Central Depository Services (India) Limited — Q4 FY25
CDSL reported a weak Q4 FY25 with consolidated net profit of INR 100 crore, down 22% YoY from INR 129 crore, as total income fell to INR 256 crore from INR 267 crore.
neutral
medium
✓ 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.
13%Questions answered9Evaded / deflected12Questions auditedContradictedNumbers vs filing
Evasive
High priority
Asked about technology cost breakdown, KRA business impact, and dividend payout ratio.
Asked by Supratim Datta, Ambit
Management declined to provide the requested split between recurring and one-time costs.
no breakdown givenrefused to disclose
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Question
Could you help us understand where is this technology spend really going towards? What proportion of this would be recurring versus what proportion of this would be one-time?
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
I do not think we gave out in the public domain as to what is the one-time versus a recurring expense. We have kind of maintained a steady percentage as part of the revenue on the technology cost.
Evasive
High priority
Asked for hardware vs application split of technology spend.
Asked by Supratim Datta, Ambit
Management refused to provide the requested breakdown, citing it as a fusion cost.
no split givenclaimed fusion cost
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Question
Can you give us the split of your hardware? How much of this spend would be on hardware versus application?
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
We don't give that because, see, there is—I will tell you why we don't give it, Supratin, because it's a combination. It's a fusion cost. You cannot segregate what is infra versus application.
Evasive
Medium priority
Asked about progress of technology modernization journey.
Asked by Supratim Datta, Ambit
Management avoided giving a specific percentage or stage of completion.
no specific progress givengeneralized answer
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Question
Where are you in this journey of modernization? Is the modernization complete or are you 60%, 70%?
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
I think you can ask any company. Nobody will say they are completely there in the modernization process because it's a process of continuous change.
Evasive
Medium priority
Asked about capacity vs efficiency build-up in technology spend.
Asked by Prayesh Jain, Motilal Oswal
Management did not provide a quantitative split, instead gave a general statement.
no split givenphilosophical answer
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Question
How much of it is going towards capacity build-up, and how much of it is towards efficiency build-up?
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
I look at it is that there's a proverb in Hindi saying that, [Foreign Language] Intent is efficiency. Whether that is due to capacity build-up because efficiency is also a function of ensuring adequate capacity.
Declined
Medium priority
Asked if technology spend as a percentage of revenue would sustain.
Asked by Prayesh Jain, Motilal Oswal
Management declined to provide forward-looking guidance on technology spend.
no guidance given
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Question
Is it fair to assume that as a percentage of revenue, this would sustain?
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
You should look at our past and then take a call. I'm sorry. I actually would not be able to give you the future because we don't do future guidance at the quality.
Declined
High priority
Asked about representation to regulator for increasing issuer charges.
Asked by Prayesh Jain, Motilal Oswal
Management declined to comment on regulatory discussions.
refused to disclose
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Question
Any representation to the regulator, especially for the issuer charges, to increase the prices or anything that you can let us know?
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
It is all again between us and the regulator. We don't generally reveal that in the public domain. As and when a final call would be taken, that would be kind of announced to the market.
Partial answer
High priority
Asked about fall in KYC revenue and breakup of fetch vs account opening.
Asked by Amit Chandra, HDFC Securities
Management explained the fall but did not provide a quantitative split between fetch and account opening.
no specific breakup given
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Question
In the KYC charges, if you can provide some color in terms of what has led to that default, is it the fetches have come down considerably, or is it because of any other being in terms of discounts being given to the brokers in this?
Sunil Alvares, MD and CEO, CDSL Ventures
Overall, we've seen the number of records itself which are created have fallen down, as well as the number of fetch records also have fallen significantly. That's what has led to the drop in income.
Evasive
High priority
Asked about mix between IPO and corporate action revenue and reason for sharp fall.
Asked by Amit Chandra, HDFC Securities
Management refused to provide a breakdown between IPO and corporate action revenue.
no breakdown given
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Question
In terms of the mix between the IPO and the corporate action revenue, what explains the sharp fall? Is it only IPO, or is it the combination of both?
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
It is overall market impact and impacted across both those teams. We do not give that different categories in the public domain.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Expressed concern about insurance repository performance and lack of details.
Asked by Santosh Keshri, SKK HUF
Management acknowledged the concern but did not provide detailed metrics or a clear turnaround plan.
no specific revenue or market share numbers
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Question
Somehow, we do not see the same kind of performance and same kind of gain in CDSL repository. Also, our PowerPoint presentation about insurance repository did not cover much of the details.
Latesh Shetty, MD and CEO, Centrico Insurance Repository
Actually, if you look at the past performance, we are in this business for almost 14 years. ... Since this is not a mandatory subject, we have been limiting our investments on this business.
Deflected
High priority
Questioned direction of company, cash usage, and shareholder friendliness.
Asked by Santosh Keshri, SKK HUF
Management defended performance but did not address cash usage or shareholder return concerns directly.
reframed as opinionno specific cash usage plan
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Question
Are we settling into some kind of happy infrastructure institution and nothing beyond? ... The analyst community and the user community have been talking about this in almost every call.
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
Santosh, you need to see that various communications. I think it is your opinion. ... The fact that quarter on quarter, despite markets going through its ups and downs, we continue to grow ... clearly showcases that this is with a customer-centric focus.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Asked about divergence between transaction income decline and cash ADTO decline.
Asked by Sanketh Godha, Avendus Spark
Management claimed no divergence but did not explain the apparent discrepancy.
no specific explanation for divergence
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Question
If I look at our transaction income, it has dipped by 17% QOQ. There seems to be a divergence, typically is not there. I just wanted to understand what led to more fall in transaction income compared to the fall in cash ADTO.
Girish Amesara, CFO
See, Sanketh, when we closely monitor the delivery volumes of exchanges with our billable transactions, we don't see that kind of slowdown or decrease compared to what it is.
Evasive
High priority
Asked about market share loss in transaction income.
Asked by Sanketh Godha, Avendus Spark
Management avoided addressing market share directly, citing lack of competitor data.
no market share data given
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Question
Have we seen any market share loss with respect to transaction income because our decline seems to be a little more compared to CDSL, what we can see from the public information?
Nehal Vora, MD and CEO
We don't know the billable transactions of our competition. We only track what is there at our end. You have to compare it with the overall volumes of the.
Quantitative claims vs filed numbers
| Claim | Management said | Filing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlisted revenue for full year is INR 36 crore | ₹36 cr | ₹224 cr | Understated vs filing |
| Cash statement income around INR 11 crore in Q4 | ₹11 cr | ₹224 cr | Understated vs filing |
| E-voting income around INR 6 crore in Q4 | ₹6 cr | ₹224 cr | Understated vs filing |
| Pledge income was INR 54 million in Q4 | 54 | 224 | Understated vs filing |
Filed figures sourced from Screener.in. Claims within a small tolerance of the filing are marked “matches filing”.