CreditAccess Grameen Ltd
NSE:CREDITACC

Watchlist Manager
CreditAccess Grameen Ltd Logo
CreditAccess Grameen Ltd
NSE:CREDITACC
Watchlist
Price: 920.5 INR -2.83% Market Closed
Market Cap: 146.8B INR
Have any thoughts about
CreditAccess Grameen Ltd?
Write Note

Earnings Call Transcript

Earnings Call Transcript
2024-Q4

from 0
Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to CreditAccess Grameen Q4 FY '24 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.

I now hand the conference over to Mr. Nidhesh Jain. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

N
Nidhesh Jain
analyst

Thank you, Sagar. Welcome to the Quarter 4 FY '24 Earnings Conference Call of CreditAccess Grameen Limited. To discuss the financial performance of CreditAccess Grameen and to address your queries, we have with us today Mr. Udaya Kumar Hebbar, MD of CreditAccess Grameen; Mr. Ganesh Narayanan, CEO of CreditAccess Grameen; Mr. Balakrishna Kamath, CFO; and Mr. Nilesh Dalvi, SVP and Head, Investor Relations.

I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Udaya Kumar Hebbar for his opening comments. Over to you, sir.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Thank you, Nidhesh. Good evening, everyone, and we welcome you to join the conference call to discuss our fourth quarter and full year FY '24 business performance.

CA Grameen has stood as a preferred financial partner supporting the entrepreneurship journey for millions of [Foreign Language] over past 25 years. We take pride in being the first stand-alone microfinance entity to surpass the significant milestone of INR 25,000 crores AUM mark in our Silver Jubilee year of operations. We have been once again certified as a Great Place to Work for the fifth consecutive year given our purpose-oriented approach.

We ended financial year '24 on a solid footing, having reached a AUM growth of 25% Y-o-Y and 14.2% Q-on-Q to INR 26,714 crores, supported by a healthy increase in customer base. The customer base grew 15.3% Y-o-Y and 4.8% Q-o-Q to 49.2 lakh at the end of financial year '24. Our customer addition momentum continued to remain strong as we added over 13.5 lakh new customers during FY '24 and 4.2 lakh new customers in Q4 FY '24 with an average of 1.1 lakh addition every month. The expansion in outside core markets have been playing out well as 34% of our yearly customer addition are outside of top districts.

We added 86 branches in the last quarter and 194 branches during this year, taking our total infrastructure strength to 1,967 branches that are across 383 districts at the end of March '24. We also merged 13 banks to enhance our operational efficiency.

Once again, disbursement was the strongest in Q4 FY '24 at INR 8,053 crores, an increase of 12.3% Y-o-Y given robust customer additions. And renewed strength from the [ increase in ] borrowers.

Our progress in retail finance portfolio continued to thrive with an AUM of INR 708 crores at the end of March '24, the increase of 320% Y-o-Y. This book, being 2.1% of our overall portfolio, is performing extremely well with past-30 of around 0.07% across new products, like immediate business loans, mortgage-backed loans, 2-wheeler loans, et cetera. In line with our evolving customer philosophy, we are supporting our value-added customers to retail finance product, resulting in an industry-leading customer retention rate of 88%, a proof of strong customer affiliation with our brand.

Net interest income in Q4 FY '24 grew by 33.7% Y-o-Y to INR 922 crores. We continue to remain one of the lowest-cost lenders with the portfolio yield of 21%, a stable cost of borrowing at 9.8% and operating with 11.2% interest spread.

Our diversification in liability funded both sourced and geography-wise, the highest standalone credit rating, adequate ESG disclosures and ratings, and healthy capital adequacy contribute to our unique positioning. We believe that our cost of borrowing for FY '25 should remain stable as we continue to maintain a robust ALM position. And our interest spread was 11.2% in Q4 FY '24. NIM stood at 13.1%. Cost-to-income ratio was healthy at 30.1%, which is 10 bps lower than Y-o-Y.

We created an additional provision of INR 26 crores towards long-term incentives and onetime special bonus to our employees while celebrating our Silver Jubilee year.

PPOP grew by 35.8% Y-o-Y to INR 683 crores. The credit costs in Q4 FY stood at INR 153 crores, partially offset by INR 13 crores of bad debt recovery. The collection efficiency, excluding arrears, stood healthy at 98.3%, GNPA at 60 DPD stood at 1.18% and PAR 90+ at 0.94%, and net NPA at 0.35%. ECL provisioning stood at 1.95%, higher than our GNPA. Our PAT grew by 33.9% Y-o-Y and 12.4% Q-o-Q to INR 397 crores during Q4 of FY '24, resulting in ROA of 5.7% and ROE of 24.9%.

