CSL Finance Limited (530067) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary
November 24, 2020
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
Operator
operatorLadies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the CSL Finance Limited Earnings Conference Call for Q2 FY 2021, hosted by Kanav Capital Advisors. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Gaurav Sud from Kanav Capital Advisors. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Gaurav Sud
executiveThanks, Melissa. Welcome, everyone, and thanks for joining the Q2 FY '21 update call for CSL Finance Limited. To take us through this update and answer your questions, we have today with us, Mr. Rohit Gupta, Managing Director and Promoter; and Mr. Chandan Verma (sic) [ Chandan Kumar ] Wholesale Credit Head. We will be starting the call with a brief overview of the last 6 months' performance and then follow up with a Q&A session. I would like to remind you all that everything said on this call that reflects any outlook for the future, which can be construed as a forward-looking statement must be viewed in conjunction with uncertainties and risks that they face. These uncertainties and risks are included, but not limited to what we have mentioned in the prospectus filed with SEBI and subsequent annual reports, which you can find on our website. With that said, I'll now turn over the call to Mr. Rohit Gupta. Over to you, Rohit.
Rohit Gupta
executiveThank you, Gaurav. Good evening, everybody. CSL Finance welcomes you to quarter 2 2021 investor con call. Thank you for taking of the time for this -- attending this call. We hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy in [Technical Difficulty]
Operator
operatorMr. Gupta? Mr. Rohit Gupta?
Gaurav Sud
executiveI'm Gaurav here. I think he might have dropped off. So can you try connecting him again?
Operator
operatorLadies and gentlemen, we have Mr. Rohit Gupta reconnected to the call. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes. Sorry, I think the call was disconnected. So I was covering that pre provisioning profits have significantly improved in this quarter by 15% to INR 10.61 crores as compared to INR 9.22 crores in last quarter. But PAT declined by 5.38% to INR 6.86 crores in quarter 2 as compared to INR 7.25 crores in quarter 2 of the last financial year. The decrease in PAT was majorly driven by COVID provisions being maintained at INR 4.61 crores. For half year numbers, our net interest income grew by INR 7.26 crores -- 7.26% from INR 23.69 crores to INR 25.41 crores. Our PAT has shown a marginal growth of [ 6% ] from INR 13.79 crores in half year for the -- this first year as compared to -- first half year as compared to INR 13.88 crores in this -- the last financial year. Due to higher risk of defaulting repayment post COVID lockdown, our main focus has been on collections. Our collection team has been in regular touch with the clients through telecommunication or face-to-face meeting. Our collections have increased by 63 -- collection has increased by 63.74% to INR 87.29 crores in quarter 2 as compared to INR 53.31 crores in quarter 2 of the last financial year. It has materially increased on quarter-on-quarter, about 177% from INR 31.42 crores in the first quarter. Hello?
Operator
operatorYes, Mr. Gupta.
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, yes. Our collection efficiency has been 85% in retail segment where collections have been impacted largely because of school loans. Our AUM increased by 5.53% to INR 335 crores in quarter 2 of this financial year as compared to INR 317 crores in quarter 2 of the last financial year. The AUM growth has been lower due to high collection and our cautious approach towards new sanctions and disbursals. Our disbursements for this quarter has in fact increased by 66% to INR 90 crores in quarter 2 of this financial year as compared to INR 54.09 crores in quarter 2 of the last financial year. The lower growth in AUM is largely due to higher collection in spite of high disbursement. Now coming on to operational update. Our wholesale lending AUM stands at INR 269 crores as on 30th September 2020, as compared to INR 249 crores as on 30th September 2019. It consists of 4 segments, wholesale large, wholesale small, wholesale LAP and loan against securities. We have explained all these 4 segments in the last -- in our con calls earlier. The wholesale loan to mid-income group housing and affordable housing has been our main focus area since we started lending, but gradually, we are shifting our focus towards wholesale small and SME retail segment where the loan tenure and the ticket size are smaller. And so we can avoid concentration risk. AUM of wholesale LAP and LAS increased by 120% to INR 66 crores in quarter 2 financial year 2021 as compared to INR 30 crores in quarter 2 financial year 2020. This was largely due to 2 loans that got disbursed in this quarter. Our SME segment AUM stands at INR 65 crores as on 30th September as compared to INR 69 crores as on 30th September 2019. The decline in AUM is largely on account of higher collections and cautious approach towards new sanction and disbursement till economic activities achieve normalcy. In first 4 months of this financial year, the disbursement was very marginal. So because of that -- because of the higher collection and practically 0 disbursement in first 4 months, the AUM growth has -- the AUM has come down. Our SME portfolio consist of both secured and unsecured loans, with over 90% loans being secured. We give unsecured loans only to K-12 schools where we have capped the ticket size to INR 5 lakhs per loan. And the total portfolio of unsecured loans amount to INR 6 crores as on 30th September 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the business across the segments and the NBFC. It is believed that weak balance sheets have been the biggest losers. We have been able to minimize the risk on our loan portfolio due to our prudent lending practices and close monitoring. We are not facing any stress in our existing portfolio, except for school loans, which we expect to become regular once the schools open. We were present in our rural and semi-rural area for our retail segment, where economic activity were less impacted due to COVID-19, and that has helped in better performance of the retail portfolio. Performance of SME portfolio is as per our expectations and collections have improved to 75% overall. If we take off those 2 loans and the collections is roughly around 60%, the collection efficiency is 85% for the remaining SME portfolio. Our wholesale loan portfolio has performed quite well. We have received repayments of INR 88.68 crores during this period against the total outstanding of INR 269 crores as on 30th September 2020. We have always been prudent in our operations and maintained LTV of around 45%. And given that the peak stress for this segment is behind us, we do not foresee any big challenge in this loan portfolio. Furthermore, most of the funded projects are either complete or near completion. So the execution risk is no longer in play and these projects expect sizable committed receivables from the sold but undelivered inventory. Now coming to provisioning. We have a gross NPA of INR 0.25 crores as on 30th September, which has been covered fully by the ECL provisioning. Our net NPA is almost negligible. As a prudent risk management practice, we have already provided ECL provision of INR 6.33 crores under stage 1 and stage 2 of our portfolio. Loans under stage 3, that is INR 0.25 crores have been fully provided for. Now to the treasury update. The NBFC sector has been facing challenges post lockdown due to rising NPAs and liquidity challenges. Thanks to RBI, which has introduced liquidity scheme for the NBFCs. The liquidity has eased up now. We have also been beneficiary of the RBI liquidity scheme and we were able to raise INR 30 crores of private placement of NCDs during this quarter. We have a comfortable level of liquidity and have maintained cash and cash equivalents of INR 19.63 crores as on 30th September. We have repaid INR 12.91 crores of our loans, including prepayments of INR 7 crores in quarter 2 financial year 2021. We have successfully issued NCDs of INR 30 crores and replaced high-cost debt with low-cost debt, which led to decline in interest cost by 20 bps during this quarter. Our net, it has reduced from INR 96 crores as on 31st March 2020 to INR 86 crores as on 30 September 2020, which includes the private placed NCDs of INR 30 crores. Our CRR stands at 73% as on 30th September 2020, which is one of the highest among NBFCs of our size. Thanks, everyone, for participating on the con call. Your questions are important for us, and we strive to be transparent in our investor communication. Economic activities have now started picking up and with good monsoon and increase in rural activities, we think that worst is behind. We aim to maintain the high quality of our balance sheet while striving to grow our business in the coming years. We look forward to connecting with you all after the March '22 (sic) [ '21 ] quarter result. Thanks. Now your questions, please.
