Bandhan Bank Limited (BANDHANBNK) Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Bunsen Bank Q4-FI26 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant lines will remain 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 the operator by pressing star, then zero on your touch-tone telephone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now have the conference over to Mr. Vikash Mundra, Head of Investor Relations, for opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you.

Thank you, Raya. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to London Bank's earning call to discuss our business and financial performance for the quarter and full year ended, 31st March, 2026. Thank you for joining us today. We truly appreciate your time and participation. During today's call, we will walk you through our operating performance, key developments during the period, and our strategic priorities going ahead, along with our view on the operating environment. Joining us this evening are Mr. Partha Patim Sengupta, Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Ratan Kumar Keshe, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Rajinder Kumar Babar, Executive Director and Chief Business Officer, Mr. Rajiv Mantri, Chief Financial Officer, and other members of the Senior Management Team, and Vikash Mundra, Head of Investor Relations. Following the management's remarks, we will be happy to take your questions on the quarter's performance and our outlook. With that, I would now invite our managing director and CEO, Mr. Pastor, sir, to share his opening comments. Over to you, sir. Thank you, Vikash. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. On behalf of Bandhan Bank, I am pleased to welcome you to our earnings call to discuss the financial performance for the fourth quarter and full year of FY26. We appreciate your continued trust on us. This has been an important and challenging year for the bank, and we look forward to sharing our perspectives on the quarter, the evolving operating environment, and our priorities going forward. This quarter marked an improvement across many key parameters, reflecting strengthening fundamentals across our core businesses. We saw encouraging momentum built through the quarter, underpinned by disciplined execution, and a sharp focus on balance sheet quality. On the asset side, advances continue to grow at a healthy pace. The EV segment has not only stabilized, but also delivered good sequential growth, reinforcing our confidence in the portfolio. At the same time, our secured book continued strong growth trajectory and adding resilience to the overall loan portfolio. On the liability side, we made meaningful progress in improving the quality and granularity of our deposits. CASA growth was strong during the quarter, and retail deposit mobilization continued to grow at an elevated trajectory. In parallel, we consistently reduced the share of high-cost bulk deposits, which has helped strengthen the liability profile and improve granularity going forward. These actions are reflecting in our profitability metrics as well. Margin showed an encouraging upward trend during the quarter, supported by the sustained reduction in the cost of funds. Free income also saw a healthy pickup, led by the strong growth in recurring and predictable streams, such as processing fees and third-party products' income, further enhancing the stability of our revenue profile. Asset quality trends during the quarter were constructed, we saw not only a decline in slippages on a sequential basis, But also, a meaningful improvement across SMA backwards. This reflects improving portfolio behavior and the effectiveness of our early warning and monitoring mechanisms and improved collection efficiency. While the progress this quarter has been encouraging, we remain clear on the areas where we are sharpening our focus further. Granular deposit growth, including CASA, continues to be a key priority, And we are intensifying efforts to defend customer engagement, create digital journeys, and enhance product propositions to further strengthen our liability franchise. Operating expenses were elevated during the quarter due to some non-recurring items, and we remain focused on driving tighter cost discipline and improving operating leverage over the coming periods. Additionally, even as slippages and SMA trends improve, we continue to place strong emphasis on recovery efforts, limiting incremental stress, and moving steadily towards our medium-term credit cost aspirations. This remains a core area of management focus. Overall, the quarter reflects improving fundamentals, strengthening business momentum, and continued balance sheet resilience. We believe the actions we are taking today will position the bank well for sustainable, profitable growth over the medium term. While my colleague and CFO, Mr. Ajit Mantri, will shortly walk you through the financials in detail, I would like to highlight a few key performance indicators from the fourth quarter of FY26. At the end of FY26, our gross advances stood close to Rs.1.54 lakh crore, delivering a healthy 13% YOY growth. Deposit balances scaled up to 1.66 lakh crore, supported by strong traction in retail and CAFSA deposits, reflecting our strategy of strengthening the quality and sustainability of our liabilities. Retail term deposits continue to scale up at a strong pace, recording growth of over 30% YOY, reflecting growing customer confidence and the effectiveness of our brand-centric distribution strategy. CASA balances strengthened sequentially and now account for 29% of total deposits. Consequently, the overall retail deposit composition, including CASA and retail term deposits, improved farther to 74%, reinforcing the stability and granulity of our deposit base. Our focus on optimizing the composition of the loan book continued, with the share of secured lending remaining largely stable over the quarter. The pace of growth of SecureBook over the last year has been strong, enabling us to achieve our targeted portfolio alignment earlier than planned. We expect to sustain the current mix in the near-to-medium term with gradual increase. The quarter saw healthy margin expansion, with means improving sequentially to 6.2% as funding costs soffered. Credit costs continued their downward trajectory, and asset quality metrics trended, with gross and net NPA at 3.3% and 1% respectively, and provision coverage at 85%, including technical write-offs. For Q426, our net total income stood at 3,566 crores, while our operating profit was 1,441 crores. I'm pleased to inform the bank reported a pack of Rs. 534 crore for the quarter, depicting a growth of 68% YOY. Our capital position remains robust. The capital adequacy ratio improved and stands at 18% and Tar1 Capital at 17.3%. This provides ample headroom to support the future growth. We also continue to expand our distribution footprint, taking the branch network to 1,955 branches. During the year, apart from adding new branches, we have upgraded most of our housing finance centers to full-fledged banking branches, and some of them also got merged with the existing branches. Further, we also have 4,400 EB banking units spread across the country. This expansion and reach enhancements and further strengthens our ability to serve customers more effectively. Furthermore, I am pleased to inform you that the Board of Directors has recommended a dividend of rupees 1.50 per share, subject to the approval of the shareholders at the forthcoming annual general meeting. To conclude, the performance this quarter reflects the tangible progress we have made across growth, profitability, asset quality, and balance sheet strength. The improvement we are seeing is broad-based and driven by a clear strategic direction, disciplined execution, and a sustained focus on building a resilient and sustainable franchise. While we remain mindful of the external environment and are accessing its implications, our priorities remain unchanged, strengthening our core businesses, improving the quality of growth, driving efficiency, and consistently enhancing shareholders' value. With a strong capital position, improving fundamentals, and a clear roadmap ahead, we believe Mandan Bank is well positioned to deliver steady and sustainable performance going forward. With that, I would now like to hand over the call to our Chief Financial Officer, Srirajid Mantri, who will take you through the financial performance in greater detail. After that, we will be happy to take your questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Prakash, sir. and a warm welcome to everyone on the call. We'll begin by reviewing the bank's operating performance for the quarter. I will briefly cover the key financial highlights along with it. We'll also discuss our business progress over the period. We'll start with the advances portfolio where the development this quarter underscores the steady head rate we are making in repositioning and strengthening the balance sheet. As of 31st March 2026, the loan book stood at rupees 1.54 The EEV portfolio at Rs. 53,906 crores remains lower on a yearly comparison, which was an industry-wide phenomenon, but it posted a strong sequential growth of 8% during the quarter. Growth in the non-EEB segments remain robust, with the portfolio expanding 25% year-on-year. This book represents close to two-thirds of total advances, reflecting continued progress in portfolio diversification. Within this, retail assets recorded strong growth of 46% year-on-year, driven largely by secured products such as commercial vehicles, construction equipment, auto loans, and gold loans. Wholesale banking also delivered solid expansion of 33% year-on-year, aided by deeper client engagement and discipline execution. Secured book grew 25% year-on-year and now forms nearly 56% of the overall portfolio, supporting further improvement in the asset quality and risk resilience. Overall, the advance mix is more balanced and deconcentrated with no single segment dominating the book. EEP group lending accounts for 23% of advances, small business and agri loans at 12%, wholesale banking 31%, housing 23%, and retail loans nearly 11% of total advances. Turning to liabilities, the total deposits stood at Rs 1.66 crore as of 31st March 2026, reflecting a 10% increase over last year, and a sequential growth of 6% compared to the previous quarter, Which was broadly tracking the expansion in advances. Growth was consciously moderated as we focused on strengthening retail-led deposits without tapping incremental bulk funding. A key highlight has been the continued moderation of bulk deposits, which declined 7% year-on-year. Share of bulk deposits now stands at about 26% of total deposits, down from 31% last year, reflecting a clear and deliberate move away from higher cost, less stable funding sources towards a more resilient and granular liability structure. Within a bulk deposit base, it is also important to highlight that around 89% of these deposits are non-callable in nature. This provides meaningful visibility and stability to our funding profile. Our retail deposit franchise continues to scale well. Retail balances, including CASA, and retail term deposits grew 18% year-on-year. Retail term deposits in particular showed strong traction with 30% year-on-year growth, underscoring customer confidence and deeper engagement with the franchise. On CASA, balances increased to Rs.48752, delivering strong 14.1% sequential growth, driven largely by a sharp pickup in the current accounts. Savings balances also moved up 7% during the quarter. As a result, the CASA ratio improved to 29.3%, up by nearly 200 basis points, quarter on quarter. Let me now turn to asset quality, where we continue to see consistent improvement across the key parameters, reflecting better portfolio behavior and discipline execution. Starting with collections, performance strengthened further during the quarter. Overall collection efficiency, excluding NPA, improved to 98.9% in March 2026, up from 98.1% in December 2025. Within the EEV portfolio, collections remain strong with quarter-wide efficiency at 99.3% versus 98.2% in Q3, FY26. And for the month of March specifically, it was 98.6% up from 98% in December. This represents the collection efficiency X NPS. Additional details for this is available in slide 22 of our investor deck. If we talk about the collection efficiency X bucket, that reflects even a better trajectory. It used to be at 99.3% in quarter three, has improved to 99.6% for quarter four, and in fact, for the month of March, it was at 99.7%. Improvements are equally evident in slippage trends. This gross slippages at the bank level declined sharply to Rs.1028 crores in Q4 compared to Rs.1314 crore in the previous quarter. This moderation was largely driven by the EEV segment where slippages reduced meaningfully to Rs.690 crores compared to Rs.942 crores in Q3FI26. At the same time, recoveries and upgrades improve sequentially, though marginally, taking a total to Rs.360 close during the quarter. Early delinquency indicators are also moving in the right direction. In the EB book, the 0 to 90 DPT pool declined to about 3% of advances, down from 4.6% in the pair quarter, with the sharpest reductions seen in the SMA 0 category. Please refer slide 23 of the investor deck with more details. As a result of these trends, inherent asset quality metrics strengthened further. Gross NPS remained stable at 3.3%, while net NPS improved to 1%. Credit cost moderately took 2% for the quarter compared to 3.3% in Q3 and stood at 3% for the full year of FY26. Provisioning coverage remains comfortable with PCR at 71.1%, which rises to 74.2% if we include the provisions against security receipts, and it rises to 84.9% when adjusted for technical write-offs, which means including technical write-offs. With that, I move on to the financial performance for the quarter, beginning with net interest income for the quarter stood at Rs. 2,796 crores, reflecting a 1.4% year-on-year growth and a 4% sequential increase. This was accompanied by strong expansion in margins, with NIMS improving to 6.2%, up from 5.9% in Q3. The margin uplift was primarily driven by nearly 23 basis points quarter-on-quarter reduction in deposit costs, along with a 14 basis points improvement in advance yields. Turning to other income, performance was encouraging with growth of 10% year-on-year and sharp 12% increase over the previous quarter. Within this, the third-party product's distribution income rose significantly by 34% year-on-year, reflecting improved branch-level penetration and stronger cross-sell execution. Processing fee income also rebounded, supported by higher disbursement volumes, especially within the EB portfolio. Moving to expenses, the operating cost for the quarter came in at Rs. 2,125 crores, representing a 10% increase sequentially. This was largely attributable to non-recurring items, namely PSLC-related costs and technology expenditures. On a full-year basis, however, operating costs both remain well-contained at 9% year-on-year, while the OPEX-to-Average Assets Ratio rose to 4.4% for the quarter due to these two non-recurring items. For the full-year FY26, the ratio remained within a guided level and was at around 4%. Consequently, operating profit for Q4 stood at Rs. 1,441 crores. After accounting for provisions and taxes, the net profit for Q4 was Rs. 534 crores, representing a 68% increase over the same period earlier, and 159% increase over the previous quarter. Return metrics for the quarter also strengthened with return on assets for the quarter was at 1.1%, and the return on equity was at 9%, reflecting improved operating efficiency underlying profitability. Briefly turning to the full-year performance, NIF or FI26 stood at Rs. 10,830 crores, decline of 5.8% year-on-year, on account of moderation in NIN led by continued expansion of secured book and impact of the repo rate cut. Operating profits stood at Rs. 5,865 crores, reflecting resilience in core earnings. NIMP, OPEX to assets and credit costs for FY26 were 6.1%, 4% and 3% respectively. Higher credit costs was an account of pressure on the EB book, Industry Right Phenomenon, that we saw lay out during the year. Net profit for the full year, FY26, was Rs. 1224 crore, resulting in an annualized ROA of 0.6% and ROE of 5%. To summarize, the quarter reflects steady progress across growth, asset quality, margins, and balance sheet residents. Actions over the past two quarters are translating into more stable portfolio, improving profitability while staying disciplined on risk and costs. We remain focused on sustainable growth, strengthening the liability franchise, and further improving the return metrics. With that, I'll now hand it back to the moderator, and we'll be happy to take your questions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use their handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We take the first question from the line of Byron, engineer from CLSA. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Hi, team. Congrats on the quarter. Am I audible?

