Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Union Bank of India Earnings Conference Call for the period December 31st, 2025. The bank is represented by the Managing Director and CEO, Sri Asheesh Pandey, Executive Directors, Sri Nitesh Ranjan, Sri Ramasubramanian S., Sri Sanjay Rudra, Sri Amresh Prasad, and other members of top management. 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. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ajay Bansal, Deputy General Manager. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Bansal. Thank you, sir. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I, Ajay Bansal, Head of Investor Relations, welcome you all for the Union Bank of India Earnings Conference Call for the period ending December 31st, 2025. The structure of the conference call shall include a brief opening statement by respected MD and CEO, sir, and then the floor will be open for interaction. Before getting into the call, I will read out the usual disclaimer statement. I would like to submit that certain statements that may be discussed during the investor interaction may be forward-looking statements based on current expectations. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that cause the actual result to differ from the statement. Investors are therefore requested to check this information independently before making any investment or other decisions. With this, I now request our respected MD and CEO, sir, for his opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Mr. Ajay Bansal ji. Good afternoon, everyone. With great pleasure, I welcome all of you to Union Bank of India, your bank, financial results for quarter ended 31st of December, 2025. Actually, we are meeting for the first time in this calendar year and the third time in the financial year. So, on behalf of the Union Bank family, I wish you and your family a very, very happy New Year. Also, today being a good day, it is a Sankranti, it is a Lohri, and Pongal. So, all are coming for next since yesterday to next few days, which is a festive season across India. So, from behalf of the entire Union Bank family, I wish you and your family happy festivities. Before we go to the figures, let me just set the tone, the context. The first is the economy of the country, like last year it was 6.5%-6.7% band and other things, and now we see that expect around 7.4% in this year. So, I think we are in the Goldilocks phase, which is a high growth combined with low inflation. And if we take the few initiatives, you know, like various reforms are taken by various regulators, various reforms are built in by the government. So, a few of that related to the government, the GST, which came as a big enabler for various industries, various participants, and the government CapEx, which is, you know, supplementing to the private CapEx as well. As far as banking is concerned, our regulator since last one year, I think 125 basis points, 125 basis points is a repo cut. CRR almost 100 points, and the liquidity easing through OMO, FX, and everything has happened. So, I think the rationalization of various circulars [is also happening]. These are giving [a] positive environment conducive to the growth, and the same is happening. Coming to your bank, Union Bank of India, just as a part of the initial brief, in the EASE agenda, which is run by IBA and monitored and supervised by DFS, it is across all public sector banks, majorly with an objective of creating a good ecosystem facilitating the growth, the digital, and the customer service. We stand [at] 2.0, and recently, a few days back, we had an IBA Tech Award, and our bank has received the fourth technology award, also the best bank tech award. I think with this brief, we have already, we had a board today, and our audit committee and the board. The board has adopted the financial statements, and the same in the form of a presentation. It has been uploaded to stock exchanges as per the regulations, and you will see that as far as the business figures are, they are mostly generally what generally the questions are asked. We have tried to inbuilt within the presentation itself. Meanwhile, the important point is, you know, related to the staff members. That is why you will see one or two slides pertaining to our staff, because I am from this bank, and when I came back, I always say the Union Bank staff union is the best. Everybody will say, but then just it is a separate sentiment for me. That also gives a color, like you know how many engineers, almost I think out of 74,000, 32,000 approximately are like FRM engineers, CAs, and other streams. So, that is also a good composition. It gives about training and other things. Similarly, the bank has started a project, Muskaan, which is also related to ease of doing business, actually. More than 500, we have actually done some bottom-up approach survey. We have done a lot of groundwork, and within that, we are trying to sort out and streamline the things so that there is a Muskaan. A Project Muskaan is nothing but a very small thing, like you know, the Muskaan in the face of our staff members and the customers. So, actually, the purpose and objective of the project is to streamline, smoothen, and