Operator
operator[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of [ Ankit Gupta ] from [ Bamboo Capital. ]
Unknown Analyst
analystCongratulations on pretty resilient set of numbers and good collection efficiency. Rohit, on the wholesale side, if we look at it, we have seen the worst of the times, and this book has largely been pretty resilient for us. We are still having prepayments in this bucket -- in this segment. So earlier, when we used to talk to you during con calls, you used to say that bankers have been pretty apprehensive about the wholesale lending, and they have been telling us to focus more on the retail side. And I think as a management also we wanted to focus more on the SME part. So given the kind of collections we have seen in this segment and the resilient nature, at least for our portfolio, any views on how this segment -- or any strategy -- any changes in the strategy for this segment for this wholesale segment going forward? And do we now look forward to growing this segment at -- in the coming 2, 3 years or over medium to long term?
Rohit Gupta
executiveThank you, [ Ankit. ] So as you rightly said, for us, wholesale has been again earning segment for us. And in spite of a very difficult period for last 4, 5 years, we have been able to perform reasonably well as compared to the problems which are being faced by the segment which we are in. These are -- this is especially because -- this is basically because of a few of our parameters, which we have always maintained in our credit policy around the segment, which we say [Foreign Language] we look for projects which are affordable in nature, where the people can live in location wise, and which are nearing completion or where the sales have already happened and there is a very certain stream of cash flows -- predictable cash flows coming in for the completion of the project. So that has been our basis for choosing those projects. And till date we have been able to perform reasonably well. And now we are seeing that even this segment is also picking up. Last 2, 3 months sales have been really very good as compared to what we were expecting. And we would say the worst part has also been passed during last 4, 5 years where we have seen demonetization, GST issues, the RERA coming in and with this COVID. So already this segment has already faced a lot of stress. And so going forward, for us, as we think that we have reasonable domain knowledge of this segment, we will definitely like to maintain and grow in this segment. And even now the number of players have little bit reduced. The bigger NBFCs are not focusing too much -- are not focusing in the size which we are. So definitely, we will like to grow in this segment and -- along with the retail part.
Unknown Analyst
analystOkay. Okay. And so now -- on the disbursement part, Rohit, we have almost touched INR 90 crore of disbursement during the quarter, which has been one of the highest in the past 5, 6 quarters that we have seen. So -- and looking at how the rural economy and the overall economy has recovered across the country, do we think that second half, we will see some growth in our AUM? And any kind of outlook or any kind of guidance that you would like to share over the next 2, 3 years? What kind of growth are we targeting since the worst seems to be behind us?
Rohit Gupta
executiveIf we talk about next 2 quarters, definitely, we are very hopeful that our AUM will also increase, and we are sitting on unutilized credit facilities of roughly around INR 50 crores to INR 55 crores, which we thinking we'll be able to deploy in next 2 quarters. For the last quarter, the biggest challenge has been -- and that the collections were very strong and primarily because we have an escrow on all our projects and if the sales and collections are good, then the prepayments start increasing, which we have seen in last 3 months. And even our first -- 3 months of the first quarter were also reasonably good, seeing the situation at that time where most of the country was under lockdown. So in spite of that, in the first 2 -- first 6 months have been very good for the collection side. And the challenge has been a little bit as we were little cautious for first 4 months, the challenge has been on the -- little bit on the disbursement. Now for last -- in the last 2 months, we have done reasonable sanctions and disbursement in this segment also. So we are quite hopeful that the next 2 quarters, our AUM in this segment will increase and overall AUM of companies will also increase. But to give any number or percentage will be a little difficult as still COVID is not over. And we are primarily focused on those projects, which are nearing completion or which are in affordable segment. So all those opportunities coming in our area where we are only focusing in the NCR segment, where we think that we have reasonable domain knowledge or area around NCR and Chandigarh -- around Chandigarh and somewhere what -- in Jaipur side. So whatever -- so we are quite hopeful that our AUM should increase in the next 2 quarters. And I will be able to give better picture for the next coming years, I think, in the March con call. So...
Unknown Analyst
analystOkay. Okay. Yes. And on the collection efficiency on the SME side, Rohit, the 85% ex school collection efficiency that you talked about, that is for the month of September or October?