For the financial year '24, net income grew by 45.9% Y-o-Y and to INR 3,260 crores, while PPOP grew by 58.7% Y-o-Y to INR 2,391 crores. The credit cost stood at 2.06% in FY '24. As explained on Slide 7 of the investor presentation, the credit cost on account of delinquent loan was 1.71%, which included 1.52% of actual credit loss in the form of write-offs and 0.19% Stage II and Stage III provisioning. The remaining difference of 0.35% was on account of increase in standard asset provisioning on Stage I assets with its our revised ECL policy introduced in FY '23. Our Stage I provisioning increased from 0.82% in March '23 to 0.92% as on March '24. The net credit cost after incorporating INR 48 crores bad debt recovery stood at 1.8% for FY '24, in line with our guided range. The company continues to hold over and above 100 bps higher provisioning compared to IRAC prudential norms.

Our PAT in FY '24, grew by 75% Y-o-Y to INR 1,446 crores, leading to an ROA of 5.6% and ROE of 24.9%, in line with our annual performance guidance. Capital adequacy remained comfortable at 23.1%. It is important to note that our cross-cycle ROA and ROE over the past 8 financial years, from FY '17 to FY '24, despite facing 3 external shocks, stood at 3.6% and 15%, respectively.

For [indiscernible] materially for conducting the business in the form of classical JL model, diverse product suite, flexibility in repayment and continuous district-based expansion approach, supported with strong corporate governance structure, ensures stability and enhanced resiliency.

Commemorating our 25 years of operations, the Board of Directors have recommended the onetime final dividend of INR 10 per share, the dividend payment of INR 159 crores translating to a dividend payout of 11%, subject to shareholders approval at the ensuing Annual General Meeting of the company.

Assuming a stable operating environment, we look forward to achieving loan portfolio growth of 23% to 24% in FY '25. On the back of our competitive lending rate and strong control on the cost of borrowing, we foresee NIM in the range of 12.8% to 12.9%. The cost-to-income ratio should be range bound at 30% to 31%. We are anticipating credit cost of 2.2% to 2.4% with the actual write-off being within 2%. Overall, we aim to achieve ROA of 5.4% to 4.5% and ROE of 23% to 23.5% in FY '25.

Looking at the medium term from '25 to '28, we anticipate loan portfolio growth from 20% to 25%, NIM in the range of 12.7% to 12.9% and cost-to-income ratio between 30% to 31%, helping keep our leadership position intact. We expect a similar credit cost of 2.2% to 2.4% while the running ROA of 5.4% to 5.5% and ROE of 22% to 23.5%.

With this, I would like to open the forum for question and answers. Thank you for your support and your listening.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Renish from ICICI.

R
Renish Bhuva
analyst

Congrats on a good set of numbers. Sir, just 2, 3 questions from my side. One on the clarification side. So on a sequential basis, our emergency loan proportion has spiked up significantly to INR 1,000-plus crores. So can you please throw some light on what sort of emergency loans these are?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

I think there are some data, we will look. It's less than 0.8% of our book, actually. I think there's some data that we'll look at, Renish.

N
Nilesh Dalvi
executive

Renish, the emergency loans is INR 5 crores.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

INR 5 crores only, total portfolio.

N
Nilesh Dalvi
executive

You can see it in the deck.

R
Renish Bhuva
analyst

Got it. Got it. I think -- so there is a misprint between home improvement and emergency, I guess.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

There seems to some error, we will rectify that.

R
Renish Bhuva
analyst

Okay. Okay. No, no. No worries. Sir, secondly, on the margin side, of course, this year has been fantastic for us, but now going ahead, when we say that we'll be maintaining this 12.7% to 12.8% NIM and the way sort of regulator is commenting on the yields, do we foresee any risk to sustain these margins going ahead?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

So now, if you look at our financials, our interest spread is only 11.2% currently. It's quite reasonable when compared to the regulatory direction also. As well as we are the lowest price to customer. And the NIM is coming from the efficiency of managing capital and managing operations. We don't see a reason where this is seen negatively. I think this is -- this will be seen positive.

R
Renish Bhuva
analyst

Got it. Got it. And sir, just last question, maybe a bit lengthy one on the credit cost side. So we were guiding for 2.1% of credit cost for '24. Of course, we ended very close to that. But then when we look at the increase in guidance from 1.6% to 1.8% to 2.1%, and now 2.2% to 2.5%. So sir, what has changed fundamentally which is sort of leading to this increasing guidance for credit cost maybe every 6 months?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Yes. There are two things are happening. One is actually grow more in the noncore market. Our provisioning is higher because we provide them at a high-risk rate. For standard provisioning -- the impact of increased credit cost is basically almost 35 bps coming from the higher provisioning, what we're creating for a standard asset, as I explained earlier, also numbers available in our deck. So our actual credit cost is actually 1.7%. So as we grow more in the loan market, there will be some impact on the credit cost.