at the same time strengthen your risk mitigation across the bank. Certainly, when you do all these things, there is a cost cutting for sure, and there is a technology as you, as I briefed initially, there is a lot of the technology already inbuilt in the bank, whether AI sort of thing or whether the robotic process automation or whether. Even I would say the bank is one of the banks where two DC and two DR are there on the fourth, correct? So, I think that is one thing. I think on technology, our ED sir will also brief whenever you are having any questions. But at the same time, coming to the financial performance, net profit of your bank stood at INR 5,017 crore for this quarter ended December 2025. Interest income stood at INR 26,443 crore. The business growth, certainly here you will see the figure like you know 5.04, and the gross advances increased by 7.13, and the total deposit grew by 3.36. But here, before going further detail in the financials, I would like to just inform you that very carefully we actually scrutinized, worked upon, thought, and actually brainstormed on each of our portfolio. In a very nutshell, the four pillars we worked, the first thing is that we already had, you know, the funds inside. So, around 40,000 crore, 38,000-40,000 crore we have shed off the bank deposits, which was at the higher cost. So, that is point number one on the first pillar. The second thing is the treasury is contracted by 15,000 crore. So, that has moved to the credit side. The third thing is that we had an IBPC, which we discussed in the last con call as well. So, that is now 20,000 is not there. So, I think that is the become zero. Then around 10,000, we had some portfolio on a very low yielding. That actually we moved to long-term loans. So, there again we could gain something. Now, coming to the point, in the December 2024, our NIM was around 2.91, and there is a rate cut of 125 basis points since then till 31st of December 2025. But then if you see from 2.91, we stand at 2.76. So, I think that is where we could shield, and from September quarter, if you see, there is an increase in the NIM opposite way. I think that is the key point which justifies that the work which has been done on the four pillars, how it has been worked on and impacted upon. With this, I think the capital ratios are all good. The liquidity ratios are good. We have given in the presentation, and the growth in the RAM sector certainly increased by 11.50%, 21.67% growth in retail, and 19%. Robust growth is coming into the RAM segment. Even there is a growth, I would say, in the corporate, but it would not be visible because 20 plus 10, INR 30,000 crore we have churned within the portfolio. And certainly, it is an inflow from new proposals, good proposals. And if you see the portfolio, the AAA to A, it is almost, I think, how much is it? 95%. I think that is the level of the book which the bank is carrying. While coming to the stress side, the GNPA both have reduced. Both are at a comfortable range. Coming to the SMA-2, we are again at the very lowest level of INR 4,285 crore, above INR 5 crore. I think this also gives a good color that the first time bank has crossed INR 10 lakh crore of advances as a bank. The return on asset is approximately 1. Not approximately, exactly 1.35, which is again the highest one. The ROE is again the highest one. CASA, certainly it is point to be noted, like you know, 1.40 basis points is increased from quarter to quarter. I think this is one of the good things which has happened. You can see within the three months, the reduction in the cost of funds and deposit is really very steep. With this all, certainly the asset quality is being maintained very well. The SMA is maintained very well. The PCR is almost more than 95%. We are comfortable. Cost of credit cost is again too low. Expenses issue is again low. Keeping in view on this, we have not actually put our money into the provision, but we have put into the growth. I think this is one of the main points of the working of the entire senior management, which are sitting in there in this boardroom, including our vertical heads, GMs, CGMs, and all. With this, I hand over to you, Mr. Bansal, and to all our esteemed investors for any query which they have. We would not, along with me, I am accompanied with my executive directors, Sri Nitesh Ranjan, Sri Ramasubramanian S., Sri Sanjay Rudra Ji, Sri Amresh Prasad, along with my all CGMs and vertical heads. You may please start the query. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir, for your talking to us. Now you can start. Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on your touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of Mahrukh Adajania with Nuvama Wealth Management. Yeah. Yeah, hello. Hello, congratulations, sir, to you and your team. Sir, I had a couple of questions. Firstly, if you see your interest income breakdown, then the other interest is high. You know, it's around INR 205 crore, INR 205 crore, and it's been in the range of around INR 100 crore in the last few quarters. So, what is the breakdown of this other income? Other interest income? That's my first question, and then I have one more. I think Mahrukh, we'll come back to you on the exact breakdown, but it also includes our income that we get from the PSL deposits that we, you know, that we place. So, that's a component. So, we will give you the exact breakdown, but it includes RIDF. I think you can brief. It is recovery, I think. RIDF. RIDF. RIDF, thank you. Sorry, RIDF? See, RIDF, we have invested some funds that interest is being recovered. It is being shown as the other income, actually. Other interest income, okay. Yeah. But how much is that? Yeah, see. Yeah, see. It's around, it's 100 crore or what? See, other income consists of some more parameters, which we will send you across. You'll get the full details. Now, coming to NII, madam, NII, let me brief you. There were two risk tests in between. So, you know that our book, MCLR, is around 38%. The other remaining is the T-Bill and the EBLR, that is repo linked benchmarking. So, I think, you know, the work which was done extensively. So, the NIM, which we can, because there is a good growth in the RAM sector and also the corporate book, which we actually worked a lot upon that. So, I think that is why, even though there is a good amount of rate cut and it was conveyed further, but then we could have more sort of a, more sort of an income, even then compared to the RIDF is 198. Actually, that is the only thing that is. So, I think that was the case of NII, which you asked. And also, you know, when you sanction it, like you know, we still have around INR 24,000-26,000 crore of disbursement. So, generally, you will see that most of the quarters, you will not get to use that interest income because it is, you know, once you start sanctioning, then it takes 10-15 days, 20 days time for the disbursement. So, then something has been sanctioned in October, November, then most of the things in December. Certainly, the continuous and the regular book which was sanctioned and disbursed, I think that has given good results. Over to yo u, madam. Sir, yes. Sir, my other question is that based on the draft ECL norms, what would be the run rate impact? As in, what would be, on an ongoing basis, the increase in your credit costs if ECL were to be implemented as it is in the draft form? We have worked upon it, madam, and if we take the total requirement and the ECL keeping in view of our book and the provisions we are already, which we are already holding, if we come to the netting position, it is hardly 4,200-4,300 range. It is not more than that required. Right. That is the transition impact I'm talking about on a run rate basis. So, see. Yeah, Mahrukh, I think even on a run rate basis, you can see that, you know, our credit cost has generally been varying, you know, between 20 basis points -40 basis points mark. So, while these are still draft and, you know, we await, you know, because we made some certain recommendations in terms of some changes that we want. Let's discuss it once the, you know, the final, yeah, the final guidelines come together. That will actually be the right way to look at it. We are not expecting too much of a change in terms of our current credit costs versus the expected under ECL. Yeah, even if we see the SMA-2, ours is hardly 4,285 crore in the entire book. So, at the credit cost, it seems as if it is well, well, well within control level. And now I'm coming to, which is not an SMA. 95% of the corporate book is A and above, rated one, BBB and above. And so, I think that is the inference which you can draw. The book, loan book is quite strong enough. Meanwhile, the bank has implemented various early warning signals. And now that fintechs, and there is a software, there is a feet on the street, and the entire system is working. So, the bank has certain recollection systems. So, I think that is a robustness is there. So, we do not much worry about, but the transition, as you said, migration is not much right now, but the run rate, as you said, let us see how it happens, but then we are on the safer side. Sir, and what would be your SMA-2 below INR 5 crore? Below INR 5 crore, I think it will be hardly in the range of 24, something like that. Sorry, how much? 24-25. INR 24,000-25,000. Because generally what happens, you know, that when you apply the interest, and many of the companies, it comes very next day. Next day in the sense, morning interest. So, SMA-0 is. Mahrukh, we'll give you the exact number because we don't disclose that in our presentation. We only disclose about INR 5 crore. So, we come back to you on the below INR 5 crore. Thank you. Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Jay Mundra with ICICI Securities. Please go ahead. Hi, good afternoon, sir, and congratulations on a good number and revival in the loan growth. Sir, my first question is on the loan growth, you also talked about that there are ongoing mixed changes within corporate and some of the lower yielding loan book getting transferred. So, amidst all this, how should one look at the loan growth going ahead? Is this mixed change broadly over, and can you sustain this 4% or maybe higher QoQ loan growth, and how soon can you reach industry level loan growth on a YoY basis? Yeah, see, you have actually grabbed it. You know, around INR 30,000 crore in the corporate itself, which we have churned out. So, that is explicitly, actually, it is visible, like you know how it is and what would be the actual growth. Now, it is a very big bank. It is an exercise which we have taken very cautiously. There will be something going forward in this quarter as well. But the thing is that the way in which we have grown in this quarter, certainly the growth in this last quarter will be more than that. Because when you galvanize the entire machinery and you move into, even right now in the corporate only, I am saying, around INR 24,000-26,000 crore is the sanction and disbursement pending. And we further have a good pipeline in various stages of sanction. So, I think what this is the, like you know, the target. So, we expect better than this in this quarter. And yes, the aspiration, the market which is having the growth, it certainly is our aspiration. And we will be moving in that line only. So, I mean, to conclude, what you're saying is that this kind of a run rate growth and a QoQ basis can be sustained, and we would be hopeful of achieving industry level growth YoY basis soon, right? That is despite all these changes. Yes, better than this one we expect. Better than this one we expect in the coming quarter. Thank you, sir. And secondly, sir, if you can highlight, was there any provision carved out for gratuity, leave encashment under the new Labour Code? Because I believe that was like mandatory, right? All the, at least the gratuity part was mandatory. Have you done? Have you provided? If you can quantify that number. Yeah, see, there are two things in the Labour Code broadly. The one is on the welfare benefit side. So, certainly what is there in the code and what is given in the banking industry and the buy-side is much better. So, that is out of question. Now, coming to the second, like you know, the leave encashment, gratuity, and other things. You see, this is, you know, banks which are, you know, for a long, like we are 107 years old. Now, this impact is more which are the younger age banks. Because, you know, moving from five years to one year and other things, now up to now, they have not in that growth because five years was the minimum. But in case of, you know, the banks, like you know, our and other public sector banks, the impact may not be much. But at the same time, as per our calculation, maximum it will be in the range of 10 because some of the codes, some of the rules yet to be retained. So, that is what we are waiting even right now. And because, see, there is, you know, as per the bipartite side, there is a basic pay and then there is a special pay. So, there is some even clarification and other things which we under discussion. But then, maximum, I think, as per our calculation, it is coming in the range of INR 10 crore -INR 15 crore, not much. And this is for, I mean, this is what we have done already in this quarter or, you know, this can be a, this is the only impact, right? INR 10 crore -INR 15 crore, nothing material. Yeah, it will not be because gratuity, actually, we are already doing, you know. So, that will not make much of a, yes. Okay, understood. And sir, another thing is on trade relief measure, right? So, during the RBI, during the quarter, RBI had given a dispensation for moratorium for exporters. If you can quantify what was the request in rupees, crore for our bank? Yeah, actually, the total, you know, till date, we have sanctioned around 78 of the proposals, around INR 500 crore. Within which, 61 proposals of INR 216.64 crore are already disbursed. Okay, but this is the. So, we actually, we, yeah. So, actually, we already, you know, we met with various clients in the last three months. And there were some specific pockets as well. So, we understood the requirement and as a, you know, the conduit for the economy and the measures which are taken by the government of India. And all these are very good companies, actually. So, like you know, various rated also in the good standing. So, there are a few more proposals actually out there that which are in pipeline. But this what figure I am giving you is the sanction and disbursed. Thank you. Mr. Mundra, please rejoin the queue for more questions. Next question comes from the line of CA Dr. Ashok Ajmera, Chairman with Ajcon Global Services, please go ahead. Yeah, thank you for giving this opportunity. Good afternoon, sir. Asheesh and the entire team of the Union Bank. Compliments to you for, especially for the net profit going beyond INR 5,000 crore, INR 5,017 crore in this quarter, which is very heartening to note. The bank has been in the range, which has come, I think, ending fourth quarter of 2025 at around INR 4,985 crore. But crossing INR 5,000 crore and coming to INR 5,017 is really a commendable job as far as the profitability of the bank is concerned. Having said that, sir, I echo the same sentiments of one of my other colleagues also about the growth in the business. That is overall the advances in the deposits. We have, while in this quarter, we have addressed the credit growth, at least in this quarter, we are a + 4%. And going forward, you already assured that the coming quarter will be better. But still, if you look at the, I mean, the deposit