Rohit Gupta
executiveThat is for the month of September.
Unknown Analyst
analystOkay. And how has that trend been in October and current...
Rohit Gupta
executiveSo that has been same. I would not say it's very high; between 85% to 88%.
Unknown Analyst
analystOkay. So because we also track lot of micro finance and other NBFCs focusing on SMEs and loan below INR 10 lakhs. So they -- many of these NBFCs, well-run NBFCs are reporting collection efficiency above 90%, 92%, 93%. So -- and I think month-on-month improvement in collection efficiency. So for us it is relatively a little bit lower if we are around 85%, 88%. So any views on how this collection efficiency in -- on the SME side is expected to be over the next 2, 3 months?
Rohit Gupta
executiveIf you see, [ Ankit, ] we've just bisect our SME portfolio, our collections have been very good in Rajasthan and Gujarat. We have faced challenges in few of our branches in Punjab and Haryana. And otherwise, in few of our branches, our collection efficiency is more than 90% to 95% also. Few of the branches are doing even 100%. So these are few branches, namely 2 or 3 branches, where our collection efficiency is little lower. And that is also the loans which we did in the initial phase when we started our SME where our credit policies were not refined and our processes were not properly, you can say was lacking somewhat, and that was those loans where we are seeing certain challenges. And if we just take out our first year of operations, if we just take them, our collection efficiency is more than 90% in each and every branch. So I would say that was -- the first year of operations of SME if we just take out those loans, so we have done -- we are doing reasonably good. The other part which is affecting on us is the school loan, which were very, very good till before March, before lockdown, where our collection efficiency has been more than 98%, 99% in schools, and where we are down to 60% right now. And we are quite hopeful as the school open, and after opening within 2 to 3 months, we will again -- we are very hopeful that we will see that, that portfolio will also come back and -- with the same kind of collection efficiency.
Unknown Analyst
analystRohit, how much is the total loan book to schools? Is it just the 10% of SME unsecured book which is given to schools or some part of the secured book also includes...
Rohit Gupta
executiveSecured also we roughly around have -- around INR 22 crores in the total school segment, which includes INR 6 crores of unsecured part.
Unknown Analyst
analystOkay. Okay. Okay. And the collection efficiency there has been...
Rohit Gupta
executive60% to 65%.
Operator
operator[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of [ Siddharth Agarwal ] from [ Prudent Value Partner. ]
Unknown Analyst
analystRohit, congratulations on the good performance given the challenges in the industry. Sir, how are we seeing the real estate pickup sector demand in the NCR now?
Rohit Gupta
executiveI think I will let Chandan explain something, then I will come on this question. Chandan?
Chandan Kumar
executiveYes. [ Siddharth, ] the overall demand that -- we are finding the traction -- too much traction in some of the areas of the NCR. Gurgaon is doing exceptionally well in the affordable. Only the high ticket size segment that is not moving well into the market. Otherwise, the ticket size less than 60% or in between 30% to 60% is picking up very well. Apart from that, the affordable segment that ranges between the -- less than INR 30 lakh to 0 -- to INR 10 lakh housing, the demand is on a very bullish side and almost all the inventories, whichever the project is launched into the affordable segment result has been balanced into the -- 1 or 2 months of the launch itself. In Noida West, definitely, the portfolio of Noida West of the housing -- retail housing in the Noida West is -- there is a lot of traction in the Noida West market and the demand is too much there. And we are finding that a lot of buyers are -- the movement is there in the housing sales side or housing demand side.
Rohit Gupta
executiveAnd just to add, if we just see the projects which are nearing completion and are affordable in nature and location is -- where the location is good, we are finding that reasonable traction is there, the sales have improved, where we used to see that the projects are selling between anything 0 to 10 units in a month, now they are back to, I would say, 10 to 25 units in a month, which is not very huge as compared to what it used to be in 2013, '14, but reasonably very good and mostly it is end consumer demand. So the projects which are affordable in nature in good location and certainty of getting completed are finding buyers. And those are especially in Gurgaon, where we are into wholesale small, builder floors is doing exceeding good and the same is the case in South Delhi. The only issue is with the high ticket housing projects, which are more than, I would say, INR 1 crores, INR 1.5 crores, where the demand is lukewarm. So otherwise, the sales for last 2, 3 months have been very good. And which you can also, I think, if you are reading any of those real estate commentaries also, the demand is reasonably good.
Unknown Analyst
analystOkay. And Rohitji, we keep on hearing about a lot of consolidation that is happening on the builder side and -- so basically, the expectation is that bigger or established players are going to take larger market share, and they are going to launch more and more projects. But that is not our target segment that we try to lend. So in our target segment, the smaller builders or mid-sized builders to whom we target to lend to, do you see an appetite for them to come up with launch newer projects or launch pipeline or -- for us for -- the deal pipeline for us, how does that look?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, definitely, [ Ankit, ] (sic) [ Siddharth ] the consolidation is bound to happen. Whenever we see in any industry where boom to bust happens, the consolidation is definitely going to come. And even when we say [Foreign Language] everything will go to the very large players, that may not be possible because when we talk about affordable, affordable is a segment where we have seen, if you have gone through the commentary of DLF, even the Godrej, the bigger ones, they have not entered into the very affordable kind of a segment because it's a segment where your speed, your cost control, your hold on the local area within the authorities and all those is very important and even we have good broker network. So the smaller players who have focus and with the -- who are working with reasonably good financial prudence and with right kind of good locations and financial closures, they will be able -- they will continue to come up with new projects, and a lot of our existing borrowers have launched new projects in last 2, 3 months, a little bit to our surprise also. Because -- and we also feel that there's -- lot of learning has also gone to these builders, what the mistakes they have committed earlier, they are much more prudent and much more, I would say, smart and they have learned from their mistakes. And going forward, if you ask me, I see very less -- even -- this is one of the segments where it is very good for the lenders to lend because now the borrowers have become very prudent. They are cost conscious. They are conscious of each and every cost, maybe the borrowing cost or the project cost, and they're putting lot of thought and effort before launching any project. So -- and going ahead, there will not be too much inventory [Technical Difficulty] or in the pipeline. So they will be [indiscernible] in the going forward next 2 to 3 years, we see that the supply may be less as compared to the demand. So the builders who have been good, and -- they will continue to perform better in the coming years. So for us, as a small lender, we always see that if we have got USP in terms of better financial closure of the proposals and more practical approach and with the domain knowledge, which we have built during last 7 to 8 years, we think that we'll be able to find space and we'll be able to grow our business in this segment.
