earlier, but our overall MFI exposure is now only, I think, less than INR 500 crore, so not even INR 440 crore. So that is also under control. If you look at one year back, it was around INR 1,300 crore. Now it is INR 440 crore.
Oh yeah, that is good to know, Sir, and some color on the gold loan, Sir, gold loan agri and non-agri because now the categorization has been a little bit changed. I think the liberalization is there that you can take some collateral also up to the, I think, INR 2 lakh loan also. So what is the position of the gold loan and are we bullish on that, and what is the LTV? Yeah.
If you look at our gold loan portfolio, it is around INR 15,000 crore only. We have not had a very big exposure in the gold loan, INR 15,000 crore. And of that, around INR 4,000 crore should be in the retail and INR 4,000 crore plus should be in the retail and around INR 10,500 crore should be in the agriculture segment. So this is the overall composition of our retail and agri. In retail, LTV should be in the range of 25%-30%. In agri, we will be around 15%-20% in LTV. But again, what is the current price of the gold?
The base price taken is an average of some period. So in the base price and in the current price itself, there is a margin there. And over and above that, we keep another margin. So we don't expect any issue as far as the pricing, sorry, LTV is concerned. So we have a robust system of auctioning and other things as per the SOPs. Yeah, SOP is there. Yeah, yeah, SOP is there and everything is in place. The sale happens according to that only in case there is an auction is to be done.
Now, Sir, just your views on whatever is happening around, you know, the current geopolitical situation. Of course, duty things are there, then the sanctions are there. More sanctions are coming, Iran and Russia and all that. And I mean, some unimaginable things are happening around. So do you see as per your banking portfolio, I mean, if you look at that, that there can be any major concern on that if something like this keeps happening? And I mean, do you have that particular segment which is exposed to this kind of businesses or subject to these high duties and exports and other things?
Have you evaluated whether some work has been done on that to understand and to evaluate the situation if it arises that what is the quantum which can be affected, Sir?
See, if you look at our total, let me talk about this scenario first. I think the geopolitical scenario, it is impacting not only UCO Bank, but all the banks, even the customers also. As far as overall impact, if you ask, I believe we have a strong consumption economy and if there is an impact on the export front, I think domestic is able to support the surplus quantity available of the products. If I have to look at our bank's exposure, we have around kitna hai isme? No, how, what is this?
We have around INR 2,000 crore of export credit exposure, and of which only 5% is in respect of countries where some of this tariff and all these things have happened. So it's not a major one, around INR 100 crore of only exposure for the bank in those countries. So not much of worry for the UCO Bank because our exposure to those countries is very limited.
Thank you. There is a question in the chat box. What percentage of your deposit book has been repriced so far? And what is your, what is the direction for the net interest margin for FY27?
See, my around 75% of my deposit book has been repriced. I think remaining some portion will get repriced in this quarter and maybe one tenth of the book will be repriced in the first quarter.
So I think by first quarter, entire book will be repriced, number one. Yeah. And second, on margin front, I think it again depends upon the repo rate cut in the times to come, how it happens. Still, we don't know. In February, there is an MPC. In April, there is an MPC. But given the scenario that there is no rate cut and the liquidity conditions remain same or rather improve, I think the NIM should be in the range of 3% in the next year itself, next year also.
Thank you. We'll take that as a last question. I hand over the call to MD Sir for his opening remarks.
Closing. So thank you. Thank you very much to all the analysts and investors for joining the conference, taking out the time. And thank you for your trust and confidence in the bank. We will continue to deliver our performance, stable and consistent performance in the quarters to come. It will be our endeavor to come to your expectations. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.