Yes. Hi, Byron. Yes, yes.

Yeah. Hi. Hi. Hi. Yeah. Good evening. So this first question is what led to the strong average car growth this quarter doubled?

Yeah.

So one-time growth.

We had focused on current account affluent segment, where we could manage a good growth in the current account at the granular level, month on month, which has resulted in the total growth which had happened throughout the year.

Okay, so there's a seasonality in this, right? It won't fall in one queue because of some

These are small SME customers who have opened current accounts with us.

There is no seasonality looping. And our staff department has also continued to grow deposits from the various trusts that have also added.

So, that's the result of all the business initiatives and efforts, right, geared towards improving the current accounts.

And is there any particular target car ratio that we have in mind?

So, we'll continue to improve. So, that is, we have not yet to slide the target to what percentage we've come, but definitely our focus is that we will continue to improve. Last year, also, we were at 31%. The sooner we achieve, at least this milestone, we'll set up a goal to fix our next target.

Yeah, I think our overall CASA, if you see, has gone up from 2723 to 29.3, but then that CASA has improved further. As Parthasar mentioned, we'll continue to improve it further. We're also broad-basing and introducing more products within the table of current accounts and savings. That will help us in terms of improving the CASA further.

Understood. Okay. Okay, fair enough. Secondly, how are we thinking about neutralizing our PSL shortfall and go back to that era of selling PSLC rather than purchasing PSLC?

So, a number of steps have been taken in this regard. So, this year, the cost has been definitely And in the Q4 also, we have to incur a cost of around Rs60. So what we have done is that we have revamped our entire trade process in our EV segment and also focused on our direct agriculture loans. So the effect of these are going to come. So this year, we are expecting that the cost would come to, I would say, almost 50% to what we have incurred last year. That is our aim this year. Going forward, next year, it will be almost neutralized or coming to zero, and after that, we will continue to earn from this PSL portfolio.

And so, this is all from direct Agree Loans?

It will be more from the EB segment also, where allied Agree Loans will be covered, and also the Agree Loans also, and also the small marginal informers.

So, also improved the process that we have for microfinance loans, the EB segment, and the percentage of EB loans qualified for PSL has been improving steadily, which will also help us going forward.

Okay, but then Rajiv, what sort of EB loans today do not classify for PSL and going forward they will classify? Like, what is the change if you can…

No. Again, I'm telling you that it is more of a revamping of a process. So currently, what was there? The agriculture or the allied agriculture loan that we are giving it are not getting captured into our system. So we have made that enable, and I can tell you that currently, a year ago, it was only 10% or 15% of the EBs which were coming under the PSL, qualifying for PSL. Now it has already increased to 40%. Going forward, it will increase to 60-65%. So, the revamping has already been done, and you see for the RBI, also the circular clearly mandates that you have to follow certain processes and procedures to get them qualified. So, those steps have been taken, and we are now, already we are seeing the green shoes, as I told you that almost 40% now have been covered on the EV segment. So, going forward, this percentage would increase, and apart from that, we are also focusing on the agriculture lobes. That is a direct technical challenge, which will have the P.S. validation.

Understood, understood. Then, sir, my next question is about the vehicle business, vehicle finance. Now, the book is 5,000, 6,000 crores. It's a decent size. Can you talk a bit about it? How much, firstly, who is our typical customer who comes to us? Secondly, how much of the cross-rail happens to own deposit customers versus open market? And is it entirely car loans or is it two-wheelers, CV, et cetera also?

Yeah, so these are who we'll be answering. He's our retail head.

Yeah.

Hi. So, this is like to answer your first question. The vehicle loans includes two-wheeler as well as car loans. And the majority of this customer segment is salaried and self-mixed, but the majority, it is a salaried segment. When it comes to other vehicle finance, which you talked about, is commercial vehicle and construction equipment, And there are major focus currently is on strategic and super-strategic customer, and some portions, about 9-10% of our customers are retail, who are holding the fleet of less than 10 vehicles. And about the cross-selling, so currently about almost 20% of our volume comes from our own customer, which we call it existing branch customer, so that is about 20%.

Okay. So, just broadly, what is the mix of loans between CV, PV, two-wheelers?

Okay. So, about 3,000 crore is commercial vehicle, about 1,700 crore is construction equipment, about 1,800 crore is car loans, and about 900 crore is two-wheeler loans.

Okay. This is perfect. Yeah. That's it from my end. Thanks, and wish you all the best.

Thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and 1. We take the next question from the line of Zi Huan Gao from Confeil. Please go ahead.

Hey, thank you for the opportunity. Just on the operating expenses, you mentioned there are some 1O sectors.

Do you mind give some color to Confeil?

There is some disturbance that can you just repeat? Can you repeat the question? Yeah, am I audible?

Yeah, better now.

Okay, on the operating expenses, you mentioned there are one-off factors. Do you mind quantifying those one-off factors in which of it?

