Thank you very much, sir. We will now begin the question -and-answer session. The first question comes from the line of Chintan Shah with ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

Yes. T hank you for the opportunity and congratulations on the strong set of numbers and crossing the 1% ROA mark. So, my first question is on the asset quality. So, if I look at the provision coverage ratio for Stage-1, stage 2, as well as Stage-3, it has been coming off since the last four quarters. Since December 2024, the Stage-3 PCR is almost down 10% to 48% now, versus 57%. The Stage-1 and stage-2 PCR combined is now less than 1% versus 2.8% a year ago. So, considering that 44% of our boo k is currently still unsecured, where do we see this number settling on a steady state basis? Yes, that is the first question.

Yes, hi. This is Shriram here. See, as I said, there is a change in the product mix, and if you see your Stage-1 book has increased from 97.1% in Q2FY26 to 97.4% in Q3FY26 and if you look at even prior to four quarters, it was close to around 95 .6% (Q3FY25) something. So, we are seeing that the Stage-1 assets itself has increased, so in terms of the overall Stage-1. Another important point to note here is the Stage-3 book has also reduced from 1.59% to 1.51% , that kind of explains the reduction in the PCR, right? Also, we will have to note that the reduction in the PCR is also on account of the rundown of the old STPL, which had a higher provisioning. So, as the product mix changes and then you have low-risk kind of assets, the ECL also kind of changes accordingly, and that is the reason your PCR is lower.

Sure. So, in terms of a steady state, so something around 50% PCR on Stage-3 could be considered from a one year or two year perspective?

I cannot comment on that because each product, as the mix changes and we start scaling up, we may look at a time horizon or something which we will have to look at and based on which the provisioning will be made.

I think on the calibration, let me just add, Chintan, that we have this time disclosed very precise, I think if I am not mistaken, 1.5 years approximately, six quarters of data for 6-MOB, which will give a very good insight into how we are underwriting and what is the bureau based information in terms of the quality on our entire book. I think that is another very strong data, first time we have disclosed, that should give you a complete insight and confidence into the solid credit calibration underwriting that we have been speaking about.

Sure and sir, if you would just help me with the write -off policy for our unsecured products, what would be the write-off policy on that?

180 DPD.

On overall products, whether secured, unsecured?

Yes, so unsecured is 180 DPD. Vehicle secured is 365 DPD and even loan against property is 730 DPD, which actually is case-by-case basis across the industry.

Sure and just one more thing , on the 294 branches and currently 320, I think which we mentioned, so apart from gold loan, what other products would we be currently offering? So, what is the plan there? Just wanted to understand that, yes.

So, I think our branches that we are talking about are focused. Our gold loan branches are going to be fairly die-hard gold loan branches. That is the plan right now , and that is what I had mentioned last time. We are very focused on the branches. There will be some benefit of cross sell, but I think it is going to be a very gold, gold kind of branch, which is focused.

Understood. And sir, so on the new disbursement, which is like 20% of the overall disbursement.

No, sorry. Got it. So, basically, dedicated gold loan, but some other benefit from cross-sell, then we would not deny that.

It is not like other product cases would not happen from gold loan branches, but we are a focused, branch designed for gold loan. That is all our limited point. Sorry, over to your question.

Sure, sir. Understood, sir. And also, sir, on the disbursement from the new products, which was currently around 20% for the quarter and 11% of the AUM, so any ballpark targets here? So, what kind of percentage in the overall AUM mix are we looking for the new products by the time we reach Rs 1 crore of AUM?

I think, see, the plan for these new products are, we are well calibrated, we are servicing a very distinct objective. Personal loan is a very salaried profile, we are getting fantastic build up there. We are very happy with the way it is building up, acceptability of corporates. You heard that it is high-quality asset. If you look at consumer durable, we are investing behind a customer franchise. If you look at commercial vehicles, it has picked up very good momentum. If you look at gold, I think it is continuously quarter-to-quarter building up fantastic. So, objective is going to be, we will keep investing behind these businesses to increase. But remember, bulk of the heavy lifting investing has been done and I think it will be probably fair to say that operating leverage will start kicking in now and that was the whole original plan. So, we had said that in the first 18 months, we would be probably biased to a little more AUM and investments. I think all that heavy lifting done, you started to see probably operating leverage started to kick in, and you can start seeing the sparks now in terms of probably robust profits. You can start smelling that, and I think we are very excited from here on.

Thank you for patiently answering all the questions. I have more, but I will fall back in the queue. Thank you and all the very best. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Abhijit Tibrewal with Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.

Good evening and thank you for taking my question. Sir, the first question is on the gold loan and the CV business. What I heard during the opening remarks is we have crossed 300 gold loan branches. But when I see our presence, it is predominantly the western India, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra. So, if you could just help us understand, is the idea to first capture the central and northern parts of the country, and then eventually go to southern India and in consumer durable, also, I kind of heard that 90% of our dealer presence is somewhere in Tier- II, Tier-III cities. So, what is the playbook w hich will be there in CD (consumer durable) as well?

