Bank of Maharashtra (MAHABANK) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening, and welcome to the Q3 and 9 Months FY 2025 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. We have with us from the management, Shri Nidhu Saxena, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer; Shri Asheesh Pandey, Executive Director; Shri Rohit Rishi, Executive Director and all general managers of the bank. I now hand the conference over to Shri Nidhu Saxena. Thank you, and over to you.

Yes. Thank you. And first of all, thank you for joining this investor call and it's a great opportunity to come back and connect with you again to tell you that bank has again been showing consistency for the last 12 to 15 quarters and the same performance has been seen. As you would have seen in the presentations, which are shared with you, whatever guidance we had kept for ourselves for growth in terms of overall business, advances, deposits, even sector-wise RAM, those have been -- guidance have been met. And in a few cases, with a good margin, we have surpassed those. Even the profitability parameters, our NIM, noninterest cost to income, ROA, those have been also maintained at elevated levels. And coming to our asset quality, GNPA and NPA, the guidance that we have kept, we have maintained all that. I will very quickly share the major parameters of performance. But before that, I would like to highlight that we have crossed the business of INR 5 lakh crores, and we would want to, in future also, grow sustainably. So for the last past 2 quarters, our focus with our field functionaries also has been to grow and grow sustainably. And for that matter, the core business that is happening in branches was at our front focus. And this growth, the major contribution has come from our set of new branches, around 600, which were opened in the last 3 years. And our existing branches also have contributed into this. Certain elements of bulk component business have been there. But definitely, our core business has grown, and that gives us that extra comfort that these numbers will be only sustainable and going forward, looking to grow. So let me just share very quickly the major ratios. Our total business at INR 5.07 lakh crores has grown Y-o-Y at the rate of 17%, advances at INR 2.29 lakh crores has shown a growth of 21%. Total deposits at INR 2.79 lakh crores, has grown 14%, within which CASA has also shown a good growth of 16% and INR 14,000 crores in absolute terms, CASA has been added year-on-year. Term deposits have likewise grown at 16% and INR 19,000 crores of term deposits have been added. Within the RAM segment, retail has been registering and some double-digit growth, 24%. And overall, RAM segment also is growing at the rate of 23%, 24%. Within retail segments like housing has grown 29% and car loan also grown at 44% year-on-year. And these are all results of our working on schemes, making the schemes customer friendly and seeing that the pain points for customers in the process of availing these loans, is all streamlined and that's why we are able to see handsome high-digit growth of 23 [Technical Difficulty]

Sorry to interrupt, the line for the management has been cut. Please stay connected while we reconnect the line for the management. Ladies and gentlemen, the line for the management has been reconnected. Yes, you may go ahead, sir.

Yes. So sorry for that disruption. So I was talking about the retail segment also performing well in the bank. And this performance of high growth, double-digit growth has been despite our conscious efforts to strengthen our underwriting norms, and we have actually strengthened in the terms we have made them more stricter. For the last 2 quarters, certain segments of loans, we are now consciously not underwriting. So the idea is that whatever growth is happening, the ultimate loan book that is getting created must be quality loan book. So that focus has been there. But despite this tightening of our underwriting standards, we have not seen any adverse impact on the growth part of it and which is again a result of our focus, as I said, from branches doing their core activities from a lot of simplifications, modification, improvisations that we made the schemes customer-friendly and customers getting reasons to bank with us, customers getting some value proposition in every scheme. That's how it has been. Stress in the loan book also on a year-on-year basis has seen an improvement from 6.61% stress, it has improved 174 bps and the stress is 4.87%. Likewise, GNPA also year-on-year has improved 24 bps and stands at 1.80%, NNPA at 0.20%. Our profitability, also if you look at NIM, is at healthy 3.98% level. Our ROA is improved by 23 bps at 1.78%. The capital raise that happened on -- during this quarter of INR 3,500 crores has also helped us improve our -- improve further much beyond the minimum prescribed capital adequacy norms from the regulator. CET1 improved by 204 bps and stands at 13.6%. CRAR at 18.71%. Government of India holding with this capital raise has come down to 79.6% and changing the optics for us. We've been the bank now with less than 80% GOI holding. Credit cost at 1.04% has also seen improvement and even segment-wise, our NPAs have in individually retail, agri, MSME, corporate book, everywhere, there is overall improvement. So this is broadly from my side and we'll be happy to take your queries and questions. I'm joined with my executive directors, and my general managers to take your queries. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from [ Sagar Shah from Spark PWM ].

Actually, I have a couple of questions. My first question was related to our corporate growth, actually, corporate loan growth. We had hardly 3% loan growth actually Y-o-Y. So I wanted to have some sense as in what is your outlook regarding this segment actually? And what -- how exactly do you see in this segment, opportunities that are coming up? Do you see the CapEx going through?

Okay. So good evening to you. Yes, if you are intending to know about the corporate CapEx private CapEx cycle, those things are yet to happen. But when I look at my bank, we positioned -- we have identified certain sectors which are -- we feel we should increase our presence and where largely, a lot of opportunities are aligned. So in infrastructure, in green renewable energy, taking up LRD proposals, these health care, pharma, we have very consciously looked at these sectors, and we have been growing also our book and that's how you see that year-on-year, we have grown. And I think a lot of opportunities are also coming. I will take ED also to...