growth, that is just 0.95%. And the overall, if you take nine months also, it is only 3.88%. So, unless we match that, like how are you going to increase your advances when your CD ratio is already 83.89%? Your CRR has come down to 16.49%. So, how do we with this kind of deposit in spite of all the churning? Because if you look at even last seven quarters also, the deposit growth is only 2.19% over the seven quarters, right from the FY Q1 of FY 2025. So, what is going to be drastically done by you so as to bring the deposit also up to match with your credit growth target, sir? See, Ajmera sir, thank you so much for the appreciation to my bank, your bank, and the staff members. I would put it one very clear way that, you know, the raising of deposits is not an issue and it was not an issue. Actually, we knew where the money is and where to deploy. This is what exactly we have done last three months. Now, if you see the three, four things, then probably you will understand that otherwise, you know, excess money has cost more rather than creating a revenue more. The first thing was the treasury because we have shed off 40,000 crore of our bulk deposits, and which actually helped us in reducing the LCR requirement. And we had a huge excess SLR and other securities as well non-SLR. So, 15,000 crore of treasury book is contracted and we assisted. There was a gap of 3%-4% because our domestic CD ratio is below 81%. So, in that case, we had 3%-4% of the range to go about it. Second point. Third point is, first time, the CASA of the bank is increased by 140 basis points. Now, if you take the CASA, around 8,000 crore -9,000 crore CASA is increased, meanwhile, the retail term deposit, actually, that is where the question comes. So, they are put together both, around 15,000 crore -16,000 crore, there is an increase. Now, that portion, if you, you know, 15,000 crore -16,000 +, further, if you take 15,000 crore off my treasury book, so that amount, you are getting 31,000 crore, which is a resource for me for the, and even if I am not taking the CD ratio, it is by 3 percentage points. And that is the reason, outcome if you will see, the CD ratio is within range, the LCR is within range, the NSFR is within range, and all the ratios which are required of the board approved are then within range. So, for here, there's absolutely no issue. Now, coming to the coming quarters, every bank is having, you know, the asset level to the buckets. And certainly, we are working upon that. But more so, we are working more on increasing the CASA. So, last quarter itself, we could get 140 basis points. That is a good, excuse me, increase, and which has resulted, even though the two rate cuts from September, the other onwards. So, I think even in that scenario, if the NIM is increasing, that gives a good sort of a color and an influence. So, now coming forward to this, and also when we talk about deposits, it is not the only resource. You know, there is a resource of refinance, there is a resource of, so MSME refinance also we have done to an extent of INR 5,000 crore. So, we have various as a bank, when you manage things, you have various resources. So, keeping in view resources, and that's the reason that all the ratios, there is no abnormality or aberration. And actually, this is the reason why this time, at least five efficiency parameters are touching the highest ones. Now, coming to this quarter, we already have a strategy in place. There are three, four new structures that are created. One is the Ecosystem Banking. And the team is working really hard, and it is a very, very structural some change which the bank has done. Probably when next time we meet somewhere in April, certainly there will be a portion to speak more about it. Sir, point well taken, sir. Only thing that now, at least a time should come when we are at par with the industry, or even better, which you agreed some time back also. And that will ultimately be requiring the deposit by whatever means it comes. So, as to match the growth, there are other means available. I mean, liquidity is there with you. But this mismatch has to be answered, sir. So, point well taken, sir. Sir, one of my other small observations is, while the operating profit has gone up by about INR 100 crore in this quarter, INR 120 crore something, our net profit has gone up substantially. The main reason is that the provision for standard assets has come down to INR 176 crore as compared to INR 882 crore in the last quarter. Going forward, and that is the reason our credit cost is also very, very minimal. Going forward, can we take it as if the provision will be less only and the more profit will remain coming in the books only? Coming to your provision, certainly you need to look into three, four, five ratios or parameters. One is the SMA, one is the loan book, and one is the PCR, how much, and one is the GNPA and NNPA. I think these four, five things very clearly tell credit cost is limited. I think these seven parameters. This gives a very good inference that what could be the provision requirement going forward, number one. Number two, coming to the OP. See, when you are seeing this growth, you are always there because, you know, in all the con