Yeah, so I think during the quarter, we had a couple of items which actually do not appear to be recurring. So one is the PSLC cost, the Priority Sector Lending Certificate cost, which as we said that we have taken actions that this should get reduced. So, during the quarter, we had roughly around 60 crores of increase that came through because of the PSLP cost. Apart from that, we had an increase in the IT expenses also, which was also amounting to a similar level of around 60 crores. Within this, there are a number of items which were more timing-related issues, and therefore, we don't expect that to get repeated immediately. These two, I think, are a couple of pre-recurring items which came

And then the next question is, how should we think about, you know, I know the macro concern, but assuming a kind of relatively stable environment, how should we think about a 507?

I think the audio wasn't very clear. We couldn't understand the question. The voice is wrecking, actually. If you can speak a little bit slowly, I think it will be better. Oh, sorry. Yeah, any thoughts on the ROA?

On the ROA? Yeah, so I think ROA, okay, so ROA, we saw improvement from 0.4% in Q3 to a 1% in Q4, and the reason for this is, one is we have seen improvement in the income, as we had highlighted the cost of deposit And also, the other income has seen an improvement. Apart from this, we have seen a reduction in the slippages, which led to a reduction in the provisioning or the credit costs. And these factors, despite a bit of a partial offset through increase in expenses, overall, we still saw the overall profitability improve sequentially. And going forward, as we have been guiding the market, we will be working towards seeing how we can gradually keep on improving the ROA towards the guided level of between 1.6% to 1.7% ROA by the exit of FY27, give or take 10 business points. So we intend to make sequential improvement towards that, aided by multiple factors, and also further sort of improvement in cost upon the fee and discharge.

Yeah. So just to give more clarity on it, one of the major factors is that we could reduce our credit cost. So 2%, number one. Number two is the mean has increased as you've seen to 6.2%. And these are the two major factors. And definitely the other income has also gone up. This is the third one. And the fourth is that despite an increase in the operating costs, the operating costs have So, this trajectory of 1.1 has been maintained.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and 1. We take the next question from the line of Jail Karote from Access Capital. Please go ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, first question is on the month of April now that elections are almost closing in tomorrow. So, anything that we should, I mean, I think this time we didn't have any interruptions, so to say, from collections. So, where to say this collection trend would have held up through the events of April as well?

So, let me tell you the clear picture that till now, there is no adverse effect on collection on account of, I would say, It's either election or war. So the collection efficiency, what Rajiv has stated, is still continuing, but definitely a few, I think one, two basis points, it comes down during the month of April, but it is quite common already. But on the ground, no adverse effect is being seen. And we are hopeful and expecting that this trend will continue.

Great, sir. So second question is on the RBI ECL impact. I don't know if you already spoken in the past about this, but given that the direct, I mean, the final guidelines are exactly as what the draft was, you would have had some time to calculate. So how would your steady state credit costs look like? I'm not concerned about the one-time impact. I'm asking about the steady state credit costs. And just a corollary to that question also, on your unsecured book, what is the standard asset provisioning that you currently do? So, Raghiv here. So, I think on the ECL, we do have the transition impact, which is based on the December 2025 portfolio, based on the earlier draft circular. Yes, I think the latest circular came through yesterday. We are still going through if there are any further changes to that and what will be the implications of it. But based on the earlier draft circular and December 2025 portfolio, the transition impact we expect is to be roughly around 1,250 crores, which, as we are allowed to transition it or spread it over five years, would translate to about a 250 crores per year impact. Given the latest circular talks about this can be passed through the retained earnings or capital reserves, we expect roughly 16 to 17 basis points of impact on the CRAR every year for those five years. So, that's the implication based on the transition. The flow impact is still being computed. We don't have a number as of yet. As that gets computed, we'll have to assess the new circular implications, and then we'll be able to come back with what the flow impact should be. But as of now, this is the range of impact based on the transition that I can share with you.

Standard asset provision.

On the standard asset provision, we basically, on the unsecured portfolio, which is, let's say, microfinance, which is the largest one, EAB.

So, currently, we are having around 1072 course provisions on the all standard assets. So, that entails, actually, that includes two additional provisions. One is that upon the standard assets, we take an additional 0.75%, and also we have got an additional provision of around 136 goals. So with this, I think 1,072 provisions are already there in our books. So our impact on the ECL going forward, the floor is 5% in most of the cases, excepting some where the floor is a little bit less. But since we are already continuing to make 1% additional provision on the standard assets, Which is certified, this is quite higher than what is now required as per direct nobs for the day. So, in fact, maybe that will be 4% on the March value for the day. But I think that going forward, the way we are managing our assets, if we can manage our SMU1 and SMU2 books much more prudently, this requirement will not have that much of effect on our credit cost.

And I think if I can translate these two percentages, For EEB, the requirement is 0.25%, we maintain 1%, which is 75 basis points higher, like Parthasar mentioned. On personal loans and on ABG, it's around 0.4% in line with the R.A. requirements. So just to reiterate everything, EEB, you're already maintaining 1%, non-EEB unsecured is the only percent where you have to go from 40 BIPs to 1%.

That's correct.

Great. Thank you, sir, and congrats, Ansari. Thank you.

Thank you.

We take the next question from the line of Ankit Biyani from Nomura. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. I wanted to know that what proportion of your deposits would be government-related, and the second question is how should one think of the margin trajectory from here on? Should we see improvement or 4Q?

So our government deposits on the CASA side would be around 6,000 crores out of the total deposits that we have, CASA deposits. The detailed composition is overall 24% as you've seen for the day. We have improved 69% last year, so it has improved to 64%. We have reduced the dependence on bulb deposits, and the majority of these bulb deposits used to come from the government departments also. So that portion we have reduced it. So earlier it was, it is almost 3,200 crores. One term wise, we have reduced as of the last year, from that year, and percentage wise, almost 7%. So the CASA share works out

to around 12%, 12% of CASA is government deposits.

And on the margin subject, we also, so just adding on to that, so our key lead reprising is largely done or we should see cost of funds benefits following through in the coming quarter moment?

Yeah, so I think as we had guided, we expected the cost of funds to continue to improve in Q4, Q1, and Q2. We have seen the improvement come through in Q1. The term deposit repricing has happened, and therefore, we had seen sequential improvement, and as a result, the margins have gone up from 5.9% to 6.2%. The 30 basis points increase, largely driven by the cost of funds, partly also due to the impact of lower slippages, resulting in lower interest reversals, right? As we go through the next two quarters, we do expect further improvement because there are further term deposits coming in for renewals. So, we do expect at least another 10 to 20 business points of improvement over the next two to three quarters.