Just to set the things in the right perspective, Sagar, Y-o-Y growth in corporate book is around 17%.

17%, yes, sir. I was talking about the quarterly growth. I think the quarterly seems to be pretty subdued. So I wanted to have a kind of a color what kind of opportunities are you finding in the sector?

Quarter-on-quarter growth is also around 4%, if you see. And opportunities are there. We have some proposals in renewables. And if you look at our sanctions during the 9 months ending December compared to last year, our sanctions has almost doubled in the corporate sector. And projects are under disbursement. Our outlook is towards -- more towards renewable sector, infrastructure HAM projects are coming up. Manufacturing, also, we are seeing some traction now and all these PLI-related sectors, some of the food processing units, such proposals are there. So we are quite confident that we'll be able to maintain a decent growth in the corporate sector. There are people that we have weighed very carefully the risk-return trade-off in this sector. We are not going for business where we don't get the desired yield on advances. So we are very conscious about that. And our aim is to grow our corporate book, maintain good quality of assets, at the same time, ensure good yield on advances also.

Okay. Sure, sir. Now, coming on to your net interest margin, sir, almost your -- our net interest margin stands at around 3.98% quite stable as compared to even last year, hardly. In fact, a 3.3 bps increase. So do you -- what do you see of the deposit market right now? Do you see -- with the infusion of liquidity in the market, do you see the NIMs stabilizing or at least improving when the rate cut cycle happens? Or do you see further pressure on NIMs due to the kind of the situation going on right now?

So if you ask me, my loan book, high 50%, 55% of loan book is priced to MCLR and around 37% is related to repo. So whenever the rate cut that we have been hearing is going to happen, this portion of book is going to get repriced immediately. So that headwind would remain, but when we compare ourselves with other lenders in the industry, we see that our share in the MCLR is a little higher. So to that extent, impact is not going to be, and we have been also able to raise our MCLR and that's how we have been able to increase our interest income also during this past couple of quarters. You would like to add?

Yes. So regarding that deposit cost, you see that we are trying not to take much bulk deposit higher cost. That's why we have gone for the alternate resource mobilization. We have raised roughly INR 5,800 crores from SEBI. And during this quarter, again, we have a INR 2,000 crores from the NABARD. So that is at reasonable rate and where that there is no CRR, SLR actual requirement. So it is giving us good benefit in respect of the cost deposit. So as I told that maintaining that good yield on advances and keeping the deposit cost in control, we'll be able to maintain the NIM. Already, we have given the -- that our NIM would be 3.70% to 3.90%. Even the rate cut is there. So that we'll continue to tell.

The next question comes from Subhanshi Rathi from Anand Rathi.

Okay. What are the current trends in home loan growth? And what are the expectations for the growth in near term?

Well, home loan, if you see this sector for some time, it had underplayed and it is post-COVID that we have seen that the reversal happening in this real estate, both commercial, residential, real estate. And if you look at data that is available in the top 7, 10 cities, a lot of unsold inventory that was held by the builders also have found some takers and that stock has actually gone down. And even you are now witnessing new project launches across the major centers, and we are also able to get the benefit out of this robust growth in this segment. Home loan for us has grown year-on-year at 29% and some credit is to our -- the easy onboarding process that we have kept. The scheme is also improvised and customers are finding a lot of value, whether it is pricing or otherwise. We are able to garner good business under home loans. And going forward, I think the trend we'll -- we've seen has continued at least for a couple of quarters this trend for housing loan portfolio should be maintained at these levels.

And you know that in respect of housing loan, our interest rate is one of the best in banking industry. So a lot of interest is there from the homebuyer taking loan from Bank of Maharashtra, and we got a lot of takeover has happened in Bank of Maharashtra. So that's why you are seeing the loan book roughly around 28% in Bank of Maharashtra this quarter and the same trend will continue in future also.

Okay. A couple of more questions, sir. What is the outlook on distribution fee income, particularly from life insurance and how is the bank planning to enhance the overall distribution fee income? Are there any specific targets or strategies in this regard?

So our wealth management vertical is actually looking at these value propositions and we have our partners into all the 3 segments of life and non-life, so life, general and health. And they are actually actively deployed, but we are always mindful that everything there is no instances of cross-sell -- misselling in anywhere that we are always mindful and this we are also digitizing some parts of this wealth management business. And shortly, we are launching with life insurance corporation, LIC, also, their top 5 schemes, we are going to digitize end-to-end the policy issuance and make that process also simpler. So there is a hope to increase this bancassurance business, and we want to grow a very compliant manner and make use of some technology around this proposition. Also, the 3-in-1 products that we are having, we have improvised upon that. We have tied up with certain brokerages to give that seamless option of having a demat trading and saving account of Bank of Maharashtra. And that's how I think we'll see more traction in our income. And also going forward, some deposits also would be seeing some improvements.

Okay. And, sir, why have the employee cost being too high during 9 months FY '25?

Could you repeat?

