Central Depository Services (India) Limited — Q4 FY26
CDSL reported consolidated Q4 FY26 total income of INR 268 crore (+4.7% YoY) and net profit of INR 80 crore (-20% YoY), impacted by lower IPO/corporate action revenue and mark-t...
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.
33%Questions answered6Evaded / deflected12Questions auditedContradictedNumbers vs filing
Partial answer
High priority
Technology cost growth, capacity created, future investment pace, folio count, e-CAS and e-voting revenue.
Asked by Supratim Datta, Jefferies
Management gave qualitative color but no quantitative capacity or future spend guidance; folio deferred.
no specific capacity numbersno future investment timelinedeferred folio disclosure
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Question
My first question is on the technology cost... what kind of capacity have you already created... how much further would you need to invest... could you give us the sense around how many folios did you end FY 2026 with, and what is your e-CAS and e-voting revenue?
Nehal Vora, Managing Director and CEO
Technology is the DNA of our business... we have created scalability... It's difficult to give a firm answer on whether this is good or not because goalposts are moving.
Evasive
High priority
Breakdown of technology cost (regulatory vs growth), OpEx vs CapEx, and folio additions.
Asked by Amit Chandra, HDFC Securities
Management avoided providing any numerical breakdown of technology cost components.
no breakdown givenrefused to comment on competitionno OpEx/CapEx split
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Question
If you can provide some numbers around how much of this cost of INR 162 crores is like regulatory-led or related to upgrades... what is the OpEx here? How much you are investing in tangibles and intangibles?
Nehal Vora, Managing Director and CEO
Technology costs overtaking HR cost demonstrates our vision... I would not like to comment on the competition bit... The tangibles are the number of APIs... The intangibles are the loyalty.
Declined
Medium priority
Breakup of IPO vs corporate action revenue and reason for sharp fall.
Asked by Amit Chandra, HDFC Securities
Management explicitly declined to provide the requested breakdown.
refused to provide breakup
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Question
In terms of the sharp fall that we have seen in the IPO and the corporate action revenue... if you can give some breakup between the IPO revenue and the corporate action revenue.
Nehal Vora, Managing Director and CEO
We don't give the numbers between IPO and corporate action because they're correlated. That's the reason we don't give it.
Answered
Medium priority
Reason for sharp fall in other income, e-CAS revenue, pledge revenue, unlisted revenue.
Asked by Amit Chandra, HDFC Securities
CFO provided specific numbers for e-CAS, e-voting, application fees, and unlisted revenue.
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Question
What has been the reason for the sharp fall in the other income? If you can provide the e-CAS revenue, the pledge revenue, and the revenue from the unlisted companies.
Girish Amesara, CFO
The investment income is subject to mark-to-market... Consolidated Account Statement revenue is INR 12.08 crore for March quarter. e-Voting is INR 5.58 crore... application processing fees INR 3 crore... unlisted INR 3.5 crore.
Answered
Medium priority
Breakup of online data charges between fetch and new record creation, and pledge revenue.
Asked by Madhukar Ladha, JPMorgan
Management provided the requested proportion and specific pledge revenue number.
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Question
Can you provide me with some breakup between fetch and new record creation? Even like sort of proportion... It'll also be helpful if you could give me the pledge revenue.
Sunil Alvares, MD & CEO, CDSL Ventures Limited; Girish Amesara, CFO
Typically, the breakup between creation and fetch is about 80%, 20%. The pledge income for March quarter is INR 6.30 crore.
Evasive
Medium priority
Future trajectory of technology and employee expenses, investor app strategy, data business opportunity.
Asked by Vetrivel
Management declined to give future outlook and deferred data business to regulatory clarity.
no forward guidancedeferred to regulation
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Question
Technology and employee-related expense have increased significantly... Should they expect to continue over the next few years? Could management on the long-term strategy of the unidentified investor app? Do you see the data service app API becoming a meaningful revenue contribution?
Nehal Vora, Managing Director and CEO
We don't give any futuristic statements... On the investor engagement... we are improving on the UI/UX... In terms of whether data can be leveraged as a business will be driven by SEBI's rules.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Impairment cost, DP migration to competition, incremental market share pressure.