And two, we also observing a slight stable credit cost, slightly higher than what it was compared to Q1 and Q2, so which we also explained in the last quarter. So the stable credit cost will remain around this. And that's why the actual write-off, I said maybe less than 2%, but credit costs may hover between 2.2% to 2.4%, considering early recognition of risks and higher provision on certain assets.

R
Renish Bhuva
analyst

Okay. So basically, you're saying, let's say, incrementally between '25 to '28, our growth will be coming largely from the non-southern market or in a sense non-core markets. And given our ECL model is, the Stage I provisioning will be always higher vis-a-vis the historical trend? Is that the current understanding, sir?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Correct. Correct. If you see our Stage I provisioning, which was less 80 bps, moved to more than 90 bps right now. So the difference between last one year, 45 bps of increase in Stage I only because of this change. So basically, there's a cushion being built by recognizing early and then having sufficient cushion from the -- against the risks, potential risks.

R
Renish Bhuva
analyst

Got it. Got it. And again, a follow-up on that is, let's say, so basically, you are trying to highlight that the credit behavior of the customer has changed post-COVID, and which might lead to the little higher statistic credit cost than what we have seen pre-COVID?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Correct. It's a combination of 2 things, as we said. There will be a little higher credit cost and a little higher provisioning itself. The combination of that will up on credit cost.

R
Renish Bhuva
analyst

So does this reflect in the [ center attendance ] as well, sir? I mean, what are the parameters to strike this? I mean, a change in customer behavior?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

So there's not too much change in customers behavior, that the core markets and non-core markets are [indiscernible] actually. So non-core markets have a little different tendency. Therefore, it will potentially go up a bit as a statistic.

R
Renish Bhuva
analyst

Okay. And what explains the sequential increase in the PAR portfolios across the buckets, sir?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

There is only 20 bps increase in our portfolio. If you observe, almost 10 bps is coming from the flood, the situation still continuing because it is staying on and off, most of them are paying still in the PAR bucket. So other 10% of it just a simple movement here and there.

R
Renish Bhuva
analyst

Okay. Okay. Got it. Got it. But nothing -- let's say, any stress building up in the sector you see? Right?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

At least we are not seeing that in any of our markets. There will be a small variation between differences, but not significant changes.

Operator

Our next question is from the line of Rajiv Mehta from Yes Securities.

R
Rajiv Mehta
analyst

Congrats on strong performance. Just to harp on credit costs, just two clarifications on the guidance that you've given of 2.2% and 2.4% for FY '25. Is it gross or is it net of bad debt recoveries? That's first.

And second, does it assume...

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Gross, gross.

R
Rajiv Mehta
analyst

It is gross, okay. Does it assume any further increase in provisioning rate on Stage I and Stage II? I know we are currently at 92 basis points and 55% (sic) [ 55 bps ] for Stage I and Stage II. Do we intend to take this further up?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

That could be because now actually moved to a district-level recognizing the ECL actually. If a district looks higher, a higher rate or a higher delinquency bucket, high risk decision, but there will be higher what we call [ budget ] also. So there will be small movement -- there could be small movement if there's an increase in the trend, but that will get countered with the pricing, right? Then we're also moving to a district they're pricing out, who will actually manage between both pricing as well as risk. So there could be a small movement here and there, but overall, we should not see too much of variations.

R
Rajiv Mehta
analyst

And just a follow-up, two questions on this borrower attrition for the year was 578,000 borrowers. Can you point out was it concentrated in certain markets that will let go of borrowers because of leverage or because of competition? That's one.

And second is there is a meaningful sequential increase in GLP per borrower in higher-vintage buckets of 3 to 6 years and more than 6 years. So is it driven by cycle migration or something else?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

One is our attrition is, actually, it's not changed. It's 88% earlier also, it is -- no also. There is no change in the trend actually. So within that, which is what we hope to maintain between 85% to 90% of the retention. We are within that range. So there's no significant variation in our bucket.

There is one variation we saw, that the Madura book where we lend or renewed, some of them probably a little higher in terms of attrition because they are more from monthly to weekly, some of them may not accept weekly, they want to go back to monthly or so. So we saw a little higher there. But otherwise, there is no significant change in anywhere. But overall, it's very insignificant.

Sequential increase -- sorry, the sequential increase. Average increase is basically outset, and this only at a more than 3 years to 6 years bucket only where have a very strong, loyal customer base only where we have seen sufficient vintage. And the risk also lesser. If you see, we provide lesser -- we see other things that are a risk in that bucket. So it's a normal demand and supply. So this kind of increase always help, because but if you see below 3 years, it's consistently same trend.

R
Rajiv Mehta
analyst

[indiscernible].

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Yes, it's overall 8%. Correct. So if you see, annual growth of GLP used to grow between 9% to 10%. Within that range only also, it's about 8% overall increase.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Abhijit Tibrewal from Motilal Oswal.