They are asking about employee costs. So madam, the employee cost, if you see that recently, the government has come with the guideline aspect of giving the -- that incentive to at higher credit still 4 and above. And during this quarter, we have made approximately INR 25 crores regarding this. That's why you are seeing some increase in the staff cost. And during this year, 9 months, we have added 1,000 staff. As we are opening new branches for that, we require staff. So some cost has come because of that. We have increased our staff to take care of the growing business.

But just to add here, if you see the guidance for our cost-to-income, we have kept it to be maintained below 40. And today, cost-to-income is 38.27. Quarter-on-quarter, we have actually reduced this number. So we are well within our guidance, and this is among the best in the industry. So there's not much of a concern around this. I'm going for aggressive branch opening also, and there will be some costs that we will incur, but when we are identifying or going to open a center where there are potential for growth, then I'm sure the revenues that we generate will be more than the cost that we incur in the process. And so that new branch opening also will offset, should not become a challenge.

Okay, sir. And the last question would be how much the deferred tax asset is left and when the bank is expected to transition to the normal tax rate?

Yes. Already, we shifted to that normal tax rate that is 25% new regime. And roughly, [ INR 3,000 crores ] is still carry forward losses are there, which the benefits we are going to get in next year also.

Okay. But sir, what is this amount of DTA that is left?

DTA, it is hardly INR 600 crore. DTA is in demand in the balance sheet, and that is required to continue.

The next question comes from Samraat Jadhav from Prosperity Wealth Adviser.

And congratulations to the team for a fantastic set of numbers. So I wanted to know 2 things. One is on the co-lending book, which we have, okay? So any increase in that core lending book? And how -- what are your views on that?

So if you see when we began the FY, this was one of -- one among the segments where we were thinking that we should be growing our book. So we had signed up 6 new partnerships and the outlay there is around INR 3,300 crores. And my outstanding on the co-lending is INR 2,300 crores. So there has been a good traction. I have 5 more new partnerships where the discussions are ongoing, and they are at various stages. And just to make sure that the recon issues and other issues don't bother us in growing this co-lending book. We have used a lot of technology where my systems had been through a middleware linked to the systems of the NBFCs and we are able to take care of the daily task of collections and distributions and validating them properly. So the recall issue is also well taken care of by the technology. And beyond the 6 partnerships, 5 more, as I said, are in the offering. Do you want to add anything?

So my second question was about branches, okay? As I see that we are not focusing anything on rural branch expansion, okay? So I think, in December '23, we have seen 09, today also, we are seeing 09. And major are in the metro, urban, semi-urban. So as I could judge that we are more focused towards building up the entire well than all our businesses towards good quality factor. So we have no focus on rural? Or we are just testing this...

I'm really sorry to interrupt. Samraat, sir, your voice is getting muffled in between. So if you're using the speaker mode, may we request to use the handset, please?

Now it's good?

Slightly better, sir. Yes, please go ahead.

But Samraat, I think I got your question, and correct me if I'm wrong or you can ask again, there's no issue. But your question was around new branch opening in the rural sector. So there are already regulatory guidelines in this and we are abiding by that in the new branch opening. And there is -- the only requirement from our side is that when we are opening branches, we should be seeing present or opening or expanding our presence in potential growth centers. So that's our requirement. But yes, we are all subjected and mandated by the regulatory guidelines. And that ratio is being maintained. Wherever we are not physically able to open a rural branch brick-and-mortar, so there is a customer service point, we see that guideline is available, and we make use of that. But we are complying with the guidelines from the regulator in this area. And all my new branch opening, yes, we will definitely be looking at being present at potential growth centers.

Understood. So in the last call, you said that 200 branch more target was there until March '25. So we are still on it?

Yes, we are. And what we are doing actually, good that you asked the question, around 600 branches is what we have opened in the last 3 years. And we had set certain set of metrics for evaluating how this branch opened have met the desired objectives, the outcomes or not. So we have gone through that exercise, and we are very comfortable with that. But as of now, with 2,550 bunches, we were more focused towards being present in all the districts in the country. But having achieved that objective majorly, now we are going to change our strategy for new branch openings. And once having represented the banks in all their major districts, we would like to, maybe, have some strategy where we open in a center, not in terms of a single branch or maybe have a cluster of 4, 5 branch and then go ahead and open and create that critical mass for the bank. So we are also planning to engage. We have had a lot of discussions around this agenda in our Board, and we are planning to take some expert help around this, who can actually guide us, which would be the better way going forward.

Great. And are GIFT City Branch license came?

Yes. So that proposal is already approved from the Board, has been submitted, and the proposal is under process.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Ashok Ajmera from Ajcon Global.