Unknown Analyst
analystOkay. Great, sir. And Rohitji, what is the collection amount in the wholesale segment during the quarter? And are our customers -- any of our customers still postponing the payments?
Rohit Gupta
executiveCustomers in the sense our borrowers or the customers of our borrowers, the end consumers?
Unknown Analyst
analystOur borrowers, are they...
Rohit Gupta
executiveNo, no, more or less in the first quarter, about 66% of the borrowers have gone for moratorium. But now, in the last -- in this quarter, we have not given any moratorium to any of our customers. And moreover, if you see, our collections are more than INR 88 crores and which substantial part is prepayments. So none of the borrowers, we don't see any -- we have not seen any [Technical Difficulty] in any of our borrowers. So the collections have been very good on part of our borrowers, and the same is reflected in our collections also.
Unknown Analyst
analystOkay. And sir, we have done exceptionally well in the wholesale LAP. So for this quarter, could you just tell us a little bit more about what is the typical duration, LTV and the IRR for this product? And from a portfolio perspective, can we do -- reach this to, say, INR 100 crores in this year, in '21?
Chandan Kumar
executiveCan I answer, Rohit?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, yes, yes.
Chandan Kumar
executiveYes. [ Siddharth, ] the thing is that the LAP is a category where we are stridently focusing into the doing loan totally against the kind of term loan structure, that is particularly against the properties, right? Only 2 or 3 loans are there, which are the kind of -- which are provided to the builder, otherwise, the -- most of the loans -- we have around 10 or 11 loans into the LAP portfolio. Most of them are to the MSME or kind of a business [indiscernible] who have availed LAP from us. The average LTV kept in the LAP size is around 45% to 50% on the maximum side, in some cases, we have 30% and on the portfolio side, the average LTV of the LAP is 40%, right? Now on the future perspective, like, we are not that much focused into the LAP, reason being that this receivable is not that much hypothecated into the LAP portfolio itself. We are focused on wholesale LAPs and wholesale small. What the receivables could be escrowed and we have exact control on the receivables part. So the LAP part, we are not seeing that much opportunity in the LAP business. Yes, we are focusing onto the LAP segment, and we are only doing LAP with those customers who are very much known to us and we are very much confident on their profile, portfolio and the business itself.
Rohit Gupta
executiveJust to add on, [ Siddharth, ] what he means to say, LAP will not be a focus area for us. It's just opportunity based. Sometimes we come across good proposals where we think that this proposal will give us good IRR and we have good strong security and the repayments are predictable. Otherwise, because as Chandan rightly explained, we are focused on only those wholesale segment portfolio where we have an escrow on the receivables, so where we get regular receivables and we have a control on their receivables. So -- and LAP is not our area where we say [Foreign Language] we can -- built a huge domain knowledge. But the real estate segment, whether it's affordable or mid housing, we think that we have reasonable domain knowledge of that segment in our area. So we'd like to continue to focus on that. It is only opportunity based, so we can't predict on the size or building up this portfolio too much.
Unknown Analyst
analystOkay. Great Rohitji. And Rohitji, you -- in previous -- to answering while [ Ankit's ] question, you did mention that there has been some change in our credit policies, which have resulted into better collection efficiencies in the loans which have been done in the later part of -- in our branches. So could you tell us a little bit more about how -- if we have started disbursement in the SME retail side...
Rohit Gupta
executiveHello?
Unknown Analyst
analystHello? Can you hear me?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, yes. Now I'm able to here you.
Unknown Analyst
analystOkay. So my question is, sir, as we started disbursement on the SME retail side, and how are we screening our potential customers? And any changes in our credit appraisals that we have done in the last, as you mentioned earlier, that there have been some changes which have resulted in better collection efficiencies for the later part of the loan. So if you could tell us a little bit more about how we have improved our credit process.
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes. [ Siddharth, ] earlier I think in the very first year, this was 2016, '17 when we started our retail. So this was a new segment to us. So the credit policies were also evolving and even the -- over a period of time, we realized that even the processes has to be fine tuned. So -- and some even on the recruitment side. So we fine-tuned all those where the processes or policies need to be improved, maybe on the HR side, on the credit side, on the process side, where we found that there are few lapses, which we have done. So it has been a year of -- you can say a year of learning for us. And that could be for any company, which starts any new segment. And so -- what was your second question? Second part?
Unknown Analyst
analystSo -- what -- if any -- in the credit appraisal, so how are you screening our potential customers? Any changes that we have done so that we can understand how it is being done better than what it was done in the past? If anything possible to throw some light on this?
Rohit Gupta
executiveSee, the kind of customers we are dealing with are those are in unorganized segment, where you don't get any bank statements or any audited accounts to fall back on and it is your [Technical Difficulty] while meeting the customer and analyzing the customer what he has done during the last 5 to 10 years about the business, what he's doing and get the references you are getting. So based on that assessment, we have built -- we have find that the credit policy is always ever evolving. Whatever we keep on learning, we keep on adding to our the credit policy part or even on the processes part. And so Chandan, if you like to just -- if you want to explain little what -- in detail how we have fine-tuned our credit policies.