I could not hear your full questions, but gold loans, I think if you are asking effective Quarter 3, I think we should be in the range of approximately 19 0 – 192 branches, somewhere there. But all the LOIs, identification, all of that has been done, and the remaining branches, we should be on track in this quarter. We should be in a position to build a very solid franchise, like I said earlier, with a focus on gold. Gold is giving us good yields, good asset class, and it is in line with plan. On consumer durable, whatever little I could hear, and please correct me and add to the question if required, whatever I understood you said was, what is the momentum feel on Tier-II, Tier-III cities? I think, if I am not mistaken, we already have close to 10,000 plus outlets, and our strategy is mix of consumer durable. Because , as a Company, we have strong strength on unsecured digital, we do not need additional manpower. We are finding that we started as an experiment probably, now, along with consumer durable, we could be the first Company where our resources are not only doing consumer durable, but also digitally we have a certain proportion of origination, which is coming with the same team on unsecured digital loans, and very successfully so. Remember, just to give you a sense, consumer durable might have an average ticket size of, let us say, ₹28,000 approximately. But an unsecured loan in throughput could be ₹4.5 lakhs to ₹6 lakhs. So, the throughput and productivity of the team with the yields, even at the point of origination, not at cross-sell, we could be the first Company to successfully pull it off. That itself gives us a huge advantage on consumer durable reach as the business model being more robust, then a conventional, pure, only consumer durable model has the same team. I hope, I am able to get across.

Got it, sir. So, that answers my question. The only other follow -up I had on gold loans was, I mean, right now, I have seen the branch presence is predominantly in western India. Is that the thought process to first capture western India, central, and northern India, and then move to southern India?

Yes. Actually, we have covered already Gujarat. We are in Maharashtra, Rajasthan. We are going state by state because gold loan is a product where you have to have a supervisory depth because we are opening branches. The next geography which we are picking up now is Karnataka and some part of Odisha. So, that is how we will spread our branches.

Got it.

You do not want to just spread yourself in gold, it is important we have done this business in the past. It is very important to have density pockets with supervisory depths because one of the biggest advantages and risks is you need very solid control when it comes to gold branches. You will appreciate that. That is the background.

Got it. The second question I have is about credit costs. Just trying to understand while, I think, again, during the opening remarks, I kind of picked up that barring instant loans which have higher credit costs, most of the products are showing range bound credit costs of about 1.4% - 1.5%. So, I had two subparts to this question, Arvind, sir. First thing is, I mean, whatever credit costs that you see right now, are they all attributable to the newer and existing products that we earlier had? So, this has nothing to do with any accelerated write-offs, which you called out in the presentation. These are all business-as-usual credit costs, right? This 2.6% credit costs that you are seeing right now?

So, I think let me explain that point again. It is very nice of you to raise it again. I think the point that I and Shriram are highlighting is that whether it is instant loans, whether it is the remaining 12 products, all individual credit costs are showing constant improvement so far. That is point number one. I think the limited point we wanted to share with you that it is part of our design to optimize. When you look at our credit costs, you must keep in mind that you should treat it as, in simplistic terms, a mathematical average of instant loan, consumer loans, and the remaining 12 products. So, while explaining, I said instant loans relatively by design, have higher yield and higher credit costs, whereas the others are normal yields and normal credit costs. More as a reference point. But I think the larger point I wanted to say is that when you look at our credit costs, look at two important things, it is a mathematical mix of the 12 products and instant loans. So, let us say the contribution is 15, 18, or 20 , because individually all products might actually end up reducing our credit costs, and we could have a great opportunity for ROA build -up. So, it is a very limited point just to understand. Also, looking at our growth rate, please remember, as NBFCs, you have a higher natural provisioning. So, that also complements, if you grow at a higher rate, becomes part of your total credit cost. It is just sensitizing the total picture. That is about it.

Got it. And when we said that credit costs will reduce in the coming quarters and years, the primary driver is going to be the improvement in product mix in favor of gold loans, LAP, education loans, right? Rather than the seasoning of these products because once the seasoning, maybe the credit costs will start inching up. So, the primary driver is going to be primarily the improvement in product mix.

So, let me repeat again. All 13 products with seasoning are expected, and calibration and strong connections are, in our assessment, expected to constantly improve every quarter. That is point number one. Point number two, it is in our hands, how do I mix it for respective total credit costs to optimize the ROAs of the Company. As from here on, ROAs will become an important thing. So, let us say, for example, hypothetically saying you have an X product at a credit cost of, hypothetically, let us say, 2%, and you have another credit cost at let us say, 3%. Now, either you take 50/50 and have a credit cost total, or you can have a 60/40 mix and do it. Similarly, when you have a mix of approximately 12 to 13 businesses, all we are saying is that the mix will be optimized. So, you actually might land up with quarters going the 2% might become 1.8%, and the 3% might become 2.8%. But the mix could be in such a manner which could reflect the total credit cost that you actuall y land up making very healthy ROAs despite individually improving, thanks to collections, thanks to product seasoning, and our credit calibration. That is why I said you must check our 6-MOB because, if you check our 6-MOB, you will get the pulse. Not only is Stage-1 improving, which is one part of the story. Not only is the GNPA improving, that is another part of the story. But if you see carefully, 6-MOB normally in any banking or finance business is a very solid indicator of what is the quality of calibration that you are doing across the portfolio and you will get a firsthand sense of how individual products will be fairly solid.