10 to 20 basis improvement on cost of funds, right?

Yeah, based on the cost of funds improvement on the NIMS.

And on the credit cost rent, how should one think, should we consider 4Q as

Yes, I think we have, as I mentioned, our X-bucket collection efficiency has improved to 99.6% for the quarter, and March month was 99.7%, so if we are able to maintain these levels, we definitely expect that. We expect at least to continue to remain at these levels. We, of course, need to be wary of the implications of the war that's happening, what exactly happens on that front, as well as, you know, any other externalities, but based on the efforts that the team has taken and the improvement in the collection efficiency, we do expect these to hold at these levels and maybe improve marginally as well.

What I'm saying is that EEV has made a remarkable improvement. So, the averages have been most, last quarter it was 1,328, it has come down to 793, the SM is zero point, I'm just checking for the deal, and also in the averages, even if you see the gross averages has also reduced from 942 to 690. So, the trend is still continuing, so we are quite hopeful.

Yeah, I think this is an important point. The overall DPD pool also, we have seen an improvement. The EEB DPD pool has come down from 4.6% to 3.1% across SNS 0.1 and 2, with the biggest reduction in SNS 0. And that will also help us in terms of trading for the next quarter at similar levels.

And any growth outlook on the deposit and loan growth front? As I remember earlier, we had guided that deposits will continue to grow faster than advances, but currently we are lagging. So how do you think the deposit environment panning out and what could be our guidance? Because given our balance sheet, we are still running at a lower rate versus the industry loan growth. What could be our outlook for FY27-28 for a loan and deposit growth?

So, our guidance remains the same. We are practically ending a growth of around 14-15% in the credit, and the endeavor would be to have a better deposit growth rate, but yes, the challenging factor is that the entire industry has now reversed. So, if you look that from now onward, the incremental credit growth is more than the incremental deposit growth. So, we have to also look into the industry scenario accordingly also, but definitely the Whatever the guidance was there, so it will continue.

Also, to highlight on our credit growth, the overall number is around 30%. If we exclude EV, I think the non-EV book has grown to almost 25%. And we know that the EV has gone through a cycle, you know, year-on-year has been a contraction. We have been able to reduce the contraction to only about 5% year-on-year compared to the industry, which actually has been contracting much larger. So, therefore, actually, maybe our market share has improved even further during this last one year as well. So, you know, our numbers are not exactly comparable with the peer group because of a little larger portion of microfinance that we have in our books. And on the deposit fund, we have consistently shown higher deposit growth than advances. But this fund, as we mentioned, consciously we have reduced the bulk deposit share. And if we exclude the bulk deposit, our retail deposits have grown by almost 17.8% or roughly 18%, which shows a very healthy gross rate.

And on the deposit market front, are we seeing any competition, intense competition there, or is there a chance of, you know, PD rates rising across the banking sector, some deposits rising across the banking sector?

I think the deposit competition is definitely intense. And we did see in the month of March itself, the deposit rates go up quite significantly, being offered by the competition. And therefore, we have been focusing on improving the structural granular retail deposits, and that's where the focus has been. And we want to remain steady on that particular strategy. And therefore, we took a call to not grow the bulk deposits significantly during the Q4. And that should help us going forward in terms of optimizing our foster funds.

Thank you. And lastly, what would be your average LCR quarter quarter?

Our period at LCR was around 131%. Average LCR, I think, would have been range bound between 130 to 140.

Okay. So basically, our margins might have been supported by some, you know, liquidity LCR coming down as well, because as far as remember, 1Q, we had a LCR of around about 200.1%.

Thank you.

We take the next question from the line of Anand Dhamma from MK Global. Please go ahead.

Yes, thank you for the opportunity. So, one question that I had was, you know, On your credit cost, so this year should we expect a credit cost somewhere about 1.5, 1.6% now that the PEV stress obviously is easing out, and I think the easier impact will be largely taken through the balance sheet. So is that a fair assumption in terms of credit cost for FF27?

So, we are keeping our guidance unchanged because it looks the last year's performance. So, the trade costs are substantially improved, and we have ended up at 2% all the day. And going by the current trends in the EV, especially in the EV segment, the rate of recovery and the collection efficiency for that year. So, I think that there will be some improvement in the trade costs going forward. But yes, definitely there are certain concerns like the war. We don't know the impact. How will it come and how will it impact the economy, the fuel price, the availability, and then the casketing effects on the other sectors of the economy, this is there. But as I would say that growing by the current trend, the economy is moving, and the portfolio of our bank is also showing signs of a lot of green shoots of the day. I think that we can keep that guidance, and we will be trying to achieve as close to that.

Sir, guidance you had mentioned was between 1.6 to 1.7% by the exit of FY27, which is by Q4 FY27, and we will still endeavor to work towards that.

Okay, and are we largely done with the sale of NPA's pool now?

So, it is an option. You see, it is a part of the NPA management. The option is neither closed. Now, we are following it also. So, we have not yet crystallized our thing. So this is some opportunities we will be looking. If we get some good prices of our books, we may prepone the cash flow. That's the only thing. That's the only advantage happens in the ARC sale. So it is something as a part of management. It is, till now, I can say that we are not crystallized on that, but at the same time, the options are open.

I think there are two other factors. The QPA, the shortages have come down. The collection efficiency has picked up. The ARC sale that we did in Q3, prior to that we did three years ago. So it's not something that will be done every quarter. But as Parthasar mentioned, this is an option that is available for the bank. And we will look at it whenever we need to do any kind of an NPA management. But there are no immediate plans as well.

And so lastly, in FY27 with that the credit costs will come down, should we expect an ROI above 1%?

So we have started the trajectory that much we can say. So you see that from 0.2% in September, we improved to 0.4% in December and now 1.1%. The endeavor is there. We have not yet changed the guidance for the day and going by whatever the green shoots we are happy to see in the EV segment, If that continues, and we are also focusing on the other income front, especially in the wholesale segment, so with all these things and the other income by reducing the operating costs on account of cases, the states that we have taken for the day, I think that we will try to achieve as near to that. That's much I can say. Definitely a challenge, but we are not changing the guidance as well.