A
Abhijit Tibrewal
analyst

Congratulations on a good quarter. Just one question. Just trying to understand whether in the presentation also, we say that some bit of the PAR accretion that we are seeing is happening because of stronger growth outside our core states. And you also suggested that, as part of increase in our credit cost guidance, some bit of it in terms of higher cost is going to come from our growth in the non-core states.

So if you could just provide some more picture with regards to particular states where we are seeing that the PAR accretion is higher. Or is the, I would say, credit behavior of your non-core state customers very different from your core state customers?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Correction, it's not a PAR increase. We said credit cost increase because we provide higher considering that new markets, we are positioned at a little high risk and provide higher even for standard as well as Stage I and stage II also. Therefore, the credit cost is going up a little bit, not necessarily the PAR is going up. You see, PAR has gone up only by 20 bps, particularly not for the month. 10 bps coming from the flood impact, only 10 bps in this because of the overall change. It's not very significant in case.

A
Abhijit Tibrewal
analyst

I was trying to talk more about credit costs.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

It's certainly more of a provisioning itself is higher in the non-core market. That is why.

A
Abhijit Tibrewal
analyst

Got it. And any particular reason? I mean, typically sir, I mean, most of the lenders talk about the [ PVNGD ] experiences.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Old markets, core market vary in other behavior well over a bit of time. So our -- we are able to assess the risk properly and see at least more consistently. Whereas new markets, we would take a little more time to assess carefully and see whether it's low risk or high risk or medium risk. So we provide, based on either medium risk or high risk, not the low risk, for the new market at this point of time. Therefore, the credit cost or provision, what we make, is a little higher in the new markets.

A
Abhijit Tibrewal
analyst

Got it. If I understood you, I mean, this is a consist choice that we have made, of making higher proven on the new markets, right? Rather than our ECL models asking us to do that.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Okay. So for example, our Maharashtra actually, we treat it as a high risk. We actually provide higher Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab, all of them we provide as a high-risk states. Whereas states which are in UP, Bihar and all, we provide as a medium risk. So Karnataka, we provide as low risk state. Tamil Nadu provide as medium risk state. So we have a differentiate. That from there, we are moving to district now, so now we work only 9% of our district that are high risk. Moving forward, we actually granular -- we look at the granular per district level, which the high risk and the low risk. So there will be some change of patterns in terms of providing, but still over 1 to 2 months, very similar process.

A
Abhijit Tibrewal
analyst

Okay, sir. And sir, then to conclude that, I mean, just like we are doing risk-trading based on districts, but pricing is also, I would say, risk-based in each district?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Absolutely. We are moving towards that direction.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Shreepal Doshi from Equirus.

S
Shreepal Doshi
analyst

Congrats on a good set of numbers, sir. So my question was firstly on this increase in marginal cost of -- sorry, decline in the marginal cost of borrowing. So what is it that is helping us on the cost of funds, sir?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Okay. And I will ask Kamath to respond this. So one thing is majority of our borrowing in Q4 was done domestic only. That is what comment we have. Maybe Kamath would give a...

S
S. Kamath
executive

Normally in the fourth quarter of the year, we borrow from all the domestic banks and we want to utilize all the sanctions. So we have not drawn any NCD or we have not drawn any foreign borrowings. So that's why the average marginal cost of borrowing has come down in the fourth quarter.

S
Shreepal Doshi
analyst

Okay. So for the whole year, it should be broadly in the range of 9.8% sort of a percentage for FY '25 as well if the rates will go down?

S
S. Kamath
executive

Yes.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

The rate may not go down from here because we still continue to diversify our business, diversify our borrowing to NCDs, external borrowing, everything. So it will remain stable at this level unless major change in the leaning from RBI side or from FED side.

S
S. Kamath
executive

Yes, you may see some divergence between the quarters based on how we draw the funds. But on the average, we feel it should be largely stable, till the Fed and RBI signal a downward movement on the rate.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

And is passing on to us.

S
S. Kamath
executive

Yes. That will take some more time because it's all MCLR-based. Our loans are not on the repo. So until we get the benefit of the lower MCLR, the rates could be largely stable.

S
Shreepal Doshi
analyst

Got it. Got it. Sir, one question was pertaining to pricing and linking it with your earlier commentary on states like, say, high-risk and medium-risk. So what is our pricing in these high-risk states and medium-risk states versus Karnataka? That was question number one.

And question number two was pertaining to asset quality again. So on that front, if you look at the -- I mean, the AUM per loan officer has been increasing. So is that a reason or could that be a reason which would be -- which could explain this deterioration in the high-risk state? And also if you could highlight the attendance in the high-risk states and the attrition in these high-risk states.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Before that. So firstly about pricing, you asked. There are two types of pricing we do based on risk actually. One is through risk-based pricing based on what district risk state, that's the high or low. That is one.

