Indian Overseas Bank

MS. SONALI PANDEY – VERITAS REPUTATION PR PRIVATE LIMITED

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Investor Relations Call for Indian Overseas Bank, hosted by Veritas Reputation PR Private Limited. As a reminder, all participant line will be in the listen-only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone.

I now hand the conference over to Sonali Pandey, from Veritas Reputation PR Private Limited. Thank you, and over to you, Ms. Pandey.

Good evening and welcome to Indian Overseas Bank conference call to discuss our financial results for quarter 2 financial year 2026, ended September 30, 2025. I am Sonali Pandey, and I will be guiding you through today's presentation. Indian Overseas Bank, IOB, headquartered in Chennai continues to strengthen its footprint across India with a robust network of 3,373 branches, approximately 3,567 ATMs and 11,467 business correspondents.

Internationally, IOB serves customers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Sri Lanka, proudly catering to a growing base of 42 plus million active customers. Our comprehensive range of services includes personal, corporate and agriculture banking, along with credit cards, loans and insurance products.

The financial results and related disclosures are available on our website and also have been filed with the Stock Exchanges. Before we begin, please note that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties, that may impact actual outcomes. We encourage you to keep these factors in mind while evaluating the bank's performance.

To discuss the results and address analyst queries, we have our management team with us on the call, including Shri Ajay Kumar Srivastava, MD and CEO, Indian Overseas Bank; Shri Joydeep Dutta Roy, Executive Director, Indian Overseas Bank; Shri Dhanaraj T., Executive Director, Indian Overseas Bank, Smt. Sasikala Prabhu, Deputy General Manager, Indian Overseas Bank.

We will begin with an overview of the quarter 2 results, followed by a Q&A session. Now I will hand over the floor to Smt. Sasikala B Prabhu, Deputy General Manager.

Thank you, Smt. Sonali. Good evening, all. I am pleased to present the overview of the bank's performance during quarter and the half year ended 30th September 2025. It's a proud moment for the bank today, the bank has reached a new milestone of recording and all- in high of net profit, INR 1,226 crores.

For the quarter, it's 57.79% year-on-year increase. Regarding the performance of the bank for the half year ended 30th September 2025, Bank has achieved a business mix of INR 617,034 crores, recording year-on-year growth over 14.1%.

CASA grown in absolute terms to INR 137,386 crores with a year-on-year growth rate of 4.17%.

CASA ratio as on September '25, is recorded at 40.52%. Total deposit growth achieved at INR 339,066 crores as on 30th September 2025, with a year-on-year growth of -- growth rate of 9.15%.

Growth advances -- grown year-on-year by 20.78% reaching INR 277,968 crores, against INR 230,149 crores as at 30th September 2024. Bank has shown the operating profit of INR 2,400 crores, registering a year-on-year growth of 12.78%. Net profit of the bank has increased by INR 449 crores to INR 1,226 crores as on September 2025 as compared to INR 777 crores as on September 2024, recording a year-on-year growth of 57.79%.

Provision coverage ratio improved to 97.48% as on 30 September 2025, as compared to 97.06% as on 30th September 2025. Capital adequacy ratio recorded at 17.94% against the regulatory requirement of 11.5%. Total income for the half year ended 30th September 2025 is recorded at INR 18,081 crores with a year-on-year increase by 8.6%.

Total interest income for the quarter ended September 2025 is INR 7,849 crores and non-interest income of INR 1,365 crores. Net interest income increased by INR 521 crores to INR 3,059 crores as on September 2025, as compared to INR 2,538 crores for last September 2024, registering a year-on-year growth of 20.53%.

Net interest margin for the quarter ended September 2025, is 3.21% with increase of 13 bps compared to 3.08% as on September 2024. Cost-to-income ratio reduced to 45.76% with year- on-year reduction of 321 bps, showing a substantial reduction. Globally, credit deposit ratio improved year-on-year by 789 bps and registered at 81.98%.

With regard to the NPA management, gross NPA reduced from INR 6,249 crores to INR 5,078 crores year-on-year basis, and net NPA reduced from INR 1,059 crores to INR 776 crores. Gross net NPA percentage has reduced by 89 bps year-on-year from 2.72% as on September '24 and reached 1.83% as on September 2025. Similarly, net NPA percentage has also reduced by 19 bps year-on-year from 0.47% as on September 2024 and reached 0.28% as on September 2025.

