Earnings Labs

HDFC Bank Limited (HDB)

Q2 2024 Earnings Call· Mon, Oct 16, 2023

$25.41

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to HDFC Bank Limited Q2 FY '24 Earnings Conference Call on the financial results presented by the management of HDFC Bank. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Srinivasan Vaidyanathan, Chief Financial Officer, HDFC Bank. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Okay. Thank you, Nirav. Good evening, and a warm welcome to all the participants. Our MD and CEO, Mr. Sashi Jagdishan has joined us today to provide an overview of the business before we get into the quarterly results. Sashi, over to you to get started, please.

Sashi Jagdishan

Analyst

Thank you, Srini. Thank you for allowing me to steal your talk time. I'll keep it as brief as possible. This being the first results post-merger, I thought of sharing my thoughts. It's such a pleasure to connect with you all after a very long time. As you know, we just consummated one of the largest mergers in recent times with seamless integration of people, process and systems, and that too without any external help. This showcases the power of our execution. The day one merged balance sheet was audited by the 31st of August and the team disclosed this to the world at large around mid-September. The presentation, which they did to the analyst, brought out some of the one-offs on account of the debt funded liquid assets to meet the liquidity coverage ratio, the LCR, as per banking norms. As you know, sometimes, the assumptions and cash flows that an NBFC does is going to be -- is different from that what a bank would do. And so therefore, there was some amount of build-up of liquidity to meet those liquidity coverage ratio norms and also provide an extra cushion to take care of contingencies. As luck would have it, there was an incremental CRR which was announced and this cushion came in extremely handy. Obviously, it came with a cost which is approximately 25 basis points between the liquidity build-up and the ICRR impact. I think Srini will talk about it more in detail in his call. The presentation also brought about the day one adjustments to equity, which was one of the arcs of all you, of this fraternity, to say what will be the day one equity and with all the adjustments that one would do on merger. I think a lot of people probably…

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Okay. Thank you, Sashi, for those opening remarks. Now, let's get on to the main. I want to start with the macro content -- context provided that it provided a good healthy tailwind in the quarter, right? We continued to see a good domestic demand conditions and push from government through CapEx. You know well that the GST collections were healthy in manufacturing services, PMI, and in the expansionary zone. The key logistics indicators were quite healthy and good. RBI kept its rate unchanged at 6.5%. And as we look ahead, we see the environment is good for robust growth. Our estimate of the GDP growth for this year FY '24 is 6.3%, which will demonstrate that it's one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Now, if you look at some of the key factors in the bank's growth journey, on the distribution footprint expansion, our branch network stands at 7,945 outlets as of -- branches as of September 30. Overall, there has been an increase of 1,446 branches over the last 12 months, including 85 branches in the quarter. In addition, we are operating over 400 branches of erstwhile HDFC branches as -- under the bank banner now, and we're progressively developing other banking product capabilities as we go through the year. Payment acceptance points currently at 4.9 million and year-on-year growth of 43% as adoption of the Vyapar app builds momentum there. In the CRB, which runs the SME businesses, the rural business reach expanded to 1.85 lakh villages and it's on track to go to the objectives of over 2 lakh villages in the near-term. Gold loan processing, that we started this vehemently few quarters ago, is now offered in 4,544 branches, an increase of 53% over prior year. In the customer franchise building, we…

Operator

Operator

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Mahrukh Adajania from Nuvama. Please go ahead.