Second is based on the vintage of the client. With the high-vintage client, the pricing is low, whereas low-vintage client will rate higher. Difference between low and high, almost about 2%. Yes, 20.5%, 1.5%. 20.5% is the lowest and directly 22.25%. The 1.75% variation between vintage. That is point number one.

About the...

S
S. Kamath
executive

GLP per branch...

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Kamath.

S
S. Kamath
executive

So with respect to the increase in GLP per branch, our loan officer the right collected that we watch is borrowers per a loan officer, right? So if you see the borrowers per loan officer, it still ranges around 375. Typically, a mature market for us can handle around 550 customers on an average, right? As long as the borrowers are in control, increase in DSP is only a factor of vintage and along -- within a particular geography. So that is not the reason for increase...

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

And then particularly in the newer market, our customer -- I mean, handling is less, not the high. Higher will be handled with the core markets. There's no correlation between these two.

S
Shreepal Doshi
analyst

Okay. And then the last part on, say, attrition at employee level in the high-risk. And also if you could give some color on the attendance in these states at the center meeting.

G
Ganesh Narayanan
executive

So overall attrition is quite under control. In fact, for us, even in newer geographies, attrition is far better, right? So it is lower than your mature markets.

And with respect to center attendance, we've not seen much of a change. But if say 80% is something that we normally prescribe, probably we will be anywhere between 65% to 70%, depending on geographies.

And specifically in lower -- sorry, high-risk geographies where the penetration is lower et cetera, we would demand a slightly larger attendance. And that's something that varies, again, from state to state.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Not only attendance, we'll have a higher control and audit transfer in the newer markets than the high risk states, so which will help us. When we designed the district-wise high-low rates, we also can trigger the different controls in the district also. So we have that ability. As for right now, also new markets will have higher audit controls, higher risk controls, so which is always a part of our control in attendance.

S
Shreepal Doshi
analyst

Got it, sir. All right. Sir just last question, if I can squeeze in, which would be, which states would be the key states for us to deliver -- to help us deliver this 23%, 24% growth in FY '25?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

See, our core market will deliver between 10% to 15%. So basically, the other market, which is more of a Bihar, UP, West Bengal, Orissa; and the new market, which is Telangana, Andhra, should deliver higher than 25%. So that will be on an average 23%, 24% growth.

Operator

The next question is from the line of [ Balkrishna Bagaria from Exane Navin Investment Management ].

U
Unknown Analyst

Sir my first question is on a global level regarding the sector. So as the results are coming for fourth quarter for all the micro finance companies, so everybody is projecting. Some say 20% growth for next 3, 4 years, 25%, 30%, even higher than that. So what are the signs that may or may not be present right now, but in future, we should look for when there is overheating in the sector or there is a high kind of optimism and which can lead to some sort of correction in the sector?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Yes. Our view is, in fact, we declared last year that we can grow at least between 20%, 25% for next -- by FY '28, we said what we can reach based on the potential in the market, based on the retention, what we can -- our customer retention, what we can manage; based on the liability, what we can write; based on the controls and risk management, what we can do. I think I would look at our company, that we have ability to grow to that level.

From a global perspective, on a country perspective also, the market, what we are, which is less than INR 300,000 income households, which currently touches the industry only by 40%, which means 60% of the households are yet to get into a formal market. The first formal market they would get into, microfinance.

So if even -- if they convert another 40% in the next 5 years, I think it is still difficult until the market will double by that time. So -- and then also top this, there will be inflation impact on the loan side, there will be impact on the customer, vintage customer, higher loan per customer, all these factors together. So there will be enormous growth opportunity for the industry. And then after a certain set of penetration, there is 60% to 70%, it is more of a competition like what you are seeing today in the housing market.

So I think then we need to really compete with your product, process, pricing, service, everything. I think we should be able to do that. I think, therefore, we believe that there's enormous opportunity for us to grow.

U
Unknown Analyst

I see. So what are some of the big risks that you see for your company and as well as for the sector, that you can say with your imagination that these are some of the big risks for the industry as well as for the company?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

We are not expecting any known risks actually. There could be unknown risk, which is unknown anyway. So known risk, if you see last 10 years or 15 years. The risks which are come to this industry are known actually. So whether it's COVID or demonetization, the second COVID, all are unknown.

The industry has not lost because of the known risks. It's all very small, sometimes what you call a flood somewhere and sometime. So these are small, concentrated events, so we are not seeing any big risks for this industry which is known and manageable. So unknown, sometimes unknown, but if you're able to manage right control, like risk management, right customer service, still we can manage better.