Total recovery from NPA during the quarter ended 30th September 2025 is INR 874 crores. Out of the total recovery, the recovery from technical write-off and set of accounts is INR 461 crores.

Bank is steadily continuing the robust monitoring system in controlling slippages, slippage ratio for the quarter ended September 2025 is 0.11%.

And with respect to the valuation, there is a significant improvement in return on assets, it is recorded at 1.2% for the quarter ended 30th September 2025 with 38 bps increase compared to the last year, 30th September 2024.

With regard to the book value per share, it has improved to 13.13% for the September 2025, while the same was recorded at 10.04% for September 2024. There is a steep increase in the return on equity is 305 bps year-on-year currently and return on equity, 19.95% whereas for the last September 2024, it was 16.9%.

Earnings per share for 30th September 2025 is 0.64, it is improved by 56% from 0.41 for the last September 2024. And this is all about the performance of our bank, which is I wanted to present you. Thank you.

The first question is from the line of Dr. Ashok Ajmera, Chairman.

Congratulations, sir, Ajay Kumarji, Joydeep, all the entire team of Indian Overseas Bank for the very excellent results. In fact, in the half year only you have almost near to the targets of the whole year. Your credit growth in the first 6 months itself is 11.18%, deposit 8.7%, and overall business has gone up by around 9.8%. So excellent performance, sir, even on the profitability front, even on the asset quality front, and you are very comfortable on CRAR also. So my compliments to you for that.

Having said that, sir, some few observations and some data points. One is, sir, now going ahead, now you have remaining 6 months still. So do we still maintain the same targets of 14%, 15% on the credit and 12% 13% on the deposit or looking at this performance of 6 months, you are going to upward revise these targets? Which can be very comfortably, according to me. So this is one -- just some light on this, your views on this.

I have some specific questions, sir. We have this investment into the India International Bank of Malaysia, which is now voluntarily going for the winding up, I think we have an investment of about INR 200 crores, if I'm not wrong. And we have a provision of INR 6.13 crores. So what is the current status on that? Do we need to -- I mean, we'll get our entire money on this winding up process once it is complete? Or we'll have to take any hit on this?

Secondly, sir, we have in this quarter, received a substantial amount of income tax refund. I think INR 1,141 crores, so what is the treatment given to that refund and where it is reflected actually in the overall accounts? So this is the another information which I am looking for. And a little bit on the SMA front, our slippage in this quarter is a little higher than the average slippages or even in the last quarter.

So going forward, can you give some color on that SMA front as well as the asset quality, especially any issue with the agriculture loan or which is the, I mean, pain point in the credit book, if you can just little bit highlight? And one more is that in the GIFT City, I think we had a plan of SBU, is there any development and progress on that?

Okay. So thank you so much, sir. Thanks for the nice words in the beginning and the issues I will try to address one by one. So first thing about targets, you are saying that whatever we say is for the full year, we are almost there in half year only. What I have to say is that the guidance has been given in the beginning of the year, that guidance are not going to revise. But having said that, that guidance, whatever has been given that is the minimum which we want to do. Every year, it happens like that.

For Maximum, there's no limit as such. And depending on the market dynamics and the type of proposal and the type of business we are getting, there will be no stopping or looking back on that. And this 12% is only the minimum thing, we can go up to 18%, 19%, 20% also depending on the kind of business and the market dynamic, whatever is available, we are open to that. But

yes, having said that, the 12%, whatever guidance was there, I again repeating, that was the minimum part. Maximum, there is no limit as such.

The second thing is about IIB Malaysia you are talking about. So all the approvals almost started are in place, the final approval is supposed to be received by the local regulator. And local regulator, and if we expect it to come maybe in this quarter, it should come. The entire amount will come to us sir, around INR 200 crores. KPMG has already been appointed as liquidator and we are not expecting any hit on that. So around INR 200 crores whatever we have invested, that will come back to us as it is.