Mahrukh Adajania

Analyst

Yeah, hello. Hi. My first question is on margins. So, of course, you've explained that it's the ICRR and the excess liquidity on Limited's book, but would there be any other adjustments in the NII while moving from Ind-AS to Ind-GAAP for HDFC? Like for instance, HDFC's NII in Q2 FY '23 was around INR45 billion, INR46 billion, right? So, would that be restated significantly under Ind-GAAP?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Mahrukh, maybe we'll have a session about what the Indian GAAP and the Ind-AS would be. There are several differences that happen. I'll give you, for example, one important -- there are several of them. On the non-performing loan in Ind-AS, you accrue for interest, in IGAAP, you don't accrue for interest if the loan is non-performing. Just as an example I'm saying, right? So, there are several differences that happen. And so -- and the time has elapsed and the profile of the balance sheet, including the interest rate structure of the balance sheet is different now versus what it was at that time. So, they are not comparable as such. They are different regulatory regimes, different accounting standards, different regulatory regime, and the composition of the balance sheet is different.

Mahrukh Adajania

Analyst

Correct. But most of the margin decline from pro forma 3.7% to 3.4% is largely excess liquidity and ICRR or...

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

See, the way you think about it is that, the balance sheet is funded with debt, right? There is a level of additional borrowing that has been exercised and that is debt borrowing, right, that has come on. And debt borrowing comes in at a cost that is north of 8% or so. So that's part of how the -- there is a transition post the merger. As part of the merger management, we carried additional, one way to describe this additional liquidity. But if you think about what is there, where does it reflect? It reflects in the cost of funds. So, that's why the cost of funds is higher.

Mahrukh Adajania

Analyst

Got it. Makes sense. And sir, my next question is on the tax rate. So given that they were favorable decisions and that's why the tax rate fell, does it normalize to 25% next quarter or...

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

See, yes, there is this one-time effect if you take or take it out, whatever is the normal tax rate. If you look at last quarter or the past year, we've been around that 25%, 24.9%, 25% thereabouts that's where we have been.

Mahrukh Adajania

Analyst

Got it. And just...

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

So, there's no different from that, yeah.

Mahrukh Adajania

Analyst

Okay. And sir just one last question. So, do you see margins -- how long would it take for margins to come back up to 3.6%, 3.65%, like two to three quarters? Would the exit margin for FY '24 be at that level or would it take longer?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Yes. See, Mahrukh, I think Sashi alluded to say that there are few things, right, one is the utilization of this through a better mix of loan originations particularly focused on the retail shift is something that would bring this to a normal level over a period of time. Then there are other choices to make. But given that these are -- that this funding is longer-term funding that we've chosen part of the merger management, we need to get through building assets which are of a better yield.

Mahrukh Adajania

Analyst

Got it. Thanks. Thank you.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Kunal Shah from Citigroup. Please go ahead.

Kunal Shah

Analyst

Yeah. Thanks for taking the question. So firstly, maybe what Sashi highlighted earlier that in terms of the run down in the wholesale portfolio of erstwhile HDFC, is it more or less done or should we see it getting towards...

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Kunal, if I request you to slightly come closer to mic and speak up. I can hear, but not as best.

Kunal Shah

Analyst

Yeah, sorry, now if it's better.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Very good.

Kunal Shah

Analyst

So I was just saying whether this rundown in wholesale portfolio, is it largely done? Because earlier we thought that it can come down to INR80 crores, INR90 crores or INR1,000 crores from INR1.03 lakh crores, but I think in the opening remarks, you said like it should largely be done and now we should see the growth coming through in the construction finance portfolio.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

That is the kind of a direction. If you think about it, it has got three components. One component has to do with the construction finance, which from a bank positioning and strategic -- to strategically to feed into the retail, we want to grow this portfolio, right? We have the risk assessment framework. We want to grow within that framework that we have. The second component of the book is the LRD book, lease rental. That book is also a growth-oriented book and will be assessed and grown. The third component is the small component of a corporate loan book that will be assessed as part of the overall exposure to various corporates that we have and we will take a decision about what is the overall exposure. Yes, the direction what Sashi alluded to is on the construction finance and it equally applies to LRD too, but all of this in the context of overall exposure to corporates that we have.