And compliments to you for yet another quarter of very good set of numbers as far as the profitability and performance of the bank is concerned. Sir, having said that, this year has been a concern for the growth in the business for almost every bank. And our bank also, I have seen because I have been a great fan of your bank and have been, sir, giving a very wide coverage all the time. But I have got a little -- I mean some concern, if you can address, our business target was 16%. If you go for the target, 18% to 20% of the credit and maybe, I think, 13% to -- 12% to 13% was deposit. So now since we are sitting already completed 9 months and only 3 months are left, we'll be in a position to achieve another INR 40,000 crores, INR 42,000 crores of the business growth, which includes about INR 27,000 crores of deposit and INR 15,000 crores, INR 16,000 crores of advances when only 2.5 months are left now. So is it wise to -- I mean, take the target as it is and wait for the very good performance in this quarter as this number speaks, because once this quarter is over, we will be talking about only financial year '24, '25 and not the trailing four quarters of the 1 quarter of the previous year. So my first question is on that, sir, that how optimistic and confident you are to achieve these numbers?

Yes. Ajmeraji, so see we have crossed 507,000 and we know what the objectives are there in mind, but there is consciousness that growing top line is not enough. Whatever is incrementally happening in the top line corresponding to that how it is going to impact my bottom lines and the various ratios that make us liked by the investors, we are very conscious about those and just nearly growing the top line. Because if you see my yield on advances, they have been only showing signs of improvement in the last 2 quarters. So we are [Technical Difficulty] that we may not be very bullish, aggressive in AAA, central government, PSUs and other sectors, where I'm not left with -- I can grow my advances very fast, but I don't correspondingly add to my bottom line. So that consciousness is going to be there. But if you see my total business guidance is for the year has been 16% year-on-year. I have added INR 73,000 crores of business in this December over December '23. So with that registering a growth of 17%. So I don't see major of a challenge, yes, but we will always remain conscious as to the business that gets added, the clients that added -- get added. Every transaction that we are doing, we are remaining cost conscious and seeing that how it is adding to my bottom line.

Well said, sir. Sir, there is one very unusual item in the audit report. If you look at the -- I mean, the emphasis A and B, it says about the insufficiency of the independent directors. Though I know that it is not in your hand, it is in the hands of the government. But as the head of the bank, definitely, it's a matter of concern that we could not present our account to Audit Committee because of insufficient number of members there and we have to take it to the board. So is there anything, any discussion going on with the government or any concern has been expressed to the government or whether the copy of this report is specifically marking this emphasis has been given to the government?

So it is not only for my bank. In the system, it is like that. And maybe I will not be in a position to comment anything, but we are soon expecting the bank -- the full strength will be made available to all the banks is what I can say.

Along with that, sir, there is another observation of INR 1,200 crores of the COVID-19 provision, which you are holding. And the auditor is emphasizing it. And in fact, it's rather as a good point. I mean I don't think it's a point to be emphasized. It's -- you are keeping that buffer, isn't it? And you are continuing to keep it. So anyway, that's just an observation that there were no need for emphasizing this something which is not warranting any mention. In fact, it's rather a good point for the bank to hold this provision. Having said that, sir...

It is strength on the balance sheet.

Yes, definitely.

Yes. And regarding independent director, let me just clarify, 2 of our directors completed their term on 20th of December. So it has been only recently that their term has come to an end, then the process is going to equip the bank with adequate number of directors.

And Ajmeraji, even though the ACV was not there, the auditors, they presented their observation to the Board. So we followed the due process in respect of the overall...

No, it's perfectly all right, sir. The only thing like anyway. Now my -- sir, what is our -- this total restructured book size now, standard and nonstandard. I think tender book is around INR 1,990 crores or INR 2,000 crores. So what is the total restructured book size? And one question, coupled with that, our gross NPA in absolute terms have increased in this quarter from INR 4,009 crores to INR 4,124 crores, though in percentage terms, it has come down because of the growth in the credit. So on that, any conscious like working or act to reduce because your net NPA is very comfortable at 0.20%, and you cannot go below that. But gross NPA definitely can be brought down. So any plan or any strategy on that and on the restructured book size?

The -- see -- if you see the gross NPA, you were also saying and which is right, that the net NPA 0.2%, I mean there's hardly any scope for improvement. For gross NPA, there has been a slight number increase in the value terms. But if you see the ratio percentage, again, we have only shown the improvement. It is at 1.8%. And we can any time look at doing some write-offs to see that these things is lower. But I don't think so any major concern is there. As we go on, some accounts do slip. I think, in the restructured book, we have one large MSME facility, which has gone to the -- the account has been restructured...

That is standard...

That is standard DCC work extension.

DCC extension, okay. But...

Our restructure book is constantly declining, sir. So no major worry, except one account. Due to elections, they could not get the required government permissions. So there is a delay in DCC. Otherwise account is standard, sir.

Okay, okay. Yes, that's why because you have been doing very well on all the fronts actually, some of the small little concerns and especially the maintaining the -- because Bank of Maharashtra has been special among all 12 public sector bank as regards to CASA is concerned, you are still on around 50 only which you had promised and you have targeted. A little bit of concern now because the bank which used to have the credit growth of 25%, 26%, and because [indiscernible] considerably good deposit growth has now suddenly, especially in this quarter, last quarter has been impacted a little severely as compared to you, if you compare yourselves only, I'm not comparing the industry. But anyway, having said that, perfectly all right, and you're finally crossed 5 lakh business target, which you are hoping to be there 6 months or 3 months back, but congratulations for the same and all the best to you, sir.