Slippages, we have been able to control over a period of almost 2 years. If you look at our slippage ratio. Every quarter, it comes from 0.11% or 0.12%. The same way it will continue to be addressed. SMA, particularly, we have improved a lot. If you look at the numbers about 2, 3 quarters before back, it was hovering around 7% to 8%. This quarter, it has come down to less than 6%.

Most of our emphasis has been there on SMA-0, 1 and 2. And what is the strategy of the bank in arresting SMA is that, we are attacking those accounts in SMA-0 itself or maximum at SMA- 1 level. We do not intend to allow any account to go to SMA-2 level. So that way we are focusing on it and most of the accounts are getting regularized at SMA-0 or SMA-1 level. So right now, it is less than 6% of the total portfolio, and we intend to improve further on that.

Regarding GIFT City, sir, we have already requested for permission. And I do expect that maybe in coming weeks that approval we'll get. And once approval is there, then of course, the branch will open in GIFT City. I hope I have addressed all questions, except income tax refund. Income tax refund, sir?

So this income tax refund of INR 1,141 crores has come to us. It has not gone to P&L, sir, it does not go P&L and profitability they were impacted because of that. This goes to one [ GL Head, that is tax paid account. And whatever demands are coming that also goes there only. It has got nothing to do with P&L and clearly, our P&L is not impacted by that.

And sir, this coupled with the taxation, we are still under the old regime. And I think we have got about INR 3,000 crores, something on the GTA. So any calculation, sir, ballpark, this thing that when do we exactly go for the -- under the new regime of taxation, if this trend of the profitability continues... You finish up, please.

Yes. So we are having a very good profitability. I think that this trend continues, I think we should soon go to the new tax regime?

Most probably, we'll be doing it in Q3, sir, most probably, or in the worst scenario, Q4. But this financial year, it is certainly going to happen.

If I'm permitted one more thing. Sir, this kind of a credit growth, where are we looking at the growth other than the, of course, the retail portfolio, in which kind of segment, industry, whether

it is the renewable or engineering or some core industries. Where are we finding the opportunity for this kind of credit growth and what is our sanction pipeline or the proposals are under process about this because this is all organic credit, which we are having.

As it's all organic credit growth, sir, it is happening all across retail, agriculture, MSME, everywhere healthy growth is happening. And for corporate book, we are having a sanction pipeline of around INR 15,000 crores. We see a different levels of disbursement stage. In this quarter, most of that will get disbursed.

And I have said earlier also that out of almost 3,373 branches, only 15 branches do corporate lending, remaining all are eligible for doing business in retail, agri and MSME. So all these 3 sectors, all branches across the geography. They are lending, they are getting good proposals.

And accordingly, substantial growth, I will say, is happening in retail credit and agriculture and MSME. And the same trend, I see going forward also, it will happen and good and healthy credit growth that we are looking at for the 6 months.

Our next question is from the line of Niteen S. Dharmawat from Aurum Capital.

Sir, I have 2 questions. Sir, first one is, sir, where the growth is coming from, which sectors?

And where do you see any stress in any of the sectors that we are currently serving in domestic market?

So the growth is coming all across, sir. It is coming in the form of retail, that is personal loans.

MSME, mid-corporates and agriculture and in this geography, general loan also happened. So it's a mixed growth, there's not a single or 1 or 2 specific parameters significant growth is happening. It is all across all products and across all geographies.

And regarding the second part of the stress, we do not see in our bank, I can say that we do not see any particular sector or product under stress. There are one and off individual cases where because of that individual type of problem, that particular unit or retail loan comes under the stress, but overall, as a product or as a sector, I mean any systemic stress, we are not observing so far.

Considering about our guidance, since the growth is very strong. And you mentioned that we continue to maintain the same guidance, which was there from the beginning, and that is the bare minimum and you would like to revise it. So let me rephrase the same question what my previous participant, Mr. Ajmera asked, what is the probability of building this guidance by another 50%?

So for example, if our guidance is 10%, we'll achieve 15% overall, during the year, something like that. So by bidding 50%, so what are the chances do you see based on the performance in the last 2 quarters and the current buoyancy that you see in the market?

Yes, I can very safely say that against guidance of 12%, we'll be very comfortable in 17% or 18% of growth. That we can foresee that it can happen and very comfortably, we'll be able to achieve that. And if you see year-on-year also last September to this September, credit growth is almost 20%.