Kunal Shah

Analyst

Sure. Got that. And secondly, in terms of other income, was there any one-off maybe pertaining to IGAAP transitioning for HDFC? Or this is like now the overall fee income trajectory which we should see and there is no one-off in this line item now?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

So the fee income that you saw, which was INR6,900 crores and whatever -- INR6,936 crores, yes, that is the normal level of fees. And if you look at how we have in the past seen the fee, which is 65% of the other income is the fees, right? And this fee line has got multiple from asset origination fees to liability product fees to payment transaction type fees to wholesale banking fees to third-party distribution fees. There are seasonalities up and down, it happens, because there are certain quarters where you see for various considerations, it could be tax considerations or for origination consideration, it goes up or down. But when you look at it over a period of time historically, this has been in the mid to high teens, right, that's where the fee component has moved. And that's where I will tell you to look at it. If you look historically, that's the range at which, right that -- if this quarter if it was 19%-odd, again quarter-to-quarter there is seasonality, but when you look at a year, two years, in the past, it's mid to high teens.

Operator

Operator

Thank you.

Kunal Shah

Analyst

Just...

Operator

Operator

Kunal Shah, sorry to interrupt you. May I request you to join the queue again.

Kunal Shah

Analyst

Yeah, sure.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. A request to all the participants, please restrict to two questions per participant. Next question is from the line of Parag Thakkar from Anvil Wealth. Please go ahead.

Parag Thakkar

Analyst

Yeah. Hello. I'm audible?

Operator

Operator

Yes.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Yes, Parag.

Parag Thakkar

Analyst

Yes. So first of all I would like to congratulate the entire team for bringing up the deposit numbers to such a good number, above INR1 lakh crores. I think it requires a lot of efforts and you all did it brilliantly, especially in a quarter where it was a merger quarter and we had this one-time ICRR hit plus this liquidity hit. So, all-in-all, I am very, very happy with the performance. So first of all, I would like to congratulate you all. And second, when we say that 1.9% to 2.1% ROA is possible, the growth rate above 15% or 17%, 18% of the merged entity is also possible, right?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Parag, firstly, thank you for the recognition and we appreciate. These are the things that keeps us charged and ensures that we drive to the best potential both market has to offer and the people here are capable of delivering. Thank you for those compliments. And now getting to the question that you asked in terms of the growth rate, see, more than thinking about the forward-looking growth rate, but growth rate is underpinned down on two things, right. One, market rate of growth. Typically, in their past, we have seen the market rate of growth anywhere from 10% to 12%. Depending on the year, you will see that the nominal rate of GDP times 1 or 1.1, 10% to 12% is what you will see. And what we have always endeavored and that is what historically we have delivered is a premium on, on that, right? A 5%, 6% thereabouts, a premium on the market rate of growth is what we delivered. That is where the market share gains come from that additional growth rate over the market that we do. And so, now take this to what is the kind of a market share gain. If you see over a period of three -- five years, if you see, it's about 400 basis points or thereabouts market share gains. Either side of the balance sheet, that's a similar type of market share gains. And when you gain that currently, if you look at the recent times, the share in the market share gains is faster than what it was five years ago, meaning, the larger distribution and the bigger the scale, the opportunity space for gaining more market share is available and that is what in the recent times that we have done. So that's -- I want to leave the thought process there. This is how we think and that's how we're capacitized to drive.