Ajmeraji, when the businesses are increasing, so there may be some increase in the NPA in quantum terms, but definitely, if you see the percentage term, we are maintaining a good ratio. And talking about the restructuring, we have not reversed whatever the restructuring provision we created roughly INR 400 crores is still we are holding. So we do not see any problem in standard restructured book also.

So one account here, there, I mean, these things are part of the thing, nothing of concern at all. And just to add to even the deposit, let's appreciate that the deposits in the system, the low cost at some point of time, the last numbers whichever getting circulated, the average low-cost CASA was 44% for the industry, now which has come down as per the latest estimates to below 38%. So 44% has come down to 38%, which is a 6% downfall. So we are also not out of the system. We are definitely going to have that impact. But I think the way we have been acquiring accounts and even some institutional accounts through our new business verticals are going to get added some technology options that we have given where the institutional accounts, both in the government and the corporate are adopting those facilities from us. I think we'll be much able to manage this temporary issues and have the consistency in our numbers in CASA also.

The next question comes from Nemin Doshi from Geojit [ PMS ].

Congratulations on great set of numbers. So firstly, sir, we have been meeting our quarterly targets on a regular basis. So how do you foresee this growth momentum continuing in following quarters given the fact that 37% of our book is repo-linked and we'll get repriced immediately. So within the near to medium term, how do you foresee this growth momentum to continue?

So if you look at our top line growth, overall deposit advances and even segment-wise, the growth rate is high double digit. And I think that system is also supporting economy supporting and the housing sector, we were just discussing we are growing at 29%. We don't see any challenges, concerns, headwinds around this. Just to safeguard ourselves, we have rather make the task more difficult for ourselves by increasing the underwriting benchmark. So beyond -- below a certain requirement, we are not underwriting any loan in the RAM segments. So these kind of things, we are doing just to make sure that the quality in the loan book, the -- is not -- it's maintained to that -- the level we would desire it to be. And even after doing these stringent measures, we have not seen any dip in our growth rate, and 100, 200 bps here, there, we would not have mined also in view of the quality. But the sourcing that we are doing for new loans through our attractive schemes where we are able to offer some value to clients. We are not seeing any dearth of new proposals coming to the bank. So this growth to answer you in one line, we don't see any challenge going forward that we will not be able to maintain.

Perfect. Got it, sir. Secondly, sir, within the retail...

And just to add -- I'm sorry, I'm interrupting. Please, let's also keep in mind that 600 branches have been opened in the last 3 years, and we are continuing to open new branches. And these new branches when they are opened in a growth center where business is happening, there is actually no base with them. And whatever new business they are getting, it is adding to the bank's balance sheet only. So our -- the way -- if you see Bank of Maharashtra versus other banks in the system, I think that we are the bank which is most aggressive in new branch opening as of now.

Got it. Got it. Sir, as we mentioned that we have been opening branches since last 3 years. And if you look at our cost-to-income ratio, which has been pretty stable at 38% to 40%. So is there further headroom in medium -- over medium term so that this operating leverage could kick in and we could get the benefits of branch efficiency to come in?

So if you see this -- I have a plan for opening new branches to the extent of 1,000, but the 1,000 number is going to happen in 5 years. That's what Board approval is with me. And we are opening at the rate of 200 to 220. In the past 3 years, we have done that. And now once we decide to open a new branch, immediately, there is some expense around it. But within a year, we have our benchmark that, that branch, if it's a metro center, what is the level of business should be achieved. Within that business, what should be the component of advances, what should be the component of deposits. And that branch itself should turn into a profit center. When we decide to open in a growth center, potential center, they should fend for themselves. So that's how we are doing it. So the branches which are opened, say, from 3 years from now, they are actually the ones who are majorly contributing also. So that's how staggered manner the new branch opening. So cost-to-income is also behaving well. For last 3 years, the way we have opened branches, we are still able to maintain much below my guidance of 40% for cost-to-income.

Got it. Got it. Lastly, sir, within the credit, retail credit segment, which segments foresee as a growth engine and excluding the secured ones, which is the housing part, and are there any chances of yield improvement within this segment?

Right. So yes, if you see 50% of my retail is from housing loans. And that sector is, for me growing at a very fast pace. I -- yes, I do price my home loans very attractively, but that kind of rate is available for certain -- you have to entitle yourself, you have to be 800 CIBIL score plus. So that final rate, it comes to -- the rate chart is a staggered manner, linked to the credit score that the borrower has. So not everybody gets that fine rate is the point. We are also picking up segments like gold loans have been picked up where nonpriority gold loans can improve. We have picked up car loans, and we have simplified our schemes. And we have seen a 44% Y-o-Y growth in big ticket car loans. When we look at the luxury segment market, that market is -- affordability has really gone up and people are spending money for high-end segment cars. And when our scheme is made customer-friendly to attract this kind of this segment. And I'm happy to share that whatever growth has come in the car loans, 75% of those customers are having vintage with me for 3 years or more. So they are my own set of customers, well-conducted accounts. I'm comfortable with them. And if they are buying cars, I'm funding them and I charge a good rate there. So these segments individually are actually contributing and bringing this growth and high yield also in the system.