calls, I mean, we speak in the month of June, September, I mean, this quarter. And you have seen what happens, whatever credit book you are seeing, you see even INR 30,000 crore funds and it is 9%. See, what happens, so it doesn't happen on the first of October. It happens during the 90 days time. Now, that something would have been done because if you start working, then something happens in November, something happens in December. So, the entire, you know, that is why the important thing is what is your average advances growth and average deposit and average CASA growth. Actually, in our bank, we are totally working upon these three figures. Now, the thing is that once you have achieved the growth, in the next quarter, certainly you will be in a position to get the interest income out of that. So, you cannot eventually, you know, spread out the for the 90 days. So, probably, like you know, in the month of December, because once you sanction, so sanctioning itself, I will tell you, it takes a minimum 20, 25 days. But then the disbursement further takes 10 to 15 days. So, I think this also gives an inference for how it would have been spread over the 90 days. So, I think the, like you know, the asked OP, so we expect OP to be though, though I will tell you again, OP is the net interest income and you see again the factor of reducing rate of interest. But then we have shielded even in the 90-day period with the different circumstances which we bring you. But even then we have shielded; we have made it better. I think we actually expect better than this performance in the coming quarters. Sir, can you give some color on our technology upgradation and the technology budget, IT budget, and where are we placed? Is there any major ease of doing business, something major being done in the technology front? Yeah, I think initially itself I told about EASE and I told about AI Technology Award and Project Muskaan. Since our EASE is running this project and so many things in the bank, and actually when we get a Best Tech Award, I would like him to address this to all the investors. Yeah, thank you. Ajmera ji, as you heard MD CEO in the beginning, that the current focus of leveraging technology is also to create convenience for our employees, which will ultimately get converted into convenience for our customers. Under Project Muskaan, we have currently identified around 300 odd processes, which we are trying to simplify so that our employees can serve their customers in a better way. As we progress, more and more processes will be covered under this project for the simplification. Otherwise, as you asked about the budget, we have for this year around INR 1,600 crore of capital budget for the technology, and it is higher than the previous year's level also. That is going on the strengthening the infrastructure network as well as strengthening our cybersecurity framework. See, currently we are in the process of implementing phase II of the Resilience Center of Excellence, which is more of a proactive approach for responding to the threats and the disruptions. The next cybersecurity center of excellence that we have established, that is also almost at the kind of closure stage, maybe a couple of months we'll be doing. And that is again the most advanced technology so far as the security operations center and the cybersecurity management is concerned. We'll also be happy. The investor community will be happy to note that bank is an MD CEO touch in the beginning, that we are already running on the not only the DC- DR, but near DC and near DR also. On top of that, the digital banking platform that we have established, it is actually having a four-site architecture, which means it's always active-active and auto load balancing. In terms of the usage, if you look at, and I think we have given the numbers also somewhere, that today almost 80% of the liability side relationship, liability side accounts are getting open using the digital means. Similarly, on the lending side, some of the low-ticket loans on the retail agri and MSME, you are already doing on this. You will have also noticed in our presentation, we have touched a bit on what we are going to do in the next for the digital and technology because now we have the right setup infrastructure and we have to leverage in terms of business. We are setting up a digital business vertical, which will ensure that we are approaching our customer and serving them digitally through the three approaches. One is the Do-It-Yourself for the customers who are very tech and digital savvy, who can, you know, get the banking services on their own through the links and the icons available on the website, apps, and the social media channels. Second is the assist channel, which through our call center will be assisting the customer in completing the journey. And third is that doing the digital approach of business at the branch level. So, that is what the approach is. Now, I think today we are all set to kind of ramp up the business contribution, profitability contribution from the digital. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Ajmera, please rejoin the queue for more questions. A reminder to all the participants, please reserve yourself for two questions. Next question comes to the line of Dixit Doshi with the Whitestone Financial Advisors Pvt. Ltd. Please go ahead. Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. A couple of questions. Firstly, you know, in terms of provisions, you did mention that it has come down, but going forward to meet the ECL provision, do you expect that we will increase the standard asset provision or it will remain at lower end only? And my second question is, so in H1, we did not have any PSLC income, but a small amount of 100 crore has come in this quarter. So, going forward from next year onwards, can we go back to the level of FY 2025, what we have done? Yeah, Doshi, for this, you know, a very good question and I'm thankful to you. We have noticed very keenly. So, the first part related to ECL, I would request my ED Sanjay Rudra Ji. And for PSLC, I would request my ED Mr. Ramasubramanian Ji, to answer. Yeah, good afternoon. I am Sanjay Rudra Ji. Regarding the provision part, which you said has come down, basically if you see our total slippages for the quarter of December, December quarter is around 1,800 crore, and almost the recovery and upgradation is also to the extent of the similar amount. So, there is a, and we are standing at a PCR of 95%. So, whatever the provision was required for the fresh slippages, we already had an adequate release from the recovery and upgradation which has happened. So, there were limited requirements for provisions, that is why our credit cost and the provisions requirement has come down. Going forward, whether it is sustainable or not, yes, we are working very hard on containing the slippages. And if you see, there is no corporate slippage has not happened, and going forward, it should be also well managed. So, we are confident that our provision requirement going forward will also be on a lower side. Regarding the ECL, ECL part, see, we have already made an adequate provision. As you know, I guess we have made a 95% provisions, and on a half-yearly basis, we are making the assessment on the IND AS also. And what we observed that there is a gap between, earlier the gap was high, but gradually over a period of time in the two to three years, as we reached to a 95% provision, our ECL provision requirement has come down. And there is not much gap between the existing provisions and the required provision under the ECL guidelines. And bank is well placed, bank is having the adequate profit to take care of the provision requirements under the ECL. In fact, in the guidelines, that five years dispensation is given to meet the requirement of the provisions requirement, but most likely bank may not go for that type of facility. Bank is well capitalized and profit is adequate to take care of ECL provision requirement in the first year itself, and that is as far as the ECL is concerned, and regarding PSLC profit, yes, we tried, but in the first half of the financial year, we were not having any opportunity to sell the PSLC certificates, which we did in the last year. Last year, we did a very good business on account of the PSLC sale. It was around INR 950 crore of the profit we booked in the first half year. But this year, that opportunity was not available, and gradually the portfolio was built. In third quarter, we were able to sell a small amount, and we booked a profit of around INR 108 crore. Going forward also, the department is working very hard on the priority sector lending, and we are hoping that next quarter also, if possible, we will try to sell some PSLC to have an additional profit. But definitely, going forward in the next year onwards, we think we'll be able to leverage the PSLC group, and we'll be able to book a good amount of profit going forward. Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Bhavik Shah with InCred Research. Please go ahead. Hey, hi. Thanks for the opportunity, and congrats on very good results. So, I have two things. First, I think if I look at the investments book, I understand we have sold a lot of mutual fund investments, around INR 10,000 crore. And overall also, we have sold some SLR securities. And your income on investments in the interest income on the line have gone above the quarterly quarter. I just wanted to understand what's happening here, if you can kind of help explain. And also, is your treasury gain mainly because of the mutual fund sale income or, yeah? No, it is, I think, the normal treasury operations. Last quarter also, if you take that NSDL, if you deduct, that was around INR 500 crore, that is in the same range. Now coming to the treasury, the banking job is to lend first and foremost on quality assets and create a long-term asset. So, you know, even if now, if you see what is the yield in the SLR or non-SLR, and if you see what the options you have when you lend it into retail or not as a retail, but an MSME and corporate and the mid-corporate. So probably certainly the option number two is much better. So that's the reason we contacted about 15,000 crore and shifted it to better building and better quality assets. Okay, okay. And sir, is your treasury gain of INR 580 crore mainly because of sale of mutual funds or no? That is not the way to look at