Asked by Sanketh Godha, Avendus Spark
Impairment number given, but competitive pressure question answered qualitatively without data.
no market share data provided
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Question
One data-keeping question is on the impairment cost for the quarter. Second question is with respect to one of the DPs migrating fully to the competition... Are you seeing any competitive pressure?
Nehal Vora, Managing Director and CEO; Girish Amesara, CFO
The impairment cost is INR 7.62 crore for the March quarter. There is no DP which has completely moved... Competition is a way of life.
Evasive
Medium priority
Unlisted revenue run rate sustainability and market share gain strategy.
Asked by Sanketh Godha, Avendus Spark
Management did not confirm sustainability of run rate and deferred to future regulatory changes.
no run rate guidancedeferred to future regulation
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Question
Do you think this run rate of INR 3 crores per quarter or INR 3.5 crores per quarter will continue? Any additional efforts to gain market share in unlisted space?
Nehal Vora, Managing Director and CEO
The unlisted revenue... as the economy grows... more larger companies will come into the fold... The ISIN issuance... will be done by both in the near future.
Partial answer
High priority
KYC rate impact from regulatory changes and technology spend growth relative to Demat account growth.
Asked by Harshit Toshniwal, Premji Invest
KYC rate changes given but no blended impact; technology spend question not answered with specifics.
no overall rate impact percentageno technology spend growth guidance
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Question
On a like-to-like basis, if you can help us with what exactly would be the rate impact... if Demat accounts grow at 10-15%, should we assume technology spends will also track that?
Nehal Vora, Managing Director and CEO; Sunil Alvares, MD & CEO, CDSL Ventures Limited
The fetch charges have been reduced by 20% from INR 35 to INR 28. The creation charges have been reduced by 75% from INR 20 to INR 5. 80% is fetch and 20% is create.
Evasive
Medium priority
Counter levers to recoup lower KYC revenues.
Asked by Neeraj Toshniwal, UBS Securities
Management gave a generic response about market deepening without concrete countermeasures.
no specific levers mentioned
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Question
Just wanted to get some sense on what are the counter levers we have to recoup some of the lower revenues now from the KYC.
Nehal Vora, Managing Director and CEO
The intent is that as markets will deepen, more investors will come into play... with the lower cost, more people will want to join the ecosystem.
Evasive
Medium priority
Impact of One Nation One KYC on business model and competitive dynamics with new discount brokers.
Asked by Prayesh Jain, Motilal Oswal
Management deferred to future regulatory clarity and gave generic competitive positioning.
deferred to regulationno competitive detail
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Question
How does that change the business model and approach? Does the fetch increase and creation go down? How is the competitive environment with new players wanting to get into discount broking?
Nehal Vora, Managing Director and CEO
KRAs are well-positioned... We'll have to wait for the formal announcements... If we are providing value proposition, speed, and investment in technology, that is what will drive people coming to us.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Principles behind pricing decisions and possibility of price increases given inflation.
Asked by Mehul Pathak
Management explained principles but gave no indication of potential price changes.
no specific pricing outlook
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Question
When would you consider an upward change in prices? Could you explain the principles and how much is the regulatory interface?
Nehal Vora, Managing Director and CEO
The intent is inclusion... CDSL has always been very fair in ensuring we are cheaper than our competition... SEBI approves charges where depositories are concerned.
Quantitative claims vs filed numbers
| Claim | Management said | Filing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| e-CAS revenue INR 12.08 crore for March quarter | ₹12.08 cr | ₹263 cr | Understated vs filing |
| e-Voting revenue INR 5.58 crore for March quarter | ₹5.58 cr | ₹263 cr | Understated vs filing |
| Application processing fees INR 3 crore for March quarter | ₹3 cr | ₹263 cr | Understated vs filing |
| Unlisted revenue INR 3.5 crore for March quarter | ₹3.5 cr | ₹263 cr | Understated vs filing |
| Pledge income INR 6.30 crore for March quarter | ₹6.3 cr | ₹263 cr | Understated vs filing |
Filed figures sourced from Screener.in. Claims within a small tolerance of the filing are marked “matches filing”.