Just to reiterate the guidance, we had said was 1.6 to 1.8% of ROAs by the exit of FI 27, which is Q4 FI 27, give or take 10 basis points. So we will work towards meeting those numbers.

Sure. That's very important. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Netan Agarwal from Mozilla Loswal, Financial Services Limited. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Yeah. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi.

Good evening, everyone, and congrats on a good quarter. A few questions I have, like, firstly, on the NI growth itself, if I see, like, NI growth this quarter is at 4% Q-on-Q growth, and this has come in despite pretty strong advances growth this quarter. Or even the previous quarter, we had a decent pickup, and margins have improved in both the quarters. So any reason why this growth is lacking the advances growth despite such a margin expansion?

Let me just tell you, the NIA, first of all, the interest income last year was affected due to the repo rate cut. So almost 125 basis points, that cuts were there in the repo rates. Number two is that we also rationalized our own MCLR. So that was, the effect was almost 200 basis points on that account for the day. If you look at the balance sheet, the advances have taken place mostly, the incremental growth, 50% of the incremental yearly growth has taken place in the last quarter. So for the day, the effect, we have not got in that quarter itself. So because many loans were dispersed, say, in the month of March or end of March for that year. So the effect of NAI was not given on that year. But one good thing is that we could actually adjust the declining trend of the repo cut, if you look at the entire figure for that year. So, because generally also there was a 25-point repo cut was there. I have to pass on to all the borrowers for that year. But still that we maintained at the same level at 5,428. This is 5,431 during the previous quarter. So the effect of this increase, what you're saying, is that it will be seen during this quarter, I can say.

Yeah, I think specifically for your question, Nathan, three, four points. One is the advanced growth came, but that growth was rear-ended. So we will see the benefit of that in the coming quarter. The second is, you know, this quarter had roughly two days less. I think just from a days count perspective, there is an indication as well. Third is the repo rate reduction that happened in December of 25 basis points, which had an 11 basis points impact. On our book, roughly 46% of the book got impacted, but, of course, partly offset by the growth that we saw, the momentum we saw, especially in the EB growth that came through. I think these are three or four factors leading to the 4% improvement in the NIF for this quarter.

Okay, got it. And the other observation is around the collection efficiency, if I see, like, for the month of March and for the quarter, the gap has widened. Like, while there used to be, like, I'll say, last quarter was a 20 basis point gap, if I look at the collection efficiency, excluding areas. So, I think

the way it can be read is that we actually saw improvement in the collection efficiency started to come through the month of November last year. So, last year, October Uber was impacted quite heavily because the over-leveraging saga was still paying out, but from November onwards, in mid of November is when we started seeing the improvement come through, and therefore, I think, you know, we are seeing the difference between the quarter versus the difference between the months to have a difference in the basis points, right?

If I may just add to what Radhi spoke, in a month of November onwards, we have been talking current X-Bucket collections at 99.6 onwards and we bid in January and February month at 99.65 and 99.7. March last day was a holiday which impacted as we have a holiday billing and that resulted into 98.9 number or something and that overall we finished the quarter at a much better number on the current

Yeah, because November, December, December also saw an improved position, and therefore, December to March, you may not see a big delta, but quarter and quarter will see a bigger delta.

I think 15th November, the situation was not that much intelligence, but definitely from 15th November onwards, the collection efficiency has improved a lot and steadily being maintained. And that also you can see as part of your SMA zero improvements in EB business as across SMA 1 and 2 as well. All the buckets have come down, come down, including these snippet numbers. That clearly shows from the November month, the progress has been so significant that all the buckets, including the snippet overall, have come down to a substantial amount.

Right. And the other question is around the profitability overall, when we are indicating 1.6 to 1.8 ROI by Q4, 27. So, how much of this improvement is hinged around MFI now, now that the collection efficiency has already improved to, like, on near normalized levels now already? And how much of it is like a further expansion they give in and recovery in the non-MFI businesses? So can you give some profitability of non-MFI businesses, therefore, by some split or some color around that to understand this improvement in ROA better?

Yes, I think three or four key factors, broad factors. One is the credit cost improvement, as we mentioned, from the current 2% level to 1.6, 1.7. So we do see the credit cost itself to provide further uplift on the ROA. Second is, as Vata-san mentioned, we are focusing on generating higher other income, and this will be the result of other capabilities which are coming in our secured asset businesses, especially wholesale banking. So, as these come in, we should be able to see some improvement there. We are also expecting, as disbursements pick up, improvement in the processing fees, and the momentum of the third-party quarter's income to continue. So, I think other income will be one of the key drivers. We do expect at least about 10 basis points to come through there In the other income. And operating expenses, as we mentioned, like PSLC cost itself, if that reduces, I think we should be able to get some delta from there. So these are the two or three key factors. Overall, business momentum is important, and I think we'll continue to maintain that momentum. The good thing also is that as we had set up a target of around 58% secured mix by March 27, we are almost near that now itself. So we've met that target nearly that year in advance, and therefore our growth rates across EB and non-EB can start to converge to some extent.

Right. And Rajiv, one like curious question, curiosity that I have is around the LCR ratio rather, because we have been able to maintain one of the better LCRs in the industry, even this quarter after this decline at 130, 140 average that you talked about, is also a very, very healthy number. So, what really differentiates Bandhan Bank LCR versus the other large private bank? Because if I compare on the retail mix of deposits or CD ratio, there is not much of a difference. So, why the LCR numbers are so much better, not just in this model, but most of them in this model?

One is that, the immediate answer is that our dependence on the deposits have come down. So, the volatility has been contained or has been arrested to a large extent,

I think the other factor is that we have a large portion of deposits coming from retail. So our exchange deposit share is much larger, and that has a much lower runoff factor, as you know, between 5% to 10%. We have a lower share from corporate deposits, which have a higher runoff factor of 40% or 75% or 100%. Therefore, I think to that extent, there will be difference in terms of comparability across the exchange.

If you add the non-colourable part of the whole deposits, so retail plus non-colourable adds up to more than 95%. So the fluctuation and the volatility is concentrated more on the balance 5%. So that dependence has come down, and that has helped us to maintain a better LCS.