Chandan Kumar
executiveDefinitely. So there are a few changes there, [ Siddharth, ] that we have done majorly into our credit policy. Actually, we have divided the thing into the 2 parts. That is firstly on boarding of the client itself. So earlier, what we used to do, there are certain parameters. Like for the school loan itself we were going through the numbers. We checked the number of students from register [ section. ] But now we've added few of the parameters that soundproof our credit quality. So the parameters, the number -- actually earlier also we used to do this on the same parameters, but now what we have evolved, that the number of parameters on the [indiscernible]. Like earlier, we used -- we can -- we are able to board around 600 kind of CIBIL score customer. But now we have preset that we -- 700 would be the benchmark for -- on which we will be building up the customer base itself. Second thing, like the various parameter has been added into while appraising for different kind of the customers. Separate camps have been prepared for each kind of industry. Like for retail segment, retail shops we have built a different camp. Reason being, earlier, what we used to do that -- there would be a kind of a single camp on which the every customer was assessed on few of the parameters. But we have been built in -- during the evolution itself, we have built in the various parameters and we have evolved different kind of camps for the different industries. Like for retail, we have a different camp, for appraising a school loan, a dairy loan, we have a different camp for each and everything, right? So that is the kind of credit evaluation or credit process evaluation we did into the credit policies. Now on the credit management part, that is the portfolio management part. Earlier, what we used to -- in general -- generally on the NBFCs, what happens in the case of term loan, whenever the customer is boarded, then there is a very less requirement than the quarterly on a kind of a 6-monthly call memos are submitted on the performance of the loan itself. So we have started identifying the customer that how the portfolios are performing and based on their like performance, we started submitting the call memos itself on like, what are the reasons that the customer's cash flows are not coming on, is there any delinquency into the account. Yes, it is there. So the policy of submitting the quarterly or a 6-monthly call memo is also involved into the portfolio management part. Even like state heads, branch heads are asked to meet the customers on a yearly basis, so that a kind of portfolio review and a portfolio management -- monitoring could be done.
Unknown Analyst
analystGreat. That sounds very comforting, Chandanji. I think that would -- I think all these changes have resulted into better portfolio performance as well, and I hope this will continue on. I have a few more questions, but I will fall back in the queue and I'll let other participants ask, and I'll come back if there is time.
Operator
operatorThe next question is from the line of Ajay Sharma from Cycas Investment.
Ajay Sharma
analystI just had a couple of questions. The first one is for Mr. Gupta. Where do you really envision the company in 5 years or even in 10 years? Do you think that the company will still be giving the same kind of loans that are still now with -- at a larger level? Or do you think the loan book might become more granular? What do you think a normal rate of growth is?
Rohit Gupta
executiveHello?
Ajay Sharma
analystYes. Can you hear me?
Rohit Gupta
executiveHello?
Ajay Sharma
analystYes. Can you hear me?
Rohit Gupta
executiveHello?
Ajay Sharma
analystHello, can you hear me?
Operator
operatorMr. Gupta, we can hear you, sir.
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes.
Ajay Sharma
analystShould I ask my question again?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, please.
Ajay Sharma
analystYes. So I was just asking, where do you see the company in 5, 10 years? What kind of lending products will it offer? Will it be doing the same kinds of lending that it's doing now, but at a larger level? Will it be a more granular loan book? What would a normal rate of growth be? Can you just provide your long-term vision about CSL Finance?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes. See, the last 2 years has been very difficult for the NBFC. The way we thought we would be in 2 years before, after the IF -- the DHFL and a few of the bigger ones. So the fundraising has become a little bit difficult. And we have been very cautious on the cost side also. Now in the last 4, 5 months, that has eased on. So this year, the -- has been -- our motto has been to -- just to sustain ourselves, to maintain our quality loan book and to add on low cost of borrowing if possible. And as you're talking about 5 to 10 years, it is, I would say, a little long, but yes, definitely, what -- we have gained lot of confidence from what we are doing, especially in the wholesale, and now as our -- we have also learned from our mistakes on the retail side also. And we would like to grow the existing both segments because 1 thing we know that we will not be able to go into the segments which are being -- in the immediate, which are being -- you can say, the domain of the larger NBFCs or banks. And for us, we can't go into a product with an IRR of, you can say, 9% to 14%, 15%. Definitely, we'll have to build our domain knowledge in those unorganized retail segment, where because of your domain knowledge, which you build around your credit policies and processes, and if we are able to show our expertise and build the domain knowledge around that, we'll be able to grow in that segment. And there's still a lot of scope in that segment to grow and even on...
Operator
operatorThe line for Mr. Gupta has been disconnected. Kindly stay online until I reconnect him. Ladies and gentlemen, we have Mr. Gupta reconnected to the call. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, sorry for that. And -- so primarily, the existing 2 segments will be our core focus areas in the next 2, 3 years. Our focus will be to add on more lenders in our profile as we have been doing it. We have done -- we have -- for the very first time, we have been able to raise funds through NCDs. And to -- there was a lot of apprehension among our lenders about the wholesale segment where we were in. Now even those lenders and our rating agencies are much more confident. So going forward, the biggest challenge for the NBFC segment has been to raise your -- raise funds on the liability side. So that will be a core area to focus on to build our liability side and to grow our existing segments. And so I think adding other areas -- other segments, I think it will be a little too premature. For next 1, 1.5, 2 years, we are going to focus on the existing segments only.
Ajay Sharma
analystOkay. Okay. So broadly, you'd say that at a balance sheet size of maybe INR 500 crores, INR 700 crores, the company would still look very similar as it does today, right, with the same kind of lending profile?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, because we still see there's a lot of opportunity. And if we are confident in the existing segments, I don't see the [indiscernible] to add on because as a smaller company, first we have to build ourselves as a reasonable player in that segment itself than going on to adding few other segments. So that has been our approach. And going forward, there's a lot of opportunity where we had not expanded in terms of branches during last 12 months, which we are hopeful that we'll be adding branches in the next 12 months in a few of the states. And with what kind of learning that we have got during the last 2, 3 years, both on the retail side and what our experience what we have got on the wholesale, so we will continue to focus on the existing digital segments, and we will build our growth to expanding to new areas where we -- our presence has not been.