Parag Thakkar

Analyst

Correct. And sir, we have opened around 2,200 branches in last two years. So when they start showing productivity, your OpEx to asset ratio will -- should come down, right, logically? Because they will become more productive now in terms of gathering deposits as well as advances.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Yes, sir. It will come over time. But as we keep adding more and more new branches, one weighs the other. But if you look at two years ago branches, very important that you touched upon, if you look at what we opened about two years ago and look at that cohort, and when we look at that cohort of branches about how they are performing, right, our model shows that it should breakeven in two years' time and about 90%-plus, slightly above 90% of the branches have broken even in about 20 months, 21 months. We have another 10% of the branches to breakeven. And when that does, that's the average of, call it, 22 months to 24 months breakeven. So, they are all following their scripted model in terms of how they deliver. We are confident that all of them starts to payback sooner, but we continue to add branches, right. That's why when you see, part of the cost is when there is a credit opportunity, credit costs, as you heard us talk, it's about 49 basis points. And if you look back, what is the -- how does it -- where does it revert to mean, right? At what levels does it revert to mean at some point in time? Call it, 80 basis points, 90 basis points, or in the pre-mortgage book, we would have said that it is 90 basis points, 100 basis points is the mean where it can revert over a period of time whenever that normalizes -- benign conditions normalize. Maybe with the mortgage in, it is more closer to the 80 basis points or something reversion to mean. But the point to mention to you is that for every 10 basis points of credit cost opportunity that we take from a timing point of view, right, within the return framework, ROA framework, we take this opportunity on a timing to invest, it's about 1% to 2% of cost to income that gets invested there, and so that is what. And here we are trying to say as we make those investments, it should start to pay back. So, we can now look at those ones which are more than two years old and those cohorts are performing well, and we now starting to look at the last 12 months cohorts and we will keep tracking them as we go.

Parag Thakkar

Analyst

Sir, just last one last question because everybody is concerned, now that you have gathered deposits of more than INR1 lakh crores, I think that concern is gone. But till last quarter, everybody was concerned about how we will fund. And as Mr. Sashi rightly pointed out in the beginning that we are not concerned about the funding part now. But going ahead, so for example, we have Credila, we have stake in HDB Financial Services, this anyways I think we are mandated to list, right, by FY '25. And that will also unlock some value and, of course, that will provide us some funding also. So, can you just throw some light on direction of monetizing the stakes in various entities which we have in order to fund our growth? Because that much pressure will be lesser on the deposit engine, right?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Your points are well taken and appropriate timing those will be considered for either, but, of course, at the right kind of a value. Yes, your thought process are right. And, from a timing point of view and from a consideration point of view, it will all depend upon the appropriate valuation.

Operator

Operator

Thank you.

Parag Thakkar

Analyst

Thanks.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Next question is from the line of Atul Mehra from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.

Atul Mehra

Analyst

Yeah. Hi, good evening and thanks for the opportunity. Sir, I have just one simple question. In terms of the non-retail NPA for HDFC Limited, how much of this was unanticipated at the time of the merger and how much of it is in terms of already anticipated and built for in the swap ratio that we had? Maybe if you can throw some color on that. Thank you, sir.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Okay. Yeah. See, if you look at that book and look at this book over a period of six quarters at least now, it has been on a decline, right, which is this book has been assessed from a bank risk assessment perspective and it has been -- there has been a de-growth that has been happening. So, go back to the June '22 quarter, it was flat and then from then on, there was a minus 4% or a 5%, then a minus 6%, then a minus 7% and so on, and the recent quarter is a minus 6%. So, the risk assessment -- we want that book. Sashi mentioned it, we want to grow that book. But before you grow the book, you have to assess in terms of the exposure for kind of a facility and so on, so that you're balancing the risk over a period of time. And that's what has happened. And we are at a stage where we feel comfortable with the quality of the book as we see now with the provisions of approximately what we described on provision coverage ratio at 74% or the contingent provisions we have 66 basis points, all in -- and these are all post-merger, right, so not just pre-merger, encompassed well. And we are looking at a book that is strongly positioned.

Atul Mehra

Analyst

Right. Got it, sir. Sir, just one clarification on the same point. Did any of in terms of the incremental stress come as a surprise to the internal management, like to the bank management or this was something that you had already anticipated while you had worked out the numbers at the time of the merger?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

See, the risk assessment is the dynamic risk assessment. That is why on every quarter basis you see certain thing slips and certain things recovers and upgrades and it is a continuous process. What is true at a point in time is not a true at every point in time. It keeps changing.

