Congratulations on a great set of numbers. I have three questions. My first question is just for clarity for the coming months, can you also explain why the monthly numbers are distorted? I know that you have sold a lot of these monthly model products. So, which of the line items were the numbers in our monthly Life Insurance Council data? The number is getting wrongly represented, and that's why we guys, when we calculate the APE, it comes out much higher at 20%, 25%, whatever. And how long will this continue? Or should we expect a 2 to 4 percentage point difference, as you had mentioned, for the rest of the months for this year? That's my first question. My second question is on the agency channel. So, you've done a great job in the last 2 years with the agent addition. Though with the new agents coming on board, the agent productivity for your entire book had sort of declined. So, what is usually the time frame in which your agent productivity can recover because you've always had one of the best agent productivity on the street. And my last question is, again, this is a very media article, media speculation -based, but any update on the insurance bill? Are you hearing anything negative about the clause which allows for a merger between an insurance and a non-insurance company? There was even media speculation that Axis Bank wants to raise its stake. I mean, any clarification over there would be quite useful. Those are my 3 questions.
Questions across 67 calls
Shreya Shivani
CLSA
Max Financial Services Limited
Hi, thank you for the opportunity and congratulations on a good set of numbers. Just on the harping on the reverse merger, just one question that I had that another company which had won the case against IRDAI in NCLAT, ideally one would have expected tha t that should also have paved the path for you, has there been any discussion post that you have had with the regulator? That is my first question on the reverse merger bit and second is on the EV walk. Can you help us understand the operating variance that we have of 0.05 billion, how much of it is, can you give a breakup between how much was there in persistency or how much was there, across the different line items that we have within the operating variance, those are my 2 questions. Thank you?
That is very useful. Thank you so much.
Manappuram Finance Limited
I have 3 ques tions. My first question is on the gold loan book. So we had indicated in the last quarter itself that we are cutting rates so that we can acquire more customers, particularly in the high ticket size. Now the customer count growth has been fairly limited. Majority of the AUM growth has come from higher ticket size. So have we just cut lending rates in the higher ticket size or is it across bucket cutting rates, is it not helping us acquire more customers? Because one would have expected the volume growth also to be contributing to the overall AUM growth. That's my first question. My second question is on the MFI book, Asirvad book. So I understand we've been -- we want to make this book 10% of our overall mix and all that. But somehow your customer count for the past 2 quarters has been revised downwards. Can you help us understand that what has been the reason for that? And my third question is obviously on what -- on the deal, what all approvals are left? Any update that you can give us on that would be useful?
Got it, sir. This is very useful. Just a follow -up, the MFI customer count you said because you have upgraded your computer system, that's why there has been an update to the earlier count. Is that the reason -- is that what you…?
Yes, thank you for the opportunity. I have two questions. First is on the quarterly standalone performance. If you can help us understand with the movement in the net yield, it has declined sequentially. That is on the gold loan standalone book. That would be my first question. And my second question i s, congratulations on your deal with Bain. So if you can help us understand your strategy around the subsidiary, we have seen documents on the exchanges which talk about how much of the proceeds from the funds will be directed towards subsidiaries. It's about 60%. So if you can help us understand what is the initial plan or how are we looking at the three different segments that we have and how will that scale up? Thank you.
Sorry I didn't get that we have seen a drop in...?
REC Limited
I have two questions. First is on the RBI final regulation, which has been announced and that becomes applicable from 1st October. So is it fair to assume that from the third quarter onwards, again, your standard asset provision will be on rise because every new project that you will disburse will be in the construction phase and that means the 1% standard asset provision will continue. Now my question is, will you pass all of it through the P&L or will you be accounting for it in your reserves in your net worth? That's my first question. Just trying to understand what changes from third quarter onwards for you all. My second question is on the Kaleshwaram project of Telangana state. I mean this is a broader question that I read many media articles that there have been some study done by the union government, some committee, which said that the project is very unviable and it's been constructed wrong or something like that. What is our assessment of the same? What do you think is the -- like a solution on the name? I understand it's a government project, so it may have state government guarantee. But just want to understand your perspective on this?