Ajay Sharma
analystOkay. And just a quick question about the branches. So are the lending decisions made at the branch level? Or are they made at the headquarter level?
Rohit Gupta
executiveSo these are in the existing sectors. These are -- the credit manager at every branch, who will seek the sanction of proposal. But the final go ahead only comes from at the center level, which is very fast where the pre-sanctioned powers have been given to the branch credit managers. The final approvals are getting -- are being done by the central level.
Ajay Sharma
analystOkay. Okay. I understand. And a little while ago, you mentioned that the competition in the sector might have come down over these last few months. Do you see this as a structural change to the NBFC sector? Or do you think that when good times come back, the competition will come back up?
Rohit Gupta
executiveDefinitely, because if the segment -- there was a lot of apprehension in the last 2, 3 years about the wholesale segment and there were certain things which have gone wrong in the larger NBFCs, which have given the wrong, I would say, it is a little difficult segment to be in. But going forward, as we see the segment is very good and now a lot of -- I would say, not NBFCs, but real estate specific funds are focusing on for the last 12 months. And I do see that a lot of NBFCs, which have stopped funding, will come back. So -- but we are able to build our USP in our region. We definitely see that we'll be able to get business and expand ourselves. And now we have become quite competitive in terms of the IRRs, which we are offering to our borrowers as compared to the larger players also.
Operator
operatorMr. Sharma, I would request you to rejoin the queue. We have several participants waiting for their turn. The next question is from the line of Rahul Jain from Credence Wealth.
Rahul Jain
analystCongratulations on good performance [indiscernible] having a decent balance sheet in a tough environment. So Rohit, first question for you. We understand last almost 6 to 8 months have been quite tough given the environment in which we are. So -- but as we speak, more and more sectors are opening up, economy seems to be coming back on sales, certain sectors doing much better than what they were in pre-COVID levels and certain sectors are still year to reach those kind of levels, especially the school segment, which we are talking about. So sir, my first question to you is -- like what we have been hearing from most of the companies is the initial first 2 quarters, most of the management spend a lot of time on, collection was the main focus area. So from your side, sir, what are the 3 focus areas in last 6 to 8 months? And for the next 6 to 8 months, what are the 3 focus areas which you want to spend your time on?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes. For the last 6 to 8 months and primarily after lockdown for 4 months, namely April, May, June, July, we are more focused on collection and visiting and meeting our existing borrowers. In case of wholesale, having one-to-one meetings with those borrowers. At the same time, telling our credit team, back office team, operations team to improve our processes. We relooked each and every of our existing borrowers, and there was a complete audit done, and we relooked at our credit policy. So that has given a lot of the -- this 4, 5 months have given a lot of time to improve our existing processes and policies and to have a relook at that in the changing environment. And yes, definitely in the last 2 months, we are looking for building our business, and in spite of having unpredictable high collections in our wholesale side, we -- our focus has been on the disbursement. As you can see, we have done a disbursement of INR 90 crores in last quarter, which was higher than even the -- what we have done in the previous quarter of last year. So now even we have started telling our -- on the retail side also for the last 1.5 months to focus on the business. And prior to that, we have our collections and by improving the processes was the main focus area. For the next 6, I would say, next 4 months, growing our business would be the main focus area. But at the same time, we want to be cautious, still few of the segments are in a difficult position. So we are not out of COVID. So we will always be cautious and prudent, but now the focus will definitely be on building our business.
Rahul Jain
analystSure. And sir, given your experience in the various segments which you operate, and as you mentioned in previous questions also that you have developed some kind of domain expertise in certain areas of lending. But apart from -- so as we speak today, any of the segments where you feel now you would focus more compared to some other segments? So on 1 side, [Foreign Language] we will have now much more focus, and on one of the segments where we are experienced or based on our learnings, we feel probably in this segment, probably we would be focused, something like that?
Rohit Gupta
executiveNo. No. I would just -- only the change of strategy, what has happened is we were a little very cautious on the wholesale side, even prior to lockdown also because our lenders and borrowers were very cautious what was happening in this industry. And there was, you can say, a caution around the industry. So [Technical Difficulty] we always felt very confident. So that will be, again, our focus area going forward, along with the retail part, where we have said we have learned from our mistakes also, which we did learn a little bit in our first year of operation. And a lot of effort has been gone into building our policies and processes around that. So definitely, next 6 months, our focus will be just to grow our business.
Rahul Jain
analystSo basically, no change in the focus on the -- based on the segments which we are into already?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, yes. We are doing reasonably good, we feel that we are confident in those segments, and that will be the segments where we can grow. So I think we see no reason why we should look for other areas.
Rahul Jain
analystAnd sir, with regards to segments and the areas in which we operate, typically, who are our direct competitors, if you could name some of them? I understand a lot of MBCs are there. But if you could name some of like when a borrower is there or when a borrower wants to approach, so he would approach a CSL Finance and apart from that 2 or 3 other companies, which he would generally come to?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes. If we see in the wholesale segment earlier where the -- even Reliance, DHFL, Indiabulls, IIFL, Edelweiss, they were very aggressive. Nowadays, though our size is very, very small. There are a lot of funds which have come -- which are like Kautilya, ASK, Raymond James, those funds are very -- are doing on the real estate side. And few of the company's, IIFL still active, and a few of the banks also, AU Finance and other banks. So -- but still, because of our, you can say, domain knowledge, our presence in our area and our USP around faster assessment and faster disbursals, and -- so that will continue to remain. And the sizes are limitation, otherwise. So most of the proposals come to us first and then goes to the lender. So that -- we have built a good reasonable marketing network in our existing area. And coming to retail, I would take it -- there are a lot of -- as the company -- a lot of banks and NBFCs are there. But we are primarily focused into the unorganized segment, where those borrowers are not supported by any kind of banking or any GST returns. So in that still, you can say something like AU Bank is there. The smaller, the Capri, and Muthoot, all those companies are active. And yes, this -- the competition is definitely there, but we have to -- you build your presence through your faster disbursals, that is one of the USPs, which one we have to have, and better understanding of the profile where we are lending.