Yes, sir. That's why I was a little surprised that you are not revising so I asked that question. Thank you.

Our next question is from the line of Mr. Bimal Panchal from Bimal Panchal & Associates.

Heartiest congratulations for all round performance, whatever the things has to improve, it has improved, whatever things has to decline, decrease negatively, that has been decreased. Now just 2, 3 questions from my side. What is our branch expansion plan for the next 2, 3 years? And we often say that PSU banks prices are -- share prices are going up and lots of PSU banks have been mandated to come out with FPO, but that has not happened. And what is our plan for our banks to raise equity in the near future?

Okay. So I will start with branching opening, sir. Branch opening last year, we opened around 101 branches, last financial year. This year, in this financial year, we have already opened 42 new branches. And another around 240 branches are in the queue where all approvals have been given and they are in different stages of operationalization. And I do hope that these 234 branches also in another 6 to 9 months, they will come into existence and physically they will start to operate.

In this continuation, what is the geographical diversification of this branch, that's coming? It will be well diversified or any concentrations?

So it is all across the country and one particular aspect, which we have taken care of that, the districts where our bank is not existing. Those districts are the priority, and we are opening our branches in those districts where we are not there. That is the priority number one. And the second thing is that wherever business opportunities are there, we are opening. So it's all across geography, looking at the potential of the region where we can get substantial business. We are going for opening.

And regarding FPO, of course, and QIP, if you remember, in Q4 of last year, in the month of February, March, we raised around INR 1,400 crores of capital through QIP from the market.

And we are also -- we have got Board approval of INR 4,000 crores of raising capital through QIP. And maybe going forward, depending on the market situation, we'll be doing in Q4.

Next question is from the line of Dr. Ashok Ajmera, Chairman, from Ajcon Global.

I take a lot of interest in this bank. So rightfully, I deserve also some space. Sir, you are very kind in answering all earlier observations and question. Can you give some color on our -- because the way we are expanding our business and we are growing so fast.

And now the branches also -- you said about -- almost about 240 more branches will soon come in, what kind of digital push which we are having for our bank, like a pan-India mainframe bank, are we fully equipped digitally and what plans?

What kind of digital journeys, which we already completed or which are in pipeline and how is it going to benefit to the customers? And what kind of budget allocations and other things done on this entire tech, including the artificial intelligence and whatever is currently happening?

Sir, we are not growing very aggressively and branch opening also. I will give you a little bit of background, if you remember from 2014 to 2021 was bank was in PCA. And during that period, we were not allowed to open a single branch and of course, because of PCA regulations. So those 7 golden years this bank has lost as far as physical expansion is concerned. Now since those bad days are over and last 3 years, we have been substantially improving quarter-on- quarter and now the numbers at this stage, I can say that it is -- it can be rated as one of the best in the system, whatever issues or whatever growth percentage you see.

So what I'm trying convey is that whatever we have lost in those 7 years, as a prime bank of the country, we are trying to cover that and that is not reckless, that in very, very well thought out process. And based on that, it is happening. So we understand the challenges. We are mitigating those challenges and risk. And accordingly, branch opening or business growth and all these things are taken care of. So that is one part.

Second part is that about technology and capability to handle. See, sir, in IOB, 98% of the transaction are happening digitally. And it is happening for the last more than one year. The entire IT infrastructure, digital infrastructure is well settled. Three years before we went for entire digital overhaul of the bank, not only the products, the processes, the systems, everything.

And all these things are completely stabilized.

So in opening these branches, it will only be an extension of whatever we are providing to the existing branches. We are fully equipped to handle and the type of products and services which you expect from any of the premier bank, I will request you to experience some of the products and some of the services of IOB and I think you'll get an idea.

So all -- whatever you can imagine that can happen on the digital front or IT front. Everything we are equipped with. Our customers are one of the most satisfied lot. And the budget and all, I will say that INR 1,600 crores every year, it is more than INR 1,000 crores for IT infrastructure.

This year also, we have decided about INR 1,700 crores, Board approval has already been given 2 months before.