U
Unknown Analyst

I think the CreditAccess group has set up some insurance business as well. So how are they going to use our distribution channel? Or how are we going to integrate with them? Or that is completely different business, and we have nothing to do with that?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

It is a completely different business. It is, I can say, it's not even group company. It's a parallel sister company, I can say. But CreditAccess India Life is one more service provider for us like our other insurers. We have -- totally, we have 5 insurance providers. So one among them is CALI. So we keep supporting, we keep innovating the product for this set of customers because CALI Kelly more of a low-income household focused insurance or a micro insurance segment. So there will be opportunity for us to co-work and innovate new products for this segment. So which is not an option with other mainstream insurance providers. So we will continue to work together to ensure the right product for the customers.

U
Unknown Analyst

Do we have insurance for the -- if in case the borrowers are not able to repay, then the insurer will pay for a couple of installment or something like that?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

No such insurance as of now for anybody in the country.

U
Unknown Analyst

And the last question, what is the update on the income tax demand that we received from a year back or so?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Year back, it was closed, it is refunded to us already. What we repaid is same as other months. So only what is pending is what we received in the last month, which is about INR 46 crores. And we -- our auditors clearly said that there is no need of any provisioning or even contingent provisioning for this because we feel that we fair in the assessment and we already made appeal, and we are sure that we will get this canceled, the demand gets canceled.

It will take some time, but of course, it's a process, always. We'll process -- we will follow the process and we are pretty much confident that which is not the right demand.

U
Unknown Analyst

So there was some big demand that is closed, right? There was a very huge demand. It is closed.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

That was in 2021. And then it always -- it's reduced to INR 100 crores later, than it already canceled and removed. We have published that also. There's no demand -- no other demand on us.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Hardik Shah from Goldman Sachs.

H
Hardik Shah
analyst

Congratulations on the good quarter, sir. My first question is on in the retail finance. Can you share some trends that you are seeing on the ground across products?

G
Ganesh Narayanan
executive

Ganesh here. So on the retail finance side, we are around 2% of our AUM is retail finance. Out of which, the unsecured individual loan portfolio, which has been extended for graduated customers, is at a rate of around 72%, and the other 28% comprises of secured loans, which includes loan against property, loan on affordable home loans. Our book is at INR 708 crores, yes.

H
Hardik Shah
analyst

Okay. And what do you think is your right to win in these segments versus competition, Ganesh? And your confidence on scaling up.

G
Ganesh Narayanan
executive

Yes. So for the first product, which is your limited product, this is more of a graduating product to a certain profile of customers. And while -- like in microfinance, we do command a very low interest rate for this particular product. And it is selectively given to a certain set of customers centrally decided by us for various type of parameters, right?

So -- and then it is reinforced or reassessed at ground for certain other surrogate, and only those customers may extend this product. So this is scalable, we believe, in the range of 5% to 7% of our overall AUM. And this portfolio has behaved consistently as well. And since this is given to vintage customers, we believe that it increases customer loyalty for us and it's a better [ payout ] over a period of time.

With respect to loan against property. Once again, we command a far better interest rate compared to the market. And we also have a good sourcing channel, right? So we have roughly around [ 13,500 ] officers [ going high mobility ] on a daily basis.

And we are looking at a majority of this business, both home loan as well as loan against property, come from our existing customers. So that means you are going to significantly reduce your sourcing cost, try and cross-sell to a certain profile of customers who are looking at those, who are capable of repayment, who are able to establish cash flow. And hence, once again, you're retaining your customer better. So that means I will be able to do something like a mortgage business at a far lower cost when probably a HFC is doing today.

So from a customer perspective, they continue their journey with us. They're comfortable in dealing with us. They're getting a product probably much cheaper than what they will get from any closest competitor in the market. And their journey continues with us.

And if you take 2-wheeler, it's similar. So we don't take share from the dealer. So we don't ask for a market share from the dealer. So we source business and take it to the dealer, and hence, we don't incur sourcing cost. And because this is given only to our existing customers, it is something that is building a lot of loyalty for our customers because we even are enabling a first new 2-wheeler in their home, a loan for their husbands, for themselves, which is quite unique, right? And this, again, is extended [indiscernible], and it's quite successful at this point.

H
Hardik Shah
analyst

Understood. And one follow-up on this. How should we think about these products compressing yields on the overall book? Can you share yields on this?

G
Ganesh Narayanan
executive

Almost all the products except home loan are very close to our microfinance rates, which are still competitive compared to what the charge is in the industry. Home loans alone, like we said earlier, it would take some time for us to build the portfolio. And hence, you will not see any immediate impact on the volume. And as the volume picks up, we will figure out methods of ensuring that it does not compress our yields.

H
Hardik Shah
analyst

Understood. One last bookkeeping question, if I may. Can you share your [ unique-to-current ] customer in group lending?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

It's 28% as of the end of financial year. As we keep growing in markets which are not new to us -- sorry, these are new to us, this ratio I think will slightly dip and then move up over a period of time.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Sameer Bhise from JM Financial.