Got it, got it. Sir, lastly, if I can just ask in that within -- for the retail credit, how are being our yields trending? Is it trending upward? Or could you just give some directional thought that how are the yields panning out over the quarters? Especially in last 2 years, given the fact that we have been opening and we have been venturing out into different segments and at a pretty fast rate?

Would you like to answer that?

So you see that in retail, if you see the NPA level. So NPA level is very low in respect of the retail, and that's why we are leveraging, though we are giving some incentives to the customer. But whatever the intent of management that to give some benefit to above the line, so that we will not to make the provision below the line. So that strategy will continue. It is a successful strategy, and we are getting a good yield in respect of the retail, there is no cut in respect of the NPAs.

Next question comes from Ashlesh Sonje from Kotak Securities.

Sir, a couple of questions from my side. Firstly, if I look at the SMA-1 book that has increased sequentially from INR 185 crores to INR 271 crores. Can you share more details on what has caused this increase?

If you see that overall SMA is -- SMA-1 and 2 above INR 5 crores, which is 0.22. And we have witnessed some in SMA-1, but we have been doing strict monitoring on the account. And we are confident that from SMA-1, it will go back to SMA-0 or it will become the regular. But overall, though there is an increase in quantum, a little bit quantum, but if you see the ratio, this is well below the level. And regarding overall SMA, if you see that overall SMA book, earlier, it was 5.80, including SMA-0. The major part of the SMA-0. Now we brought down with our strict monitoring to 4.87. So we are keeping a strict vigil on the behavior of the overall asset book. And recently that we are taking help of the software also. I think that...

Even if you see the SMA-1 above INR 5 crores, Y-o-Y, it was earlier 736. It came down less than 50%. It is 271. And we are rigorously monitoring from day 1. So Y-o-Y, it is a little bit changed, only one account, a small account below INR 100 crores, but it is well within the control.

Understood, sir. And this small account would be a PSU entity?

It is a state corporation. So there is no stress. It is a little bit cash flow issue. But definitely within 15 days, we'll definitely come out from that.

Understood, sir. Sir, second one is on your bad loan recoveries outlook. If I look at your total bad loan portfolio today, including NPA as well as the technically written-off book, that is about INR 26,000 crores. So far in the 9 months of this year, you have made about INR 1,000 crores of recovery from this book. Can you talk about your outlook for the next quarter and for FY '26 as well on bad loan recoveries?

So regarding bad loan recovery, if you see recovery and write-off, we have done a decent job. Already, we achieved whatever that we achieved the recovery and write-off in FY '23, '24. And there are a good account line-up for the recoveries. And you know that most of the accounts we have written-off so we are expecting that whatever the recovery come, it will directly come to the P&L account over the line. So definitely that the March quarter is where that we make more efforts even in small accounts also. So we are expecting good recovery. So you will see that good traction as far as the recovery write-off in March quarter also.

And you believe you can -- the run rate of bad loan recoveries can hold up in FY '26 as well?

Yes, yes. If you see the overall portfolio of INR 20,000 crores. And over a period of 5 years, we are expecting a recovery of 30%. So that would be INR 1,500 crores per year. So that we are starting to achieve the target.

Just to add here, if you look at our NCLT book, so 138 accounts are there, have been referred, 133 of those have been admitted. And the amount involved was INR 8,500 crores. While they are all 100% provided, when we look at the recovery in the NCLT cases, out of 138 accounts, we have seen recovery in this year in 58 accounts, and the amount is INR 222 crores in this 9 months. Whereas if we look at last year in NCLT cases, our recovery was 511. So the point is the way NCLT cases have been pursued, no matter, there will be some haircut steep cut in some cases. But there are a lot of reviews and follow-ups at various levels. And the NCLT resolution have also expedited. We have seen the admission is expedited wherever the -- after admission process has to go that has been expedited and it's been still continuously reviewed. So to my mind, whatever this INR 8,500 crores NCLT, maybe '25, '26, what you are saying may see substantial recovery. What haircut that will depend, of course, on individual accounts. But for me, they are 100% provided for. So INR 8,500 crores is a large number. The way NCLT cases have been reviewed and followed up within the bank and from the government also, so I think we will see a lot of resolutions and resultant recovery to the bank.

To supplement, sir, we have a sizable number of the smart ticket accounts also, which are NPA and we have written off. And we are giving the very good OTS scheme. So -- and there is regular weekly meetings in the field offices, et cetera. So where we are getting the good traction in terms of the recovery and write-off account.

Understood, sir. And on the OTS schemes, what is the typical recovery rate?

So these are actually the schemes -- these are schemes which are targeted to different segments. One are where the ticket size is low the aging of NPA is kept into our consideration. The security that is available is kept in mind. And then that's how this scheme is identified. In some cases, we just want to clean up the number of accounts and there are agriculture advances, long NPAs, 5-year plus, 10 years around that. So there are 3 sets of OTS schemes which are currently available and the vertical is also very aggressively pursuing with the field functionaries. And we are trying to see that recovery in absolute terms or at least the cleanup happens. The small NPA accounts once are cleaned up and settled, we can focus on other things. Madam, you have any number...