So the entire focus and overall improvement of the bank is already there. Mobile banking was there. That we have already -- we have refurbished it completely and the new look of mobile banking is there, that app is available. The entire tech face we call, the entire software and hardware, that is getting changed at the end of the process. So lots of activity on IT and digital is also happening. And we are -- I will say that on that front, we are no less than anyone.

That is good to know, sir. Sir, any major initiative to increase our non-interest income or third- party services income or anything like recently it is last -- I think yesterday, day before yesterday only we had Bank of Maharashtra having tied up with the SBI cards or the card business so that they can put it across their customers the benefit of having such a large card company. So similarly, on the insurance front, on the credit card front or any other major initiatives, which our bank is taking to increase our noninterest income through the third-party transaction, including all the revenues?

Yes, exactly. In fact, everything -- the para banking products, what we call that is already in place, and we are getting substantial amount of permission and all on that. Regarding credit card,

we have entered into arrangements with two Fintechs and the terms of those credit card lending through those Fintech, that is highly lucrative. And through that, the source of income will be increased.

Another way of increasing income in our focus on government business. The government transactions, which we are very aggressively doing and lots of, I will say, opportunities of government business to do through IOB. That is on the card maybe next quarter, I will be giving you more detail.

And through those government transactions also lots of noninterest income, we are expecting going forward. So there is a plan for that also. And in addition to this, the PSLC sale the recovery from technically written off account, all those things are there. And accordingly, noninterest income also, we are taking good care of that. And going forward, maybe next quarter, we'll be able to show you a better number.

Our next question is from the line of Aryan Rana from Ariana Holdings.

Congratulations on the good set of numbers, sir. We have a question on CRAR remains strong at 17.94% but slightly down Q-on-Q. So is there any capital raising plans that you may have for growth or processing buffers? How does the bank plan to -- bank plan to balance credit growth with capital efficiency, especially as RAM lending continues to expand? So I have these two questions. If you could throw light on that, sir?

The CRAR of 17.94%, sir. From quarter-on-quarter, you can see some reduction. But the point is that, sir, it is only technically, it has come down. The net profit of June quarter and September quarter has not been factored into CRAR, These INR 1,100 crores net profit of June at INR 1,200 crores net profit of September.

This INR 2,300 crores is getting added to capital, then the 17.9% becomes 19.20%. So there's no reduction. That is one part I'm trying to say. And this profit will be taken into capital at the end of the financial year. At that point of time, March '26, it will be visible. Right now, technically, it is 19.20%.

The second thing is that against mandatory requirement of 11.50%, we are having -- CRAR is 17.94%. So to ensure growth, the rate of growth at which we are growing in credit. This cushion of INR 600 crores is more than enough to take care of my next 2 years of growth, that -- this 17.94%.

So immediately, we do not need any capital raising as such to ensure to fund the growth. But in order to align the guideline that 75% holding has to be by the public, so for that purpose, of course, last year in Q4 of financial year, we went to market and there is INR 1,400 crores for QIP. And through that, government of India shareholding came down from 96% to 94%.

This year also, our plan is to raise INR 4,000 crores. We have already got the approval from the Board, and we are in the process of getting all sorts of approvals required for this. And once approvals are in place, then certainly, we will go to the market, to raise capital.

Okay. And sir, on the digital transaction front, there are several initiatives that the bank has taken like WhatsApp banking and CRM 360. So my question is what has been first adoption and impact from cross selling?

Can you speak a bit louder, your voice is not audible. Can you hear me now? Yes, clearly sir.

My question, your digital transformation. You have several initiatives at WhatsApp banking and CRM 360. So question is what has been the first adoption and impact on cross-selling or several efficiency? That is one question. Second would be how much of new business or account digital loans that are have originated from digital channels or any collaborations you are having with any Fintech and all that, if you could throw some light on that, sir?

Yes, sir, collaboration and understanding with lots of Fintech’s is already there that is happening.

This digital journey is -- it's an ongoing process. It keeps on happening. So whatever digital services or products we are having, every 6 months, 3 months gets upgraded and some additional features are getting added. So it's an ongoing process.

And whatever business is happening, as I said in response to one of the queries, that 98% of the transactions are happening in digital mode only, not on physical mode. Whatever business is happening, major of that is happening through digital mode only. So it will be difficult to give you any particular percentage or number. But you can take it that it's an ongoing process and majority of the business is happening on digital mode only.