Atul Mehra

Analyst

All right. Got it, sir. Thank you, and all the best. Thanks.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Suresh Ganapathy from Macquarie. Please go ahead.

Suresh Ganapathy

Analyst

Yeah, hi. Just two questions. One is, Sashi said 83% to 85% of the INR1.1 trillion is retail deposits, right? So it's about INR85,000 crores is what you mobilized out of INR1.1 trillion, is that right?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

That is right. 83% is retail, yeah.

Suresh Ganapathy

Analyst

Yeah. So, seeing it as INR85,000 crores, which is the effective number absolute, what would be the Basel III LCR quarter-on-quarter addition? The reason why I'm asking is, last quarter it was INR66,000 crores. I want a like-for-like quarter-on-quarter addition for the Basel III retail deposits, because this number seems to be way different from this INR85,000 crores. Is it possible to share that number?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

I don't have it off hand. We'll look at it and share, but Suresh, just to say that the Basel classification is different, right? And there are different factors that apply in that classification. So, there is no one-for-one mapping. The point I'm trying to say is that the retail, which is the branch managed deposits that we have is not one-for-one retail definition as per Basel.

Suresh Ganapathy

Analyst

Okay, fine. And last question is on the synergy itself, right. I mean, of course, these are very early days. We are seeing a pickup -- slight pickup in mortgage growth. And also what your subsidiary reported numbers and apparently the counter share has gone to 70% in your bank branches, HDFC Life. So, just wanted to understand on a qualitative aspect, what are the things which -- where you've already started seeing not in terms of price as a quantifiable, but better traction, it could be anything like cross-selling of loans or products, anything that you can give us would be great.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Suresh, we are focused on a few things, right. One, they are our subsidiaries and we work very closely and the engagement level has gone up significantly since before the merger and certainly after the merger. And one is about the sales process itself, right, in terms of -- so, say a customer comes in into a branch and works with an RM or an RM visits a customer for various sales processes, the sales support has significantly enhanced, right, in terms of making the product features and the product kind of a dynamic much more articulated to the customers. So that is the process. And not only the -- when you go into one of the metro regions, you will find that it is at the top notch, but the process has to be broad based across the country, which has begun very well. That's one, right, in terms of getting that. The second is also getting that -- closing it out from an immediate turnaround time point of view that has also been a great deal of a focus to ensure that customer doesn't need to wait to get the product consummated. You're able to turnaround quite fast. That gives enormous confidence to the RMs to pitch a product to a customer. Because you know that if you get the turnaround times pretty soon, pretty fast and the product will be in the hands of the customer that we could consume it. So, there have been some of these qualitative or kind of a relationship process that has enhanced and it will pay results as we go along.

Suresh Ganapathy

Analyst

Okay, thank you.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Abhishek from HSBC. Please go ahead.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Yeah, good evening. Thanks for taking my question. So the first one is, can you just quantify the LCR now on a merged basis? And also how much of the HDFC Limited deposits were retail as per the LCR classification? If you can share that number, it will be useful.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Yeah. I did give out the LCR was at an average 121% after absorbing the ICRR for most of the quarter. Your second aspect of the question was to do with the retail component...

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Of the HDFC Limited deposits that came in.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Yeah. I think the retail component was slightly above two-thirds. It's merged into the total organization. There is no particular special tracking that we look at to say this is HDFC Limited and this is HDFC Bank kind of thing, it's all part of one.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Got it. And in terms of conversion of HDFC Limited loans from the current PLR to repo linked, what percentage has been done? And yeah, what -- just what's the progress on that?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Abhishek, all of that has done -- has been done, right. And it's available for the customers who are in the bank. Already a bank customer could view it in the system on the screen, when you log in, you will see. But yes, it has been done.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

So, I think we had a December deadline for it, right. So we should be -- like the entire book would be on repo now or by December anyway, it would be on repo, the mortgage book?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

No, it is -- the December deadline is for various customer communication and customer assertion and so on and so forth, which we are working through various alternatives to accomplish.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Okay. And Srini, just finally, we have outside observers...