S
Sameer Bhise
analyst

Congrats on a strong quarter. Just one question. What would be the interest rate differentiation between, say, a first-cycle loan and 3-year loan for, say, INR 75,000-plus ticket size customer?

G
Ganesh Narayanan
executive

So there is no differential on interest rates depending on the cycle. It's only the vintages. So less than 4 years and greater than 4 years. So there is a pricing benefit of 1% given to customers because the ECL model also predicts a much lower credit cost.

S
Sameer Bhise
analyst

Okay. So that's only 1% across the vintage.

G
Ganesh Narayanan
executive

No. So less than 4 years, greater than 4 years. If the customer was greater than 4 years, they get a 1% benefit.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Maybe I will just clarify it further. I explained one thing. The pricing is based on 2 factors. One is vintage factor, one is the risk factor, the risk of geography factor. For example, in high geography, there's a higher pacing even for first year. But whereas they're more than 4 years, then the low price, they will get the benefit almost 1.75% difference. So the lowest charge low to high difference, is about 1.75%.

S
Sameer Bhise
analyst

Fair enough. This is helpful. And secondly, if I just look at the statewide GLP mix, Karnataka has dropped a bit, while the other 2 large states, Maharashtra and TN, the decline is slightly slow. Is it likely to remain that way, that while Karnataka share may drop while other -- and converge to the second-, third-largest states as the noncore states grow?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

The change will not be significant, actually. It will remain, 2 large actually between 18% to 19%, 18% to 20% by next 2 to 4 years. So it won't drop faster actually. So it will remain at that level.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Abhishek Murarka from HSBC.

A
Abhishek Murarka
analyst

Congratulations for the quarter. Sir, two questions, one I think you've partly answered or touched upon. In your [ PD LGD ] calculation, do you also take the vintage of the customer into account, apart from the district and all of that?

S
S. Kamath
executive

Yes.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Yes. Yes. We look at both factors, vintage and geography risk.

A
Abhishek Murarka
analyst

Okay. So as long as you're acquiring a lot of customers with low vintage and in new geographies or riskier geographies, then your blended credit costs will continue to go up. And as those markets mature, it should...

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Yes, you are right. Absolutely right.

A
Abhishek Murarka
analyst

Right. And for geography, when does -- when do you take a geography or district to have become mature? I mean, does the credit costs have to show a lower trend, and that is when you say, "Okay, now this is matured." How does that happen? Or is it just any AUM -- ticket AUM size?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

We recalibrate this district risk status every year. And then normally, we will take decision once a year or once in 2 years based on the continuous trend of high risk, low risk status. But every year, we will review and recalibrate the districts.

A
Abhishek Murarka
analyst

Understood. Understood. Got it. And just the second question on retail finance. What kind of, let's say, AUM are you looking at from a, let's say, next 1 year or 2 years' perspective? This year, of course, it's in a startup phase, so the growth is exponential. But what is your, let's say, target or milestone 2 years out?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

If you look at what we declared in the last year during the Annual Meeting, we said we will reach about 10% to 15% of our book, and that's retail by FY '28. So currently, we have -- maybe every year, 2% to 3%, we would add to reach that. So which means we may have to reach around INR 7,000 crores, INR 8,000 crores by '28. And even if we convert our current 10% of customers into average INR 3 lakh in the midst all the products, so we will be more than INR 15,000 crores. Actually, we should -- we need only about 4% -- 6%, 7% customer conversion with the average about INR 2 lakh to INR 3 lakh portfolio. So that's why it is more of a in-house business to expand with very low all-in acquisition cost.

A
Abhishek Murarka
analyst

Got it. And just for these customers, you are cross-selling to -- or graduating from your group lending to individuals. What is the minimum criteria? As in what does the vintage have to be? Or what do you look at before you decide to cross sell?

S
S. Kamath
executive

So it's a combination of various factors, including the kind of district or state. So you will have vintage, you will have geography, you will have economic profile, you will have the type of business. So there are a set of statistics that we've built. This is also something we consistently...

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

A minimum of 3 years -- 2 years.

S
S. Kamath
executive

Minimum is 2 years. But there are many other variables.

G
Ganesh Narayanan
executive

But I think one strong differentiator, will be they have to be able to demonstrate cash flow better. And we also have to have multiple source of income. They should have segregated place for business, et cetera.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Shweta Daptardar from Elara Capital.

S
Shweta Daptardar
analyst

Congratulations on a good quarter. I have two questions. One is, what is the movement of average ticket sizes across the core markets?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

So exact value, I don't know, Nilesh will share with you. It will always be higher movement in the core market because we will have a higher vintage customer in the core market. So exact number, maybe Nilesh will share with you separately.