Okay. Can I ask one more question around ESG and ESG that you have launched a few green finance products also IOB Surya loan, IOB Tejas, so what is the contribution of ESG-linked lending to the total loan book as of now? I mean...

The share of the ESG products in total loan book is not substantial. We have started recently only 5, 6 months ago. And it is taking off. It is catching the attention of the general public also.

So share is not very substantial. But going forward, maybe in a couple of quarters, we'll be able to give you the good numbers.

Our next question is from the line of Ashlesh Sonje from Kotak Securities.

Sir, first question is on ECL. Based on the draft guidelines, which RBI has issued, what is your assessment right now about the provisions you will be required to make further transition?

So sir, it is too early to comment on that. We are still going through the provisions of this draft guideline. And whatever we could do as first hand, broadly, we expect that around INR 2,700 crores to INR 2,800 crores of additional provision requirement may be there at that point of time and which is to be provided in installments.

Having said that, these numbers are absolutely, absolutely not certain. It's only the first hand information, it can be -- it's very broad- based, and it can be very off the mark. But around this

level of requirement is there. From next quarter onwards, we are going to create some buffer in the balance sheet, still we are having around 18 months.

And by the time it gets implemented, I think we'll be in a position to provide sufficient buffer in the balance sheet to take care of the requirements if at all it happens. And having said that, maybe next quarter, we'll be able to give you the more accurate number that what will be the requirement and how we are going to handle. So it's still too early to comment.

Sir, when you have calculated this number INR 2,700 crores, INR 2,800 crores, you would have assumed that you can reverse some of the NPA provisions and apply it against Stage 1 and Stage 2 loans, I assume. Just correct me if I'm wrong there?

That's too early -- it's too early. We have not gone -- it's a ballpark figure, broadly.

Okay. But you would have taken into account all the provisions which you are carrying, right?

Standard asset provisions, contingency provisions?

Exactly, PCR is 98% almost. So many, many factors are supposed to be taken into account to come to the exact number. Maybe you give us another 1 month or so. We will be able to give you some realistic number.

Okay. Sir, and just lastly on the same point, a simple data keeping question. Can you share the total -- the different types of outstanding provisions that you have right now? I know you have NPA provisions of about INR 4,300 crores. What are the other provisions you are carrying?

Standard provision will be there around INR 4,000 crores, some restructured portfolio is there against that also some provision will be there.

Okay. And sir, just one last clarification. The -- whatever shortfall comes out, whatever number it might eventually be, you will be taking that expense in the P&L or would it be going directly to the reserves?

P&L will not -- the idea is not to impact P&L. We'll be creating additional buffer out of the business, whatever we are going to do in the next quarters. We'll be creating buffer make the balance sheet stronger so that if at all, some impact is there, we will be able to handle out of that. So that P&L is not impacted.

Next question is from the line of Parth Manish Gutka from B&K Securities.

Sir, just on your -- what is the basis -- or what are the ticket sizes in your micro, small and medium loan segment? And how is the underwriting done in these segments?

See, underwriting is done the low value where the structured type of products are there. It happens through system, end-to-end. And the bigger type of loans where the application of mind and subjectivity is needed. That, of course, partially it is digital. And then at some point of time, it's manually also it is applied and then the lending happens. So micro, small and medium, whatever classification has been there as per act. Accordingly, it happens. So I can give you a

broad number that out of total MSME of around INR 49,000 crores, micro is around INR 30,000 crores. Remaining is medium and small.

Okay. And this entire portfolio would be secured or there will be some unsecured portions also...

Majority will be secured only. Almost entire will be secured only.

Okay. And within this MSME, are you like post the imposition of U.S. tariffs, have you interacted with the borrowers? And are there any impact on the cash flows yet? Any early signs there? On account of tariffs, you are asking? Yes.

On account of tariffs, see stress is not visible so far. We have been interacting with our borrowers. And everyone -- in fact, everyone has been able to find a way out to handle this tariff impact, and they are all pretty sure that it will be -- this issue will be over in a couple of months.