Got it, Arvind sir. This is very useful and thank you so much for your enhanced disclosures in this quarter. So, just last thing I was asking, today we have taken board approval for reaching ₹5,500 crores of cash equity? We plan to consume it in this quarter or after the end of this fiscal year?

Are you talking about capital raise, if I get you right? If you are, then I think we have taken a 12-months enabling approval, but I think you are well aware of our growth rates.

Thank you, sir. Our next question comes from the line of Nischint Chawathe with Kotak Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.

So, across these 13 products, how do you think about the duration of the book, let us say, across short, medium, and long tenures, how are you really kind of thinking about balancing this? And in that sense, is there a little bit of a scope to play the yield curve? I believe you have increased the duration of the liabilities in the last two - three quarters.

Duration of the liabilities.

Yes. So, on the asset side, first of all, how are you thinking about the contribution of short, medium, and long tenures? And I mean, are you kind of targeting a particular average duration of the book? And in that sense, how are you placed on the liability side?

Yes. So, see, across these 13 products, these are into different tenure buckets, right from the ultra long-term, like loan against property to consumer durable, which is ultra short-term. So, I think the products are now there in every space of duration which we want to be and like Arvind articulated, we look at how these products ramp up, and it gives us better risk -adjusted return. So, with that, I think we are pretty fine with the duration being six months here and there because we have a well-diversified liability profile and have the capability to raise money in every single tenure bucket on the liability side. So, right now, also, if you look at our ALM, it is positive across each of the buckets, except that three years to five years, which anyway, with the capital raise would be taken care. So, I think that is fine, we are flexible on the duration. So, there is no specific.

What is the current duration of the book on the asset side?

Current duration of the asset would be somewhere between 2.5 to 3 years.

While it may not change dramatically, like I said, it will depend on the evolution of each of the products and the way they scale up. So, this is it. But I think we are pretty broad. We will take care of that in whichever way it goes. Yes.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Kaitav Shah with Anand Rathi. Please go ahead.

Yes, thank you so much for taking my question. First of all, congratulations, good quarter, and thank you so much for the increased disclosure. I think they are pretty useful. So, my question is more on the operating leverage. I think you already pointed out that we have seen signs of improved operating leverage , and do you think this trend can continue, or there is still some investment that is left to be done at an overall aggregate level, which can keep the cost-to-income ratio topped up?

I think, see, the very facts are designed hand and a lot of strategic investments, which we did over the quarters of this financial year and if you ask me, the trade -off is in complete favor of operating leverage. So, not that you would not make incremental sales teams, and not that you would not have new branches. You will have a certain proportion of that investment which are going on. But I think it is usually in favor of operating leverage from now on and I would term this as we would be excited from here on the operating leverage side.

Directionally, the Opex in percentage terms.

Opex yes. But then we have said every year directionally it should and I think you mentioned cost-to-income, and I think probably it will be a heartening to see similar trends there as well, as the years go by.

Okay. Sir, second question was on the AUM growth front, would you like to reiterate the target because we have been growing slightly higher than our long-term average is? So, near-term, will we continue to grow higher given that the new products are firing much better than expected?

Our focus is going to be completely biased to the retail products, the full bouquet of retail products, especially the new ones. But I think our broad guidance of 35% to 40% is what I like to say is a good guidance. There could be some moments where we may have had much better than that. But I would probably hold that broad approach directionally to be 35% - 40% is what I would like in today’s economy.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this will be our last question. It is from the line of Agam with Agam Investments. Please go ahead.

We are not giving any forward guidance, but as the contribution of these new products such as gold loans, education loans, PL prime, and all of the new products keep growing and gain full - scale participation in the product basket, the share of the credit calibrated book will be normalized at a lower level and this will have a favorable bias on the overall credit cost.

Okay. Just a last question. On the fund raise part, I think maybe I missed the voice. Can you repeat what is the, so we have mentioned 12 months. What is the timeline? Realistically, w hen are we looking to close since we are growing at a much faster pace.

So, we will basically look at the way the growth pans out from here on, and on the basis that, we will do the capital raise. So, we do not have specific timing in mind right now.

I think, you know, the part is that we have taken the approval that gives us strategic flexibility now, and it is in our control, and we are well on top of it. I think that is a limited point. There is no particular guidance we are giving on the timelines.

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. With that, we conclude today’s conference call. On behalf of Poonawalla Fincorp Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.