Yes. So as part of the OTS, we are expecting that 70% to -- 60% to 80% that we are able to recover in leisure balance. That is our idea accordingly that we are giving the OTS schemes.

Yes. Maximum, minimum OTS scheme...

For this quarter, we have recovered INR 143.31 crores for this December quarter through OTS.

And in terms of leisure balance, we are able to recover around 70%, 80% of the leisure balance.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Gaurav Sharma from HSBC.

Hello. Am I audible?

Yes, Gaurav, please go ahead.

Just a couple of small questions. Just wanted to understand your view on our growth outlook of agriculture sector? And do you expect that growth to come back? And second, sir, what are the changes has been made in underwriting for the agriculture sector? And how are the trends you are seeing in collections for this sector? These are my questions.

So agriculture sector, the first part of question is not very clear to me...

Outlook.

Outlook, okay. So agriculture, you see, we have made certain change in our approach and strategy. And this is a priority sector and we have to do it. But we are more towards the investment credit. So we are looking at proposals which have the ticket size, higher ticket size and lesser focus is on the production credit, more on the investment credit. And for that matter, a lot of steps have been taken. And we are also mindful that the underwriting that will happen in branches, there must not be compromise in the quantity part. So we have also centralized. Our agriculture hubs are there. And today, in the production credit, the typical KCC, as we know, there is no sanctioning power given to the branches. The proposals move to one layer above in zonal office, where the agriculture KCC proposals also will be dealt with. So maybe ticket size is lesser, but we are actually centralizing so that the underwriting and the asset that is getting financed, we are on the right track. Plus, as I said, focus more on the investment credit.

Yes. So to supplement, sir, now that monsoon is good and the agriculture is expected to grow by more than 3%. So we are expecting good recoveries and lower slippages. And as a strategy, we have not gone more for farm credit, though you have seen a growth of 24%. In farm credit, that is mostly coming by the -- giving agri gold loan. So if you exclude the agri gold loan, the growth would be roughly 4%. And as I told that we are focusing on the other areas like agriculture, where the slippage on the lower side.

Okay. And sir, what would be your average ticket size for the agriculture loan?

What was that? The size you wanted to know?

Average ticket size for investment credit loans.

Average ticket size.

Average, it is ranging between INR 10 lakhs to INR 50 lakhs, depending upon the requirement.

The next question comes from Sushil Choksey from Indus Equity Advisors.

Congratulations to team and management of Bank of Maharashtra for excellent results. My question is with such good CASA numbers...

Mr. Choksey, your line is not clear.

Are we capitalizing to third-party products and various retail segment products of Bank of Maharashtra, to garner higher profit.

Sir, we didn't get the first part of your question. So can you kindly repeat?

Sir, we have -- congratulations to team and management of Bank of Maharashtra for excellent results on quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year. We've been doing amazing work. CASA has empowered the bank to grow so well. How are we monetizing the CASA numbers in cross-sell of third-party products and retail. Retail is showing some traction but where the third-party products are concerned, which can be a big income to the bank. How are we capitalizing on it?

Thank you for that question and very vital point and then we are very strategically moving in this direction. If you see the CASA lot of CASA, we have been able to successfully mobilize from government departments and ministries. In Maharashtra, we've been outside Maharashtra, other states, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and so on and so forth. And if you see, interestingly, it is not just the operative CASA that we maintain for them, we are having beyond that other ancillary business that is possible. So if the government department has a requirement for some collections, payment and collection services for which they require some facilities, banking facilities. And so we are seeing that we even fulfill those. Then along with that, if there is a funding need of that government department and we can, as per the regulatory guidelines look at the proposal, we are providing finance. If there are investments requirements, we provide investment options to them, payment and collections I have told, then even the payroll business. So we will try and see wherever in the government department, ministries, we have the operative accounts. We invariably pay the salaries. The salaries get disbursed to my branches. And once the salary relationship is established, we are hoping broadly for another option. We can give home loans, car loans. We can give personal segment loans. We can also give education loans to their wards in a seamless manner. So these kind of relationships in every account there, wherever we are having an institutional relationship we are filling the gap if it is not there and even new set of relationships when we are going to acquire, we are offering all these from day 1. And this gives me not only benefits to have the complete banking business of that one entity, but also I'm able to earn maximum possible income. And I'm also able to ring-fence that account if I maintain a vanilla operative account, tomorrow, it may shift easily. But when we have these kind of multiple relationships, the accounts also, we are able to have some stickiness with us.

Second thing is, as you're moving towards a lot of digitization and retail products, so connectivity, I'm sure your spend has been quite high in the last 2 years to make you enabler for future. What kind of further expenditure we are likely to incur for further digitization as technology evolves and AI and many other things are going to start. So the bank will have a continuous budget. So any plans for further strengthening the bank's technology platform?

Yes. So one initiative, in fact, a very powerful medium that this technology allows is the mobile banking. And we are in the process, the RFPs have been concluded. The new vendor is onboarded, and we are going to completely revamp our mobile banking application. And the new lifestyle solution is going to be launched well within this financial year before we close the year. And you will see that this application is a much improvised version, which is going to have higher customer convenience. The number of services also from current 290, we are planning 400-plus services to be made available. So technology, this is one major initiative. I have my ED also with me. He will also speak on what all we have been doing and we are planning to do.