Rahul Jain
analystSure. And sir, any ballpark figure or kind of number which you could share in terms of where do we see our AUMs 18 months from today? Where could we end FY '22, with what kind of number?
Rohit Gupta
executiveSee, we've never given this kind of forward-looking numbers in any of our previous con calls. So definitely, I would only like to say that we will definitely like to -- our AUM should increase in the next 4 months as we have sufficiently unutilized limits of around INR 55 crores to INR 60 crores. And we are hopeful of raising another INR 20 crores to INR 40 crores. So -- and to give number for the next year, I think March will be the right time to give those numbers.
Rahul Jain
analystSure. So you said, utilize the existing around INR 50 crores to INR 60 crores of limits and additional credit purchase of INR 20 crores to INR 40 crores till March of the current year. Is that correct?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, yes.
Rahul Jain
analystAnd sir, last 2 questions. One, on the credit side. So in the current year, what kind of credit cost do we expect? And typically, how many borrowers would have not paid a single kind of installment till date?
Rohit Gupta
executiveOn the retail or on the wholesale side?
Rahul Jain
analystOverall from the book, like how many borrowers and what could be the amount of that, whereby a borrower would not have paid a single EMI?
Rohit Gupta
executiveOn the wholesale side, roughly around the portfolio of INR 260 crores, I would say there is only 1 borrower of INR 96 lakhs who has not paid a single EMI till lockdown. And where we have already ever fully secured in terms of where LTVs are less than 40%, 45%, but that borrower has not paid a single amount as they have availed the moratorium and last 2 months they have not paid. On the SME side, you can say apart from school loans, which may be roughly around 90 to 100 customers out of a total book of 1,100 customers. And roughly around, you can say, 50 to 70 customers on the SME retail side.
Rahul Jain
analystThe credit cost for the current year could be around?
Rohit Gupta
executiveIt depends -- the major credit cost will be coming from the school side, so which have been very regular. Our collection efficiency was 99% on the school side. It is only that schools are not allowed to operate. All our schools are based in semi-rural area, rural areas, where even they are not able to properly give classes through electronic mode, neither the students have that kind of, you can say, infrastructure to support that. So where the fees are not coming. And the only answer which we get is whenever the schools will open, we will pay, though we have a security in terms of schools or their private houses -- private property of the borrowers. So in terms of LTV, we are fairly secured. But yes, that is 1 area where out of INR 22 crores, you can say INR 10 crores of schools are not paying until date, which we have already provided roughly around INR 4.6 crores we have ECL provision, and we have been aggressive in providing -- in making provisions whenever it is required. And apart from that, we don't see too much challenge coming from wholesale or the retail section. School is only 1 area, which is temporary and understandable, otherwise, which was very good in terms of regular -- the payments have been extremely good prior to the lockdown.
Chandan Kumar
executiveAnd I would also like to add 1 point Rohit. Now the thing is that school loan also, 100% of our customers have been met by our branch team, and even the state heads also. And we are very much confident that once that school would start there -- resume operating, we would be able to collect 100% of their EMIs. We are not finding that any of the customer is having intend to default, but yes, the problem is there. And we are 100% sure that all the portfolio of the school loan would be also regular once the schools start operating.
Rahul Jain
analystSure. And sir, last question about cost of borrowing. So where do we see the interest rates and how -- what is the incremental cost of borrowing for us, interest rate on NCDs?
Rohit Gupta
executiveSo all our borrowings what we have done have been sub-10%. And even our weighted cost of borrowing has come below 10%. And we have prepaid loans which were having around 11% to 12%. So if we want to prepay roughly a very small percentage, out of INR 96 crores borrowing, we have roughly around INR 10 crore, more than 10% cost of borrowing. And where the prepayment charges are too high. Otherwise, we are very keen to prepay on those loans. So our cost of borrowing is less than 10% as of now.
Rahul Jain
analystAnd the incremental borrowing is also at around 8%?
Rohit Gupta
executiveBelow that, below that. And we see going forward, if -- that we raise at a little more competitive price rate. Our rating has been one deterrent for us. And going forward, if we are able to improve it, definitely then the cost of borrowing will come down.
Operator
operatorThe next question is from the line of Anand Jain, an individual investor.
Unknown Attendee
attendeeOne question Rohit that I have is that we say that retail collection efficiency is around 85% till September and 88% until October. So what kind of buffer have we built for the defaults in that segment? What are the expectations around the remaining 12%, 13%, who are not paying until now?
Rohit Gupta
executiveWe're already -- we have provided roughly around INR 4.6 crores as ECL provision for Stage 1 and Stage 2. And we primarily take this into for this SME part. So it's roughly you can say around 6% to 7%. And in every quarter, even this quarter, we have provided INR 1.38 crores. That was totally on the SME segment, where even we have reasonable securities that we are based on our -- we have a very conservative. We have fully provided in our books. So -- yes definitely, schools don't start repaying us in next -- till after February or March. We may see that out of INR 22 crores, INR 10 crore of the accounts are not paying. We may have to provide in next financial year. But I'm very, very hopeful that schools are bound to open and school will always be -- we can't see economy or society without schools. So definitely, those cash flows are bound to come. It's only a matter after restrictions which have been imposed by the government. And if schools -- if you just take out the school channels, we think that we have adequately provided for our credit costs in the -- for the coming next 16, 12 months.
Unknown Attendee
attendeeSo when you talk of INR 4.6 crores that you have provided until now, it is both for the schools and also for the SME?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, yes, yes.
Unknown Attendee
attendeeOkay. And but if the -- I mean there is a possibility of a INR 10 crore extra on the credit cost until the schools will reopen?