Got it. Got it. Thank you so much. Thanks for all the insights.

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Swani Goyal from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi, sir. This is Jain Munra. Sir, I think why is this one? I heard your opening comments on ECA shortfall.

Oh, Mr. Munra, I do apologize to interrupt you there. Your audio is not clear. Would you please use your hand, sir?

Yeah, hi. Is this better?

Yes.

So, Rajiv, my question is, you mentioned that there is a shortfall of let's say 1,200 odd crores in the ECA transition, And we have a credit cost guidance of 1.6, 1.7. Given that now ECL provides that the transition can be adjusted through reserves, would you be, I mean, would you be, let us say if you have buffer, you can still flow in the P&L and then you can adjust in the reserves or you would still like to minimize that shortfall?

I just wanted to understand your thoughts on No, so I think we are, as we said, we are assessing. Look, the latest circular came yesterday, so we are actually evaluating what the latest circular allows, as we understand, is to take it through the retained earnings and also allows a period of five years in which it could be spread out. So therefore, you know, we will look at the flexibility that that offers and how exactly it impacts the balance sheet. Also, the assessment we did of the number we shared was based on December balance sheet. We will have to reassess based on the latest balance sheet. And of course, how structurally we are We will be able to change the balance over the over the course of the year. So, these are the various factors that we will have to assess to be able to take the final approach on the thing.

Okay. Now, I mean, now the circular allows you to adjust through reserves. Would you be keen to minimize the shortfall or would you be keen to adjust it through reserves because that is allowed? I mean, that is the broad question.

I think it will also depend upon the profitability appetite that comes through during the year. Sir, of course, wherever there's opportunity existing, we will try to show up our provisions. But as of now, this is what is the broad approach.

The 200-grade course is estimated roughly on the basis of Q3, which is a December number. So March number and going forward also it needs to be crystallized. Maybe that we actually may have a lesser effect.

Right. Secondly, sir, on your write-off, when provisioning, so let's say if 100 rupees slips out of EEV, Is there any set provisioning policy? Because I think you have to provide 100 by year in 365 days. So, do you follow 25-25 or is there any pattern? Is there any provisioning policy for MFI?

We do have a provisioning policy, but we just maintain the PCR. If you look at our age, that PCR including the SR for the day, we are maintained at 74.5%. So that is the purpose we want to maintain it and to maintain that PCR, whatever the additional provisions are required, we do it once we write off our portfolio. So that is the way. The main theme is that we keep the PCR as the target point That needs to be maintained. And based on that, whatever the shortfall in provisions on account of write-offs are there, so it deserves made for the demand.

We take a more conservative position than what the IREC requires. I think for us, broadly, I think at 180 DPD itself, we take almost 100% provisions for the EB portfolio.

We accelerate. Mostly we accelerate.

Right. That is good. And so lastly, the revised circular says that if there is any exposure which has government guaranteed linkages, it can have very small stage 1 stage 2 provisions. So any of your EEB portfolio, either through CGFMU or some other scheme, do they qualify

So, for EB portfolio currently we do not have any government back guarantee, but we are evaluating in terms of how do we want to process it from here. As of now, there is nothing which is guaranteed back by the government, we don't have any CGSN coverage for EB. That option is open for us, so we will be evaluating.

And lastly, Vishal, since you are there on the call, if you can talk about your your resignation, I thought everything is going on very well. I mean, you have reached almost turnaround or almost normalized level of slippages. So, you know, what happened? Thank you.

I'll see you offline on this one. I think it's a personal career advancement. I think Yes. So things are all looking, Rosie, it's better to go when you are asked, why are you going? I'll leave it at that. So bank is now, I would say, much, much more process-driven rather than person-driven. So you said that we should look at it for the day. We have brought many changes in the EV rather we have transformed the model of the EV business and a lot of technology and other inputs have been made. And Vishal has implemented it very meticulously. So, it is his personal career growth we have aspired for, and we will issue him all the rest.

Sure, sir. Sorry, sir, if I can ask one more question. There was media reports on, you know, some activity going at promoter level. Is there anything that you can say? So, these are all rumours.

So, I have already, we have already said for the day, these are all rumours. So, nothing is going at the holdco level, nothing is going to affect the shareholding pattern of the bank. If something is going at the CIC level, that is their call. Anyway, it's not going to affect the bank.

Right.

Very, very clear, sir. Thank you, and all the very best.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Rahul Kumar from Vicaria Fund. Please go ahead.

Yeah, Rajiv, just one question on this employee cost as well. I think if I exclude the base quarter number from the 3Q, the impact of labor costs, I think I see a 14% increase in the employee cost QQ. So what led to that?

I can say that with 73 crores, additional employee cost of death during this quarter, this is a common account. Number one is that it is definitely this month there was a large number of holidays, and we have kept the banks open because we reduced for the collections, and here we have kept the bank open for two, three days, for which we have to pay some additional salaries to the employees as per the rules of the bank. So, that has actually increased in the employee cost for the day. Otherwise, all of their costs are in line with what we have incurred in the previous quarters.

Sir, I think the new labor court-related impact rate already taken in Q3, there was no incremental impact that came from Q4. So, as Parthasar mentioned, this was because of a couple of days additional, the people at work, and the salary impact of that, and some normal salary expenses. Yes. Okay. Okay.

Okay.

And if I look at the reported yields, actually, they have increased in this quarter versus the 3Q, despite, you know, the repo cut impact. So, what drove that? Yes, I think there are two things. One is, as we had done the ERC sale in Q3, a large chunk of the NPA portfolio had gone away, and therefore, you get the immediate benefit on the yield on the overall portfolio in the next quarter, right? Because, you know, the NPA book was actually suppressing the yield, so that was one of the key reasons. Apart from that, there was, as we mentioned, improvement in the EB disbursement as well, and as the EB book increased by almost 8% on a quarter-and-quarter basis, total advances increased by 6% on a quarter-and-quarter basis, which meant that overall mixed perspective there were some further benefits that came through on the year. I think those are the two key reasons. Okay, okay, fair enough. And the last question which I have was on the slippages front, I think, even though, you know, the X bucket collection efficiency has improved quarter and quarter in this, but you were trying to guide us on the slippages front that it will be similar to what, you know, it was in Q4. So, is there something on the ground which is different versus, which you expect to be worsening in this quarter? No, we mentioned that slippages will basically hold to improve, right? So, that's the aim that we are given. So, we would expect to have some gradual further improvement as well come through. But we also vary, as we mentioned, of some of the external risks which are coming through, especially we don't know fully if the bore-related impact will come through in bore-shape and form. So we are keeping some bit of conservatism there. But at the end of the day, based on the collection efficiency improvement, we are fairly competent on the level of stripedes that we have achieved as well as what further we can improve. Okay.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in the interest of time and fairness to others, we request you to restrict to one question per part of spin. We take the next question from the line of Iron Engineer from CLSA. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi. Thanks for the follow-up. Just to reconfirm what Parthasar said, MFI slippages were 690 crores this quarter.