Operator

Operator

Abhishek, sorry to interrupt. May I request you to join the queue again for a follow-up question, please?

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Okay, sure.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Rajiv Pathak from GeeCee Holdings. Please go ahead.

Rajiv Pathak

Analyst

Yeah, hi. So, I think in the opening remarks, you alluded to like a 25 bps hit on the margins because of the ICRR and the excess liquidity. So, you would have taken approximately, say, INR1,900 crores a quarter of this hit. So, now this will from next quarter start getting normalized, right? So, the next quarter should be tracking a median of 3.85% and then maybe inch up to 4% over the next three, four quarters? And on the loan growth, do you think 4.5%, 5% quarterly run rate is possible going forward?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Rajiv, we don't give forward-looking guidance in terms of what we will grow, but we can point to past and give kind of how we have done and how we are capacitized to repeat what we have done. But in terms of the margin that you've talked about, we did allude to that there is an impact due to the merger management and thereby, funding certain liquidity requirement to transition and come and it has been debt funded. And so, it's not a short-term debt funded to enter and exit. And so that's -- it will take some time. And even Sashi alluded to that in terms of how we go into it in the form of better mix, higher yielding retail products to grow. And I also mentioned about that and which is how we will approach to get that.

Rajiv Pathak

Analyst

Okay.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Thank you, Rajiv.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Saurabh Kumar from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Saurabh Kumar

Analyst

Hi, Srini, good evening. Sir, just on the LCR, so the excess liquidity that you are referring to...

Operator

Operator

Saurabh, sorry to interrupt you, your voice is not coming clear.

Saurabh Kumar

Analyst

Is this better now?

Operator

Operator

No, it's still the same. Can you please speak a little louder?

Saurabh Kumar

Analyst

Yes, sir. So, the excess liquidity that you're referring to, sir, this will be a difference between [indiscernible]...

Operator

Operator

Saurabh, sorry, we again lost your audio.

Saurabh Kumar

Analyst

Will that be the excess liquidity you will referring to?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Saurabh, we lost you, man. If you come back again, we'll hear you.

Saurabh Kumar

Analyst

Hello?

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, due to audio issue, we'll move on to the next question. The next question is from the line of Piran Engineer from CLSA. Please go ahead.

Piran Engineer

Analyst

Yeah. Hi, good evening, and thanks for taking my question. Sir, firstly, could you quantify what your SLR ratios as of quarter-end?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

What is that?

Piran Engineer

Analyst

SLR.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

We don't say what it is, but we can tell you we carry more than what is required. So that the mandatory SLR is 18%. We carry more than that. That's part of the -- that's not something that we talk about.