Rohit Gupta
executiveEven the 60%, schools are closed every year, 60% are claimed, in spite of cash flows are not coming from the school, maybe from the other sources of the promoters. And as and when we see the accounts are becoming NPA, most of the borrowers will not make those accounts NPA, there may be delinquent to 30 to 60 days, but everybody is prudent, and they don't want to be an NPA. So -- and we -- the kind of feedback we are getting from our team is also that they are very cautious of not becoming an NPA. And the other thing we have to learn that school, as a segment, can't -- we can't write-off that it will not come back. Yes, definitely because of the restrictions, the customer is not allowed to operate. So definitely they will remain challenge in the immediate period. But to say that this INR 10 crore provision has to be made, if that may be the case, we will do that. We have been very prudent and aggressive in making provisions. But at the same time, we do think that we know these borrowers will come back as and when the segment is allowed to open.
Unknown Attendee
attendeeSo my next question is that before in pre-COVID times, the real estate sector was under deep stress. And the rate of borrowing for retail versus for real estate lending, wholesale lending were different. So do you still see that going on right now? And how is the rate of borrowing for retail versus for the wholesale segment?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, definitely. Now the borrowers are a little more cautious. And for the -- [indiscernible], which used to be earlier 17% to 18%, going forward, it will be anything between 16% to 17%. But at the same time, our credit cost has also -- the borrowing cost has also come down. So...
Unknown Attendee
attendeeBoth for retail and wholesale are different now?
Rohit Gupta
executiveCome again, sir, please?
Unknown Attendee
attendeeNo, I'm asking the cost of borrowing for retail versus cost of borrowing for wholesale, how is it now and how is it looking?
Rohit Gupta
executiveCost of borrowing for my customers or for myself?
Unknown Attendee
attendeeNo. For CSL for -- the cost of borrowing was different for the retail side, and it was different for wholesale?
Rohit Gupta
executiveNo, no. None of our lenders have seen that way. They have seen as a company as a whole. So there was no specific cost of borrowing for our retail segment or for our wholesale. So that has not been the case with us till now.
Unknown Attendee
attendeeSo the lenders are totally fine if what we borrow, we lend it to retail or we lend it to wholesale?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, yes. There's not a single restriction from any of our lenders to just to lend to retail or just to lend to wholesale.
Unknown Attendee
attendeeOkay. The third question that I have is that we have done retail and wholesale has been the initial or the primary -- let us say, we were a wholesale lending company and then we entered retail. And over the last 2 years, we have seen that wholesale has done much, much better. Irrespective of the market conditions, we have done far better in wholesale, whether it is in terms of IRR costs or whatever metric you took. Going ahead, would our focus be more on the wholesale side or more on the retail side?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, I would say, I would love to be in wholesale, but at the same time, to mitigate our risk and to build up presence on the retail -- so we want to be, even in the retail, we have chosen a domain where we don't see too much competition coming from the larger players in terms of -- so we just want to build the domain knowledge in that segment. And for the -- and the learning what we have got during the last 3 years of lending into retail, now we are much more confident on the retail side also. Otherwise, wholesale has been our bread and butter, and we have been able to perform. So it has been always -- been dear to us. And going forward, our focus will be on both the segments. So we want to have a right mix, maybe 60 to 40 -- 60/40 going forward.
Unknown Attendee
attendee60/40 in favor of wholesale is what you're saying?
Rohit Gupta
executiveYes, yes. So that we will be there, I think, for the next 2, 3 years.
Unknown Attendee
attendeeSo the last question that I have is that some of the erstwhile aggressive lenders like Edelweiss or Piramal or JM, these guys have now kind of started to shrink the book. Some of them are also out of the market. And if we really want, we can grow our wholesale book really fast at this point of time. Do you see at what kind of debt equity ratio are we comfortable with? And when will we be raising equity capital? At what level of debt equity are we looking to raise capital? And when do you see that happen?
Rohit Gupta
executiveWe are not -- definitely, we are not looking to raise any capital in the near future, I think, in the next 1 or 2 years. First, we want to build a reasonable debt-to-equity ratio, which is very, very low till date. And there was little...
Unknown Attendee
attendeeWhat kind of debt equity are we comfortable with -- would we be comfortable?
Rohit Gupta
executiveWhat we have kept in our mind, we think that 2 to 2.5x on our wholesale book and 4 to 5x on our retail book should be the right kind of mix. So -- because wholesale still -- and the receivables sometimes become lumpy -- sometimes -- so there can be cyclicals. So because of those reasons, we don't want to be -- go beyond 2, 2.5x in the initial phase and 4 to 5x on the retail side.
Unknown Attendee
attendeeAnd are we looking to grow our wholesale book outside of NCR because NCR has been like...
Rohit Gupta
executiveDefinitely, definitely. We are trying to grow, even we have done a few lending in areas around Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula and all those areas, even something around -- near Dehradun, around that Uttarakhand. And even you can look at in Rajasthan. So just for sake of diversification in terms of geographical spread, we don't want to go because when we have size, we will definitely go into newer areas. But until we have opportunities on our own area, so it makes more sense to -- we remain there because 1 thing is there, this segment requires a lot of domain knowledge about the area, and post lending, you have to monitor it very closely. So unless until we have a size, we have to have a good team around that location stationed permanently to look into a newer location. So definitely, we have -- just for understanding the new areas, we have done a few projects in those areas just so that we have -- start getting understanding of those areas. Going forward, as and when our size grows, then we will definitely go into those few of the pockets, which I have told you just now.
Operator
operatorLadies and gentlemen, this was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Rohit Gupta for closing comments.
Rohit Gupta
executiveI would like to thank everybody for participating into this first half con call of CSL Finance, and we look forward to see you for March results. And wish you all a very healthy and a safe year, and that you have -- thank you very much.
Operator
operatorThank you. On behalf of Kanav Capital Advisors, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.
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