So newer market, the movement will be very low because it has to complete 2 years and then 4 years kind of thing. Therefore by default, our core market will have a highest movement.

S
Shweta Daptardar
analyst

Right. And sir, second question, what is the rate differential for your bank borrowings vis-a-vis our marginal cost of funding? Because since 2 quarters, we have been drawing down on our bank borrowing.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Yes. Actually, bank borrowing, normally, it's about 9.5% range. So this time, we are able to get a little more benefit for the bank, therefore it is about 9.3% to 9.4%. And international borrowing and the NCD this all will cost around [ 9.75% ] to 10%. So overall, about 25 bps more. But it's important to do the diversification because both funds are long-term funds, which will give a PLM benefit and also diversification benefit. So therefore, the overall cost increase by increasing the diversification is about 20, 30 bps only.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Mohit Jain from Tara Capital Partners.

M
Mohit Jain
analyst

Congrats on a good set of numbers. I was just looking at the incremental -- the disbursement yield on the new portfolio. And that seems to be slightly higher than the portfolio yield over the last 4 quarters. And I think you said that the borrowing costs is expected to be flat. In this situation, the NIM guidance that we are seeing for the next year is 20, 30 basis point lower than -- be fairly conservative? Or are we [ towards second and third weighting? ]

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

If you see our new disbursement rate is 21%, 21.8% in the Q3 and 21.4% in the Q4 because we actually reduced the pricing by 50 bps between December to Q4. So therefore, we expect, in the last next 1 to 2 years, there's impact from 20 bps. So therefore, we projected a little lower.

M
Mohit Jain
analyst

Okay. Okay. And sir, just one more question. Sir, if I'm looking at one of the NBFCs, which also have a bigger NFI portfolio, they have resorted to monthly collections in the beginning of the month. And their argument is that preserves the bandwidth of the manpower because they focus on the collection at the beginning of the month. And throughout the month, they can focus on the disbursement.

I know, sir, we have always been a proponent of the weekly collection, weekly and fortnightly. So -- but have you evaluated ever that we move to the monthly one so that we'll have a better disbursement? So what's your view on the entire argument?

S
S. Kamath
executive

No. Actually, we -- I think we have done enough study internally about what is the best for the resiliency in this business. It's not just a collection for a month, half month. We should not be looking at only based on the good time performance. We also need to look at the bad time performance, how this will differ between good time and bad time.

So we have been experienced with the situation over the last 10, 15 years, and we strongly believe that given the option of -- to customers, rather than we deciding one way, either monthly fortnightly, or weekly, is sort of we give option to customers to decide what way they want to pay.

So our -- we give the option to customers saying that whichever the period or the frequency you want to decide, you can decide when borrowing. So our customer, at least 58% to 60% customer have decided to go for a weekly. About 30% to 35% decided to go for fortnightly. And balance, monthly. So we have all 3 options to customers.

Whereas we meet our customers every week, based on the choice of frequency that customer's chosen, they're paying. I think we thought these are best way. We have been operating in this model for the last several years, and we believe that this will work better in good times and bad times.

G
Ganesh Narayanan
executive

And also increasingly, since you are now doing various other things with the customer, it is better to meet them more and helps you with the relationship as well as offer other services. You're not restricting yourself just to one product today, you have multiple loan products in group loan itself. You have retail finance, you're offering products to the ecosystem.

S
S. Kamath
executive

So you have a better relationship. I'm going to meet probably 4 times compared to people who are in monthly. But different school of thoughts, different behaviors. I think we should not criticize any of it. It's just time period, like what I say, good and bad times, that's independent.

Operator

The next question is from the line of [ Shaan Jain from Electrum PMS ].

U
Unknown Analyst

All of my questions have been answered. I just have one clarification about this weekly, fortnightly and monthly now. So the customers are repaying, 60% are repaying weakly, and 30% fortnightly, 10% monthly. But are they coming to the center meeting every week or they're only coming when they know they have to pay the installment?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

They will come every week, actually. They will come every week. Those who have opted for weekly will pay every week. Those who opted for fortnightly, they will only pay in alternate week. Those who opted for monthly, they will pay once in 4 weeks.

U
Unknown Analyst

And what is the center attendance on the portfolio on the whole-country level?

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

It's about 65% to 75%. So also, we have to note that normally about 12 weeks in a year, we allow them to take off, actually.

U
Unknown Analyst

12 weeks.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

Yes, that is almost 30% of the time where they do not attend the teaming, but we are already available to them.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further questions. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Udaya Kumar Hebbar for closing comments.

U
Udaya Hebbar
executive

So thank you so much for spending time in the evening, and it is quite late. Thank you for all your support. We hope we have responded to your queries. And if you have any more queries, our investment desk available to reach out. Thank you so much. Have a good evening.

Operator

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