MFI, yeah. MFI is 690.

690, right?

Block slippages. Block slippages 690. Yeah. And the recoveries were 142, so net slippages is 548.

Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's it from my end. Thank you.

Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Jayant Karote from Access Capital. Please go ahead.

Thanks for the follow-up. Sorry, this question has been asked previously. When you say that margins can improve by another 15 to 20 basis points, that is on the 4Q number or that is on the full year number? Full year number being 6.1. And just a corollary to that question, it means if your loans are growing at 14-15, NII growth next year should be ahead of that. Is that a fair assumption? So the NIV improvement that I mentioned was sequentially on quarter numbers. So our quarter numbers are 6.2%, and on that, we expect 10 to 15 to 20 basis points improvement spread over the next two to three quarters. So, the guidance, as we have been mentioning, is by the exit of F-27, we expect NIMS to be around 6% on total assets, which means on earning asset basis, it will be around 6.5%. So, we do have a line of sight of the next 10 to 20 basis points, so we need to find another 10 basis points. So, that's the aim that we're working on, of course, on a better separate basis. Thank you, sir. Just if I do the math 10 to 15 or even 20 basis points on NIMS, 10 on fees, another 20 on credit cost, is there something I'm missing because we need 70 with post-tax, which is almost 90 pre-tax?

So is there something I'm missing for the ROI waterfall?

So ROA, as we said, we already touched 1.1%, and our aim is to reach 1.6% to 1.8%, right? We will take 10 basis points by Q4 or F527. So say there's a journey of about 50 to 60 basis points further that we need to climb. Some of these components that we mentioned are the ones which will help us, right, in terms of meeting that. The timing of it will depend upon every quarter to quarter how exactly we make a progress. But we have to also be aware of any kind of external We take

the next question from the line of Dave from Hoss Power Securities. Please, go ahead.

Yes, good afternoon, gentlemen. Congratulations on the excellent set of numbers.

Thank you.

Can you listen to my voice? Yes, thank you. So, as far as my knowledge goes and how far I understand that you are trying to increase your share of secured book, right? So, by the end of FY27, are you trying to target increased share of secured books in your total book portfolio and what would be that percentage? And if you intend to increase the secured portion of your portfolio, in comparison to other EEB books or whatever the unsecured portions are, what would be the effect on your NIMS? Is it going to come down from 6.2 or something? So, let me make it very clear. I mean, if you are trying to increase your secured loan book portfolio share, like the other banking units or banking companies, their names are far below your, from your name. So, if you are trying to convert into that part, it's your name point.

So, let me just explain. So, first of all, we had a target of doing a secure, unsecured business of 5842. So, that's what our goal is FY27. Exec of FY27, we have projected a secured hook of 58% and 42% unsecured. So, we have already achieved that or near to achieving that. And if you see in my Q4 results, we are already at 56% and another 44% is unsecured for it. The second part is that 56 to 58 will not have much impact on the news. And let me tell you that we are keeping our trajectory of the aim that our EB will continue to be one-third of our total portfolio. So, in both ways, the unsecured books, the EEV book will also grow, and the secured books will also grow. The question of the lean, for the lean is concerned for the DS, the EEV book, the main major problem of the EEV book, if you look in the past year, was the delinquency level or the NPA level, and because that's where the interest reversal took place and where the lean was largely affected. If you can continue even with the 35% share and maintain the present, I would say, the NPA levels of the SMA book and the relinquency level, and if you continue to improve it further, it will not have any much impact on the mean as for the day. So, again, if there is any shortfall, let me again tell you about our direction for the day that we are now focusing on the other income of the secured book. So, if there is any shortfall in the NIME on account of the growth of the secured book, it will get compensated on the other income. So, overall, NIME plus other income, what we have projected is around 6.2 and 1.5. I think 6 and 1.5, 7.5. So, that will remain intact. That is our age. So, if somewhere, if you say that if you come out at 5.9 or 5.8 on our need, so the other income will also go by 20-30 basis point, more in that segment. So, overall, that trajectory of 7.5%, we will try our best to maintain it.

Okay. And for going forward, say within five years, do you continue to stick with that proportion of 58%, 42% or there would be something, I mean, long term, any goal or target that you are continuously pursuing to achieve for the two to over?

Correct. Currently, that ratio remains, which is again the experience that we will see. We will have to strategize or we have to change our strategy at that point of time. The reason for going to secular both, as we have told that there were two, three reasons. The first one was that we were too much on the unsecured books and we are a universal bank. The depositors' confidence is very important. So that's why a secular growth in all the advances, This is the first thing why we have shifted, number two, because now my portfolio is also becoming much, much stronger than what we had been a year or two years before for that year. This is one thing. So currently, definitely we have not thought, but again, it will all depend on our experience. So we hope that things like Corona or other things will not happen, or even this war would also end. There will not have an impact. So it will completely depend on the experience that we gather going forward. But as of now, as I've told you that we want to remain a leader in the EEV segment, and we continue to do that. So, EEV segment is definitely a focus area. So, we have seen an 8% growth, Q and Q, but definitely our secured book has grown at 25%. So, the focus this year is on the other income part from the secured book, not only on the interest income, and along with a reasonable growth in the EEV segment also, improved rate cost, and with the improved rate cost. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, we take that as the last question and conclude the question and answer session. I now have the contract over to the management for their closing comments.

Thank you, everyone, for joining, and we hope that you continue to place the trust on our banks. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. On behalf of Bundan Bank, that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.