But till that time, everyone has positioned themselves very well. And we do not see any stress so far in any of the accounts, including cash flow and transactions in the accounts are at a normal level only.

The next question is from the line of Moksh Ranka from Aurum Capital.

Sir, there was a recent preliminary government meeting regarding merger of small PSB banks with larger private sector banks. So is there any talk going on regarding this? Could you please comment on that?

Sir, like you, we are also reading in newspapers. We do not have any communication from any of the authorities so far. And this type of things, I will say that it is not new. Every 6 months, it happens and it keeps coming up in the newspapers. But officially, we do not have any communication.

Okay. Thanks for the clarification. That’s it from my side.

Thank you. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments. Thank you and over to you, sir.

Yes. Thank you so much. I will request both my EDs, Mr. Joydeep and Mr. Dhanaraj to give the closing remarks, please. Thank you.

So thank you. This is Joydeep Dutta Roy, Executive Director. So first of all, I would just state that the performance of the bank has been consistent in terms of the quarter-on-quarter profits that the bank has been delivering the percentage growth. If you look at the past many quarters now, almost 8, 10 quarters, you will find a consistency in the growth in profitability, quarter-on- quarter.

So that's been a hallmark. We have crossed the ROA of not only 1, now it's 1.20. Our NIM, we have been able to maintain and, in fact, grow in spite of the rate cut that shows how we have

been able to manage our advances and the yield on advances, which has also seen a slight increase.

So all these point out to the robustness of the processes and the systems in the bank, which work for profitability, while we are moving the balance sheet and the growth in a very, very strong manner. So the growth is happening, plus at the same time at the back of the growth, the profitability engine is also running very, very robustly. So that's one point that I would highlight.

Secondly, on the asset quality, again, the NPA ratios, GNPA and NPA consistently coming down. It's almost one of the lowest now in the system amongst all the public sector banks. But more than the GNPA and NPA ratios, the factor that needs to be taken -- taken note of is the fact that we are having a very, very tight control on the slippages of the bank.

There is hardly any slippages happening quarter-on-quarter almost 0.10 to 0.1112 is our quarterly slippage, which is again, one of the highest in the -- among all the public sector banks or, in fact, among even the private banks also put together. So this sort of slippage control is a very, very tight leash that we are keeping, which again, points out to the robustness of the control systems that have been put in place in the bank and portends well for the future also.

Because while all the legacy book is cleaned up, provision coverage ratio is very high. We don't have any worry on the -- on any NPAs or lumpy NPAs, etcetera. But at the same time, future also things are not allowed to slip and the slippage control is very, very tight. So this again is something that I would like to highlight. So from my side, thank you.

Thank you, sir. On behalf of Indian Overseas Bank and Veritas Reputation PR Private Limited, that concludes this con-call.

Danish, I think our other Executive Director, Mr. Dhanaraj would also like to add something. Okay. Thank you, sir. Dhanaraj T.

As far as the new customer acquiring is concerned, almost last 2.5 years, we have added almost 86 lakh new customers, particularly in the current year, in the last 6 months, we have added almost 21 lakh customers. So this is an ongoing basis we are expanding. And again, already our MD and the CEO sir have said that the branch expansion also, the bank is continuously concentrating.

And again, we are going to add almost INR 250 crores -- sorry, 250 new branches as far as the current financial year is concerned. And again, some questions have come as far as the digital transformation and again, AI technology is also concerned. And again, our bank -- as far as the bank is concerned, 98 percentage of the transaction is happening through the digital mode only.

And again, we are giving the budget allocation in terms of both hardware and software upgradation. And again, all journeys through the digital, all our -- almost all 98% to 99% of our products, particularly in retail, agri and MSME, everything is on-boarded through the branch channel and the STP journey as far as the bank is concerned.

And continuously, we are going to concentrate on the digital transformation as far as the bank is concerned as per the industry standards. So we expect all your continuous support for the bank's growth in the future also. Thank you.

Indian Overseas Bank is going through a significant phase of growth and we are hopeful of a fantastic year ahead. On behalf of the Board of Directors and management, we thank you all for your participation in this call. We wish you a very great week and a very Happy Diwali.

Thank you. On behalf of Indian Overseas Bank and Veritas Reputation PR Private Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.