Got it. Sir, just one follow-up question. Can you also give us the provision coverage ratio for Stage 1 and Stage 2 separately? You've given it together?
I have two questions. First is, thank you for sharing that the ex of prepayments, the loan book growth could have been at 18%. I wanted to understand that the repayment rate being elevated is very much a function of those RBPF loans that we had given out, which will continue for another year. So what is our outlook on disbursal growth? It was 18% this year. What would it be in FY '26? How elevated do we expect the repayments -- prepayments to be and, thus, where our growth outlook would be? That's my first question. My second question is on the renewable energy projects. We have been hearing of the PPAs not getting signed and there's been a slowdown with the DISCOMs, etcetera. What is an update over there? Has there been some intervention to smoothen the process? If you can give some color on that. And sorry, one more question, third question is, if I see your Stage 1 and 2 provision coverage ratio, while it has been increased on the DISCOM book that was expected, it has also been increased on the private renewable book as well. That used to be about 60 bps in December '24, that has been raised to 132 bps. So can you help us understand, is there any stress or any reason to be concerned about the private renewable book that we've raised the Stage 1 and 2 PCR over there?
Got it, sir. So just one follow-up. So the disbursal number that you have given and expectation of elevated repayments, does -- it looks like we will only be able to do about 12%, 15% growth next year also, right, AUM growth?
Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company Limited
I have two questions. First is not really related to the quarterly results, but something that we had picked up from the public di sclosure of the full year numbers. So I was comparing the volume-wise claim rejection data that you have. It has been largely range bound for Niva Bupa. In FY '25 also you were at about 7% or so. But for some of the other players in the industry, this num ber has significantly come down to like under 5%. So do you think it is a range which is achievable for us? Or do you think that the single digit 7%, 8%, 9% that you operate in is a far more logical place that you would end up being? My second question is on the claims ratio. Sorry, I'm probably not able to understand. The claim ratio becomes -- there's a huge difference between IFRS and I -GAAP, right, the one which is on your Slide 8 and the one which is on your last slide. Is it all of it is because of accounting? I mean what is the -- I'm sorry, I'm not able to understand such a big gap between these two numbers?
That should be the only reason, right? Even if you're making higher reserves, that cannot get -- that should not get impacted by the 1/n accounting, right, the IBNR reserve and all?
Yes. Hi ! Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is on our hospital network of 10 ,500 hospitals that we have. Can you help us understand what percentage of these hospitals would be the corporate hospitals that we know of and what percentage would be just standalone hospitals, if you could give some broad indicative color, not an exact number is also fine? And is it possible to share how many of the hospitals would be present in bigger like tier one and metro cities and how much are like smaller cities and beyond? That's my first question. And my second question is also on your claim reserve , IBNR reserve, etc., Versus 4Q '24 that number outstanding claims reserve as a percentage of net claims incurred was about 67% or so this is down to 61% . I mean just wanted to understand how is our outlook on IBNR and IBNER book -- have we reduced that book in the quarter and in the year, just wanted understanding of that?
Sure. Yes.
Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Limited
I have three questions. Sorry, I missed the part on fresh and renewal growth. Did you say 98% persistency in renewal and retail business? Can you give the breakup of your premium growth into fresh and renewal once again? My second question is on reinsurance treaty. It seems like your reinsurance ceded is down to 4%. This number has been quite volatile over the past couple of quarters. Can you help us understand what the new treaty that started from this quarter is ? As this is probably one of the reasons why your commission expense has also been slightly higher. My last question is, based on your public disclosure data. It is on your claim rejection ratio that I was seeing. There has been quite a significant improvement over there. It is down to about 11% on volume basis in FY2025. I don't have the Q1-FY2026 numbers. Can you help us with Q1- FY2026 and how much more improvement can possibly come over here? Since you guys have improved, this is still slightly higher than some of the other players in the industry. These are my three questions.
Understood. On long-term policies, we don't have any reinsurance treaty. The only obligatory part is there. Is that the correct way to understand this? Only the obligatory 4%-5%.
