Central Depository Services (India) Limited — Q3 FY25
CDSL reported a 26% YoY revenue growth to ₹298 crore and 21% YoY PAT growth to ₹130 crore for Q3 FY25, driven by continued demat account additions (14.65 crore accounts, 40% YoY...
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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.
21%Questions answered9Evaded / deflected12Questions audited
Evasive
High priority
Quantify volume decline vs pricing cut in transaction charges; possibility of price revision upward.
Asked by Amit Chandra, HDFC Securities
Management declined to provide the requested breakdown of volume decline vs pricing cut.
no number givenrefused to quantify
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Question
So if you can first quantify, you know, what was the, you know, volume decline and, you know, what was the pricing, you know, cut that we have seen in this quarter.
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
In terms of specific numbers, we don't put that out in the public domain.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Reason for weak online data revenue despite strong account additions.
Asked by Amit Chandra, HDFC Securities
Acknowledged the question but gave only a general market explanation without quantifying fetches.
vague reference to market volumesno specific data on fetches
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Question
So we have seen that the account addition continues to be strong. So we are not seeing any major decline there. But still, the online data revenue was weak. So was there a significant, you know, significant decline in terms of fetches?
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
In terms of the account opening online charges with CVL also, I think is kind of in line with the overall contribution of volumes in the market, which has really maybe led to this.
Evasive
Medium priority
Whether major technology investments are behind us or will continue.
Asked by Amit Chandra, HDFC Securities
Did not answer whether peak investment is behind; instead described technology as always evolving.
no timeline givenreframed as continuous
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Question
So is the major technology investment behind us, or will we see this elevated cost for the coming years also?
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
In terms of technology, it's a continuous process of kind of evolution. I think the most important constant in the technology world specifically, overall also, but specifically in technology, the change is the holding on.
Evasive
Medium priority
Breakdown of technology spend into discretionary vs run-the-business.
Asked by Amit Chandra, HDFC Securities
Did not provide the requested split; instead discussed proactive investment philosophy.
no breakdown givenreframed as philosophy
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Question
If you can just provide some color in terms of what part of our spend would be discretionary spend, which we can cut off in an environment when we see challenges in the environment, and what part of the spend would be run the business kind of a spend.
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
I think our philosophy, Amit, and that's where CDSL has kind of been able to be successful. In fact, has been proactive on the technology side and not being worried too much with the market quarter-on-quarter volumes.
Evasive
High priority
Ballpark growth in average folios in 9M FY25 vs FY24 average.
Asked by Akshay Kaila, CD Integrated Services
Refused to provide folio growth numbers, even ballpark; suggested using issuer charges as proxy.
no number givenredirected to proxy
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Question
If you can give us sense that vis-à-vis the average Folios which were built. So average Folios of FY 24, what would be by how much should we be largely up by now if you could give some color, not the exact number, but a ballpark also.
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
We don't give out the folios, but we give out the value of the annual issuer charges. And that could be a proxy for you to really understand on how the folios growth happen.
Declined
Medium priority
Breakup of IPO vs corporate action in that revenue line.
Asked by Akshay Kaila, CD Integrated Services
Explicitly stated they do not provide that breakup.
refused to provide breakup
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Question
If you can broadly give us a split on how it trends quarter on quarter between IPO and corporate action, whether there would be any seasonality in terms of corporate action in that.
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
In terms of your second question on IPO and corporate actions, we don't give that breakup.
Declined
Medium priority
Proportion of fixed vs variable costs in total expenses.
Asked by Akshay Kaila, CD Integrated Services
Explicitly declined to provide the split.
refused to provide breakdown
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Question
If you could share fixed and variable cost proportion in your overall expense, that would be very helpful.
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
We don't give the break-up between fixed and variable costs because it's kind of in a very hybrid function, so it may not give the right picture.
Deflected
Medium priority
CDSL's competitive edge vs NSDL in technology/service/growth.
Asked by Akshay Kaila, CD Integrated Services
Did not answer the question about competitive edge; deflected to value proposition.
refused to compareredirected to philosophy
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Question
If we compare ourselves to the NSDL, then what sets apart in terms of technology or in terms of service or in terms of growth when we compare our services to the NSDL?
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
Our intent has never been to look at market share or competitive edge. Our intent has always to create the value proposition for the stakeholders and let the stakeholders decide which road to take.
Answered
High priority
Revenue from private company dematerialization this quarter.
Asked by Supratim Datta, AMBIT Capital
Provided specific numbers for unlisted income and processing fees.
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Question
Last quarter, you had booked around nine crores in revenue from private company dematerialization. Could you let us know how is that progressing? How much revenue have you booked from that side this quarter?
Girish Amesara, CFO
In terms of unlisted income for the quarter, we have an income of INR 7.47 crore, out of which INR 4.76 crore is a processing income, which is one-time income.
Evasive
Medium priority
Key triggers for approaching regulator for annual issuer price hike.
Asked by Supratim Datta, AMBIT Capital
Did not provide any internal triggers or benchmarks; said factors are not public.
no specifics givendeferred to regulator
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Question
Wanted to understand what would be the key triggers for us to approach the regulator for a price hike here. If you could give us some benchmarks that you would be looking at before approaching the regulator for a price hike here.
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
There's a multitude of factors which the regulator goes through. Unfortunately, that is not available in the public domain.
Answered
Medium priority
Breakdown of e-CAS and e-voting revenue per quarter.
Asked by Supratim Datta, AMBIT Capital
Provided specific numbers for e-CAS and e-voting revenue.
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Question
If you could give us a breakdown of the e-CAS and e-voting revenue that you typically do every quarter, that would be very helpful again.
Girish Amesara, CFO
In terms of e-CAS charges, it is clocked at INR 14 crore, and e-Voting is at INR 5 crore.
Evasive
High priority
Whether average realization per transaction declined due to true-to-label pricing.
Asked by Sanketh Godha, Avendus Spark
Declined to provide any data on average realization or price cut percentage.
no number givenrefused to confirm or deny
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Question
Is it fair to tell that INR 3.5 which we are using in true-to-label, the price average realization seems to be lower compared to previously when we were doing slab-based pricing? And if that is the case, then what is the cut we have to, I mean, a price cut of 9%-10% is a fair assumption, sir?
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
We don't give those numbers out in the public domain.