Yes. Sushilji, actually your second question, third question is linked in between. I will just combine the answer. So when you asked about the -- on the retail side, like what are the initiatives. So recently, we have launched some, I think, 3 to 4 STPs. So in total, if you see, the total STPs, which the bank has launched for the customer journeys on the retail and other sites are almost 15 to 17. Otherwise, other than that, some 7 to 8 other journeys are launched where -- which are on the service side, like nomination. So these journeys are there, which are giving comfort level convenience to the customer. So this is the one thing. The second thing is that when it comes UPI or it comes the transaction through mobile or maybe the WhatsApp service. So you may be seeing our presentation where we have informed that how many new services are introduced in the WhatsApp. Certainly, this time, you will see there is a huge jump in the onboarding and the number of transactions even on the WhatsApp site. So on -- when coming to the retail, we are still on the MSME and the retail book, I will put together. So I think some 3, 4 like vehicle, education and then housing, we have already lost and 3, 4, particularly in MSME till 10 lakhs N2B, that is new to the bank. So existing, we have already lost and it is working very well in the bank, and now we are going for a new to the bank. Now coming to the third party, it is also very important because all these insurance companies are life or non-life or health, we are bringing into mobile directly and WhatsApp also. So what we are doing, that these STP journeys, which are not directly related to the bank, but we have collaborated with the third party, our partners. And one very good product, one of our partner is bringing, it is already approved by IRDA where the premium will be paid like an FDs. And like that, they can go on paying and they can reach to a level and get a sum assured. So it is, I think, it was supposed to be launched very recently. So this is like one. Another one is the credit life insurance. That also we have done like an entire thing whenever a person taking home loan. If he wants to avail a life coverage over that. The entire data will be picked up once he says that he wants it. So it will be like pre-filled form and only a few steps he has to do and the premium will be debited and the coverage will be obtained. So there are at least I can tell you that around there are 10 further journeys, which are either in the UAT or testing stage or the completion stage, which are going to be through particularly for the retail side, MSME side and third-party side.

My last question in this round is that we have growth capital available, but because of constraint led by SEBI now, we have to dilute government equity up to 75%. I'm sure that for the next 2, 3 years with the profitability number, if you want to achieve 15%, 17% or 20% growth, you don't need equity. Am I right?

So to answer that question, see, I will always keep looking at what nudges are coming from government, regulators from time to time. And banking industry, no doubt has been passing recently through a good phase. And this is the time that we should make and build cushions. And if that be no doubt that we are currently well capitalized. But it makes a case for raising more capital if we want to maintain this healthy capital adequacy for growth, I will keep raising money. So we do have our plans. Our engagement with you would continue. We will keep coming with whatever guidance and how bank has been performing over the guidance and what our future plans are. And at appropriate times in the year, we have our plans in place to look at the option of raising further capital.

Sir, my suggestion is that government equity can be bought back in some instruments to get to 75% or second, the OFS should be done rather over QIP. Your stock price would reward you in the next round whenever you decide on that.

Right. Point well taken, sir. Thank you for that. And -- but that OFS part is [indiscernible] bank and definitely, we'll keep doing good. And see, I raised the capital of INR 3,500 crores, and I have to see that I deploy that fast. And you would have seen our credit growth also including the corporate book actually looking up which was single-digit Y-o-Y last quarter, has become 17% year-on-year in this quarter. So whatever we have raised, we are actually deploying it and earning interest out of that. So we going forward, maintain our dividend levels, ROE and so on and so forth.

Sir, congratulation to the management team of Bank of Maharashtra and best wishes for years to come.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we would take that as a last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Shri Nidhu Saxena for closing remarks.

Right. Thank you so much for sparing that this time. And I think the one thing you would have noticed definitely consistency in our results have always been there. Additionally, we have tried to highlight certain areas where we are actually doing well. And we also looked at seeing that whatever growth is happening in the sustainable growth in the bank. And for that matter, the contribution from every branches is what has been in our focus, in our last 2 reviews, quarterly reviews with our zonal teams, we have been emphasizing on these points. And every of our branch, which is opened is supposed to be doing business as per their potential that is available to them. And it is not that we depend on some bulk elements happening here there, but every branch is contributing. That is one aspect that we are aiming at inclusive growth to happen in the bank. Also going forward to sustain this growth, we are also mindful of the issues around technology, our managing of risk, corporate governance and the technology structure that we are having and the cyber-related concerns that are there. So we are strengthening this vertical also. We are continuously looking at acquiring talents externally if those sets of requirements in this new era of technology are not available within the bank. We have done one set of 195 officers recruitment lately concluded that 130 officials have already joined our various levels. We are, again, going to very shortly come up with more requirements in these areas to see that our overall risk, governance and compliance, culture gets improved and strengthened because in the long run, these things are going to sustain our growth that we are achieving. So that's all from my side. Thank you so much.

Thank you. On behalf of the Bank of Maharashtra, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.