Axis Bank Ltd — Q4 FY24
Axis Bank delivered a strong Q4 FY24 with consolidated PAT of INR 24,861 crore, up 160% YoY, driven by robust NII growth of 16% YoY and fee income growth of 28% YoY.
bullish
high
✓ Verified against BSE filing
Claim Ledger
Did management answer the analysts?
Every material analyst question, graded on whether management actually answered it — with the verbatim exchange and quantitative claims checked against filed numbers.
58%Questions answered4Evaded / deflected12Questions audited
Partial answer
High priority
What drove better-than-expected NII and NIM performance this quarter?
Asked by Chintan Joshi, Autonomous
Management cited disciplined execution and mix shift but gave no numbers or specific drivers.
no specific quantificationno breakdown of drivers
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Question
I just wanted to understand, was there anything that helped alleviate any pressures or helped post a better-than-expected NII performance this quarter?
Munish Sharda, ED
On net interest margins, I can simply answer the question by saying there are no one-offs in our net interest margin or net interest income for the current quarter. The improvement is on account of disciplined execution. We've had a book mix shift, and we've had pricing improvements across the portfolio.
Declined
High priority
How should we think about cost-to-assets evolving in FY25?
Asked by Chintan Joshi, Autonomous
Management explicitly declined to provide cost-to-assets guidance, redirecting to ROE.
refused to give guidancedeflected to ROE target
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Question
On costs, just a broad question, help us on how we should think about cost-to-asset evolving in FY 2025.
Munish Sharda, ED
We do not offer guidance or outlook on the cost-to-assets metric. We have consistently maintained that as long as we can deliver the 18% return on equity on a consolidated basis, we'd like to continue to invest in the franchise.
Evasive
Medium priority
Do you have a peak LDR cap in mind?
Asked by Mahrukh Adajania, Nuvama Wealth
Management acknowledged a strategy but refused to disclose any specific LDR target or cap.
no specific numbervague 'zone' language
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Question
Would you have a broad framework in mind on, say, peak LDRs? Would you want the LDRs to stay at 90 or 89 or any such peak or cap you have in mind on LDR?
Amitabh Chaudhry, MD and CEO
We have a clear strategy in mind on the LDR side. No, that's something which we're guiding towards or talking to the market about, but there's a clear strategy. Our hope is that we would like to maintain it within a zone.
Partial answer
High priority
Can we assume cost of funds have peaked?
Asked by Mahrukh Adajania, Nuvama Wealth
Management gave a timeline for backbook repricing but did not explicitly confirm cost of funds have peaked.
no direct yes/no on peakingconditional statement
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Question
Can we assume that cost of funds have peaked because they look very resilient over the last two quarters for you, assuming that there are no further policy rate changes?
Puneet Sharma, CFO
We've previously stated that if the marginal cost of funds remains where it is today, given the current status of our book, we should finish backbook repricing in quarter two of the current financial year.
Answered
Medium priority
Have we reached target state in deposit quality?
Asked by Pranav Dheeraj Gundlapalle, Bernstein
Management clearly stated they have not reached a plateau and continue to improve deposit quality.
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Question
Is it fair to say that we have reached a certain level or the target state in terms of the quality of deposits, and therefore, now the growth could once again start being much higher than the system growth?
Subrat Mohanty, ED
The journey to continue to improve the quality of the deposit franchise is ongoing. We still don't think we have reached anywhere near a plateau in terms of improving these metrics.
Evasive
Medium priority
Is the QoQ growth in third-party fees one-off or sustainable?
Asked by Pranav Dheeraj Gundlapalle, Bernstein
Management did not answer whether the QoQ growth was one-off, instead commenting on fee-to-assets ratio.
did not address QoQ growthredirected to fee-to-assets ratio
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Question
There's been a punchy growth quarter-on-quarter. Is that one-off, or is this a new level of third-party fees that we should expect going forward?
Puneet Sharma, CFO
We operate at fee-to-assets higher than equivalent private sector peer banks. Please do not estimate or expect further optimization on the fee-to-assets ratio on a go-forward basis.
Answered
High priority
Are we seeing mix shift and pass-on leading to spread improvement?
Asked by Kunal Shah, Citi
Management provided specific numbers on cost of funds and yield increases, directly addressing the question.
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Question
Are we seeing the entire mix shift and the overall, when we look at it, the pass-on in terms of the lending rates leading to this kind of improvement in spreads as well?
Puneet Sharma, CFO
We had an 8 basis points increase in cost of funds on a sequential quarter basis. Our yields on interest-earning assets moved up by 11 basis points. So that should address your question on incremental spreads.
Answered
Medium priority
Why is mortgage growing slower than other retail assets?
Asked by Kunal Shah, Citi
Management clearly explained the RAROC-based strategy driving slower mortgage growth.
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Question
When we look at the mortgage, that has grown nearly at 5-odd% compared to 20% growth in retail assets. So would that strategy continue, and what would be our plan with respect to the home loans?
Subrat Mohanty, ED
We use RAROC as a measure to drive that decision. If mortgage is the only thing I do with a customer, it tends to be much lower than a lot of other asset classes. So what you see in our numbers is a reflection of that strategy.
Answered
High priority
Did you change stance on growth guidance to 300-400 bps above industry?
Asked by Piran Engineer, CLSA
Management clarified the short-term vs medium-term distinction and confirmed the growth guidance.
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Question
Did we mention at the end that we'll now grow 300-400 basis points faster than the industry? ... So I mean, our stance has changed. Because the industry is growing faster or because you want to reduce LDR?
Amitabh Chaudhry, MD and CEO
What we are saying is in two parts. In the short term, deposits' growth will drive advances' growth. ... The specific bank-level comment we've made on this call is to say we have the confidence in the franchise to grow 300-400 basis points faster than industry in the medium to long term.
Evasive
Medium priority
Has RBI highlighted any tech deficiencies or KYC issues?
Asked by Piran Engineer, CLSA
Management declined to answer about specific RBI feedback, instead discussing general tech investments.
refused to disclose regulator communicationdeflected to general tech investments
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Question
In the recent past, has RBI, in discussions with you, highlighted any sort of tech deficiencies, KYC issue, customer onboarding, etc.?
Subrat Mohanty, ED
We can't disclose what communication goes on between us and the regulator. However, ... we continue to build fairly industrial strength, backend infrastructure, update the end-of-life, end-of-support applications and operating systems.
Answered
High priority
What is the rationale for the possible capital raise?
Asked by M B Mahesh, Kotak Securities
Management clearly stated the capital raise is enabling, not needed for growth or protection.
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Question
On this notification that you have done with respect to raising capital, ... what's the rationale around this possible capital raise?
Arjun Chowdhry, Group Executive
What we simply said is we assess our capital position on two pillars, growth and protection. We reiterate that we do not need capital for either pillar. These are purely enabling resolutions for the financial year.
Answered
High priority
Could you share gross slippage numbers across segments?
Asked by Sameer Bhise, JM Financial
Management provided the exact gross slippage number and segment breakdown as requested.
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Question
Could you share the gross slippage number across wholesale and retail segments?
Puneet Sharma, CFO
Our gross slippage number for the quarter is INR 3,471 crore. It declines 7% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. INR 3,110 crore is retail, INR 163 crore is our CBG business, and INR 198 crore is our WBCG business, which is wholesale.