Piran Engineer

Analyst

Okay. Fair enough. And sir, just secondly, on the branch opening. Just wanted to understand, last two quarters have been a bit weaker than expected. Why is it that branch opening is always back-ended?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Very important and good. See, what happens in the branch process, so it's very important -- you asked a very important thing, right? For opening up a branch, there are a few things that go into it. One is our marketing team. Second is our credit analytics team scans the geography in the country to determine our presence and some other banks' presence in the vicinity and maps it with the potential, potential not just on deposits, but potential of even advances. There's a third, marketing looks at what is our market share. That means if you look at -- our distribution market share is about 4.5%, which means our branches are 4.5% of country's branches close to -- getting to be close to 5%, but still 4.5% of countries branches, and our deposit market share is slightly above 10%. So, we have a 2x of distribution to deposit market share. So, we look at to see where we are more, where we are less and what is the vicinity of the catchment area where we can get the deposit concentration into our bank. So, this analysis is done. And then there are two other constituents that enter at this stage. One is our infrastructure team that tries to scout around to see, is there a property available. Our credit analytics both from the liability and asset analytics are given something. Our marketing is proposing a particular location to go for it, our infrastructure team will come and say whether they can get it or not get it. Because that's the availability space, which is the biggest constraint. So, I'm able to articulate that it is not about we know where we want to open the branches. It is the right kind of property or the branch space that is -- availability, that is a constraint. Now once that is done, enters our legal to ensure that the landlord who is leasing the property to us has got the title and it's appropriately there so that we keep up our image that it's a property that somebody is appropriately owning and we are able to lease it. So these are several of these that go in. And when we go through this process and get there, it gets to bunch up in the second half and the first half. That's what we have seen over the last two years that we have seen, too, right? As much as we would like it to be even through the year, there are other constraints of availability, and that makes it tough for us to get there. And this is a machine, as you know, that's right, it's opening not 100, 200, it's a machine that [indiscernible]. And so, when we are opening 500 branches in a quarter, the preparation and the legwork for that is a pretty long lead into getting there.

Piran Engineer

Analyst

Okay, thanks for the elaborate answer. Just lastly, in terms of personal loans last couple of quarters, especially this quarter has been a slowdown. Just wanted to understand how much of it is deliberate versus market-led competition?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

I believe the market is quite good and underpenetrated. We have enormous of, I think, the pre-approved base, and we published that in the May month also where our pre-approved personal loan base is pretty high. And the demand is quite good. So, no question about that. In terms of the growth rate, we have about 15%, 15.5% year-on-year growth rate. We expect that -- it has been in the -- sometimes it's been in the 20%-s, sometimes it has been in the high teens, but in the recent times, it has been in that 15%, 16% range. But we are confident that this is a strategic growth area for us. And the more customers we bring in and more they go through the seasoning process and monitoring process, we get the canvas even more opened up for an opportunity on personal loan.

Piran Engineer

Analyst

Got it. Okay. Thank you, sir, so much, and wish you all the best.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Thank you very much. Appreciate that.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Manish Shukla from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.

Manish Shukla

Analyst

Yeah, good evening, and thank you for the opportunity. Srini, you acquired about INR6.35 lakh crores of liabilities from HDFC Limited. What would be the average cost of those liabilities?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

That includes the borrowing you're talking about?

Manish Shukla

Analyst

Yeah, borrowings plus deposits, it was about INR6.35 lakh crores.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Manish, I will direct you to what we have published, right, the cost of funds is up by about 80 basis points at an aggregate level. Most of that is driven through the incoming, you'll be able to see that, right? You'll be able to deduce and work it out. We have published the cost of funds at an aggregate price.

Manish Shukla

Analyst

Sure, understood. And of these liabilities, roughly, if you can give an approximation of the maturity over either the next six months or 12 months, if you have it? What proportion of these liabilities will mature?

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

That also, I think HDFC Limited has published as of May or June...

Manish Shukla

Analyst

So, they have -- as of March, but during June they...

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Team, can point you to the right place where it is.

Manish Shukla

Analyst

No, we have it as of March, but during June quarter, they added a significant amount of liabilities, which is why I wanted to know as of June. We have the data for March.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

They are longer term, Manish, yeah.

Manish Shukla

Analyst

Okay. Understood. All right. Those were my questions. Thank you.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Thank you very much, Manish.

Operator

Operator

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we have come to an end of the time allotted for the call. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Vaidyanathan for closing comments. Over to you, sir.

Srinivasan Vaidyanathan

Analyst

Okay. Thank you, Nirav. We appreciate all the participants dialing in today and spending time with us. We are available through the week or through the next week, whenever you all need any other clarifications we can provide, we'd be happy to do. You know the contact of our Investor Relations team, Bhavin Lakhpatwala or others. Please stay in touch and get to us whenever you need. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Operator

Operator

Thank you very much. On behalf of HDFC Bank Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.