My first question is on the claims. I was also looking at the outstanding claims reserve and the IBNR reserves, the combined number that you give out in the Q4 result, that as a percentage of the claims paid is now 14% this trend and this number used to be about 11%, 12% earlier. I wanted to understand, since I don't have the breakup of IBNR reserves, have we build higher IBNR reserves? are we concerned about more claims coming through ? Does that mean that any improvement in loss ratio in the coming years is under a question right now ? How much can 70.3 move to in FY’2026 and 2027? Some idea on that would be useful. Second, I wanted to get an update from you on the common empanelment that GIC council was working on. There was a media article recently that it's progressed a bit. If you can help us understand how that's moving and how much benefit can it give to us? Third, if you can help me understand the IFRS ROE is lesser than the I GAP ROE, and I am guessing it's because the deferred acquisition cost got impacted by the long term regulation and long term policy. If you can help us understand that math as well, it will be useful. Thank you.
Yes, but even the deferred acquisition cost was 525 last year, and that has come down. Is there something to read over there?
SBI Life Insurance Company Limited
I just have one question. It's on the growth guidance for the year. So at the end of fourth quarter last year, you had mentioned that individual APE growth of about 13%, 14%, driven by 25% growth from agency channel, 10% from banca channel. Now unlike the past 6 months, when the commentary in the media about the PSU bank sales of insurance was very negative. In the last 1 month, there have been a few media articles which suggested that government is telling the PSU banks to focus on selling insurance products, along with core banking operations as well. So with that in the background, would we be revising our guidance upward? Is there any different outlook you're getting from your banca partner? Any commentary on that? And whether the growth guidance, you're still sticking to the same growth guidance or you're looking at a different number that will be useful, particularly for the banca channel.
CREDITACCESS GRAMEEN LIMITED
Thank you for the opportunity. I have three questions. My first question is on one of your peers had commented in their result call that they are facing some challenges in growing the MFI book in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Now, I understand this is your home turf. So, some color you can give about on what kind of growth and new customer acquisition has been seen in these two geographies in the past quarter? I know in the PPT, you give us that data for the past one year, but just for the quarter. That's my first question. My second question is on the employee cost. So, I understand that you had been, your employee count was increasing from 4th Quarter itself. So, the employee cost has come in at an elevated rate. What should be the run rate? How should we build it for the year? Was it that more variable was paid out this year? Some color on that would be useful over here. And my third question is, I think you've partly mentioned, but I still wanted to understand that last time you had mentioned that in your stage three, your provision coverage is at a 50%-60%, whatever level it is, because on the partially paying account, you had kept lower PCR. So, what has been the behavioral trend of this partially paying account? Do we foresee the need to provide more or it's an improving trend? These are my three questions. Thank you.
Right. Even with the partially paying accounts, you are still comfortable with the level of provisions that you have kept, right?
Yes, hi. Thank you for the opportunity. You have highlighted in your presentation about the focus on the retail finance segment as well. I wanted to understand ticket sizes in this segment have reached a certain level and they've been range bound for the past four quarters. What is our outlook on how the retail finance segment's ticket sizes could move? Also, during this entire last one, the last couple of months challenges, how has the retail finance book asset quality behavior been or customer behavior been, if you can highlight these two things? Thank you.
Correct. Got it. And sir, this segment, all of these…
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. One thing I wanted to check, in the non-linked savings growth that you have delivered, can you give us some colour on what was the growth between par, non-par, some indication of which segment has scaled up faster? That's my first question. My second question is on the cost ratios now that your annual report and all public disclosures are out. I just wanted to check that does your non -par segments absolute cost of FY2025, was it in breach of the EOM guidelines? I know the EOM guidelines are not applicable in FY2025, but just wanted to check. And an adjacent question to that is, when you talk about cost optimisation, can you help us understand what all initiatives are being taken on that front? Thank you.
Right. But like if you are continuing to invest in and add manpower, I am not sure I understood where are we realigning.
HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited
I have two questions. First was on t he ULIPs itself. Just on the basis of interaction with other industry participants, your performance on the ULIP front has been quite different. As rightly mentioned by one of you, you're attaching more protection over here, probably that's still pushing more ULIP sales? But can you help us understand that has there been any change in the ULIP product design that you were selling till 4Q that you're probably selling right now? Why people are still buying more ULIPs from you when others are reporting a ULIP slowdown? My second question is from the public disclosures for the full year. I think you broadly touched on it, but I just wanted to get a better color on the mortality variances that went negative in FY25, negative 10 crores or so. And even the persistency and other operating variance for you has been declining for three years. So, any comment on this or what segment is impacting mortality and also the persistency?
And in the immediate quarter there has been no change in product design or anything of that sort, right?
LIC Housing Finance Limited
I have just 2 questions. First, just wanted this clarity on the project resolution that you spoke about. Last quarter, you said there are 4 to 5 more assets getting resolved in NCLT. So the negative net slippage that we have this quarter, how many projects got resolved over there? I mean, just some color on that. And second is on affordable housing. Now that you are closer -- like you must have -- you've already launched some products, etcetera. How many branches would affordable housing product be available in FY '26 and '27? Some guidance over there would be useful?
Got it, sir. Sir, just a follow-up on the first question, then what is the recovery that has come in this quarter in the Stage 3? I know you've said write -off is there of INR171 crores. There are some recoveries also, right?
Muthoot Finance Limited
Yes. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is again on the asset quality. Just wanted to understand that for the quarter if I take Rs.74 crores of write -off and if I just balance with the provisions and the gross you have given there seems to be some upgrades and recoveries that have happened in the quarter. Can you help us understand about that ? And also what is the auction number for the quarter , for the year and for 4th Quarter '24 and for 'FY24 as well, if you can share that number?
This Rs.461 crores is in FY25. What was in FY24? Okay that I can get from the annual report. Yes, that is fine. Just wanted to check sometimes the auction number that you mentioned on the con calls and when we check with the annual report, it tends to not match. So does it not include the interest outstanding, what is the difference in the number that you have given in the con call?
Aadhar Housing Finance Limited
Thank you for the opportunity. A pologies, I joined in late, so I'm not sure if this has been discussed already. I wanted to understand how much liquidity are you holding on balance sheet right now in terms of 3 months, 6 months, what is it right now? What was it in FY'24? Where would we want to keep it? And if any benefit can come through from reducing this on our spreads, on our margins, etc.? So some commentary on that, please. Thank you.
Got it. So broadly, then you are pretty much in range and this will not really dramatically shift from where we are right now, right?
Home First Finance Company India Limited
Congratulations on everything. Only one of my questions is unanswered. It's again on the cost of funds. So, you have reduced the liquidity buffer this quarter. And also, you mentioned 18% - 20% is your repo linkages. So, shouldn't the cost of fund reduction have been a little more? Or maybe if you can quantify the breakup of how much benefit came in from repo, how much came in from lower liquidity? Or something like that, that will be a little useful.
Got it. So, of the 20 bps, 10 bps is just from the liquidity benefit that has flown into the margins. Has there been a pickup in the cost of borrowing for any other lines that we have?
SBFC Finance Limited
I just wanted to understand you talked about opening 20 to 25 branches in the coming year. How do you decide on which geographies to expand in? Is it district -by-district expansion? Can you talk a little bit on that? And there was a media article yesterday, which talked about certain regulation coming in, in Tamil Nadu, which may try to formulate rules around collections. I see you have lesser number of branches in Tamil Nadu than Karnataka, so I can understand the impact could be restricted. But if you can help us understand what are the stress -- if there is any stress in that state going ahead?
Got it. And sir, one thing that I wanted to understand, you mentioned how the environment in the country has been volatile in the past so many years. So within the segment, how do you manoeuvre around sub-segments? I'm not talking in terms of if you're doing secured MSME, not in terms of one state has more stress, so I move to other states, that is understandable. But do you choose the kind of MSMEs that you are lending to, or you move that around also? And are there any subsegments of MSME, where you feel there is bigger stress right now?