it. See, it would be like the foreign exchange income will be there. Then certainly when you sell it from the HTM and certainly sometimes when you play with the, you arbitrage also, you do it. Some swaps are there. Certainly, so did you? Yeah, as you can tell. You can brief, no problem. It includes the mutual fund income also. There's a part that is HTM sale also is there. Then exchange income also, because of this fluctuation, we could garner more exchange income. All these have led to this and underpin the treasury income. If you compared with the Q3 of 2024, it has grown substantially above that number. Thank you. Mr. Shah, please rejoin the queue for more questions. Next question comes from the line of Kunal Shah with Citigroup. Please go ahead. Yeah, hi. So, a couple of questions. Firstly, on the recovery path. So, when we look at the recoveries from return of account compared to the run rate over past five, six quarters, it has come down a bit and overall recovery as well. So, where should we see it settling over next three to four quarters? Yeah, Kunal, if you're looking at it, see, recovery actually what we are having earlier, you cannot be comparing because the portfolio of which we are, the new slippages are very much less actually. And bank is also trying to see that what are the leftover recovery we have been getting with various types like OTS, NCLT, everything. You look at it in the last quarter, whatever the recovery around INR 300 crore or INR 2,800 crore which we are recovered, if you look at it, the maximum recovery in the single account is only INR 130 crore. And that is only above INR 100 crore. So, we are concentrating on the mid-account and small account for under try to get the recovery for maximum return possible. Going forward, yes, we will be expecting this quarter, there will be some recoveries are expected. But I think it will be based on whatever the leftover portfolio, which we will be able to do that. Yeah, and there are three levels. One is, you know, through NCLT or the other route. Another one is the, you know, you go with the OTS and with the party buyback type. Another is the smaller amounts through Lok Adalats or maybe the property sale and other things, taking substitution and all. So, the normal one is always there and we are actually better than the earlier quarters. Actually, we expected, you know, as you said, we were doing good. We actually were expecting some three, four accounts. We cannot name them. It was very close, but then probably we may see the fruits in this quarter, probably. Sure. And just a clarification on provisioning. So, last quarter, you indicated some prudent provisioning done towards ECL, and that's where standard asset provisioning was higher. This quarter, I believe from your explanation, there doesn't seem to be any provisioning towards the ECL in this quarter. And second is on the fraud cases, okay, maybe what the provisioning was done. So, was it like 100% provided earlier and there was nothing which was provided during the quarter for the fraud which was reported this quarter? Yeah, so Kunal is right. We did mention in the last analyst call that we've taken some additional standard asset provisioning to reduce the buffer that's required to meet the ECL provisions. You'll see that we've done that in Q1 as well as in Q2. You know, given the low slippages in this quarter as well as the PCR of 95%, we did not really need to make any standard asset provisioning in this quarter. So, that explains why we're not seeing a big standard asset provisioning in the current quarter. Thank you. Mr. Shah, please rejoin the queue for more questions. Next question comes from the line of Jairam with Jain Wealth. Please go ahead. Hello. Congratulations on the great set of numbers. I would like to ask you two basic questions, which are, do you expect NIMs in FY 2027 to improve, stay stable, or moderate? And what will influence this? And the other question is, what kind of revenue mix are you expecting from retail book and MSME book and agri book? So, I could not understand. No, second only. First one is the NIM, but there are a few. Sorry, we could not get it. Do you expect the NIM in FY 2027 to improve or stay stable or moderate? And what is going to influence this? Influence it, okay. You would like to take Amresh ji? Actually, what we see is that the NIM will further improve because whatever the deposit was taken, that is going to be repriced in this quarter or next financial year. And the impact, you have already seen our book that our MCLR related books are only 32% and the balance are in the shape of they are linked with the external rate of interest. So when the rate cut happens, the impact of that rate cut automatically will pass on to that year. But the deposit and cost of funds is being repriced after the maturity period. So definitely, if that happens in this quarter and next quarter onwards, definitely NIM is going to improve. That is our expectation. So I think what you asked, no, like just to support ED Amresh, the, actually last time also same thing was asked. We only said one thing. We would like to defend. But then we have come back at. Again, we would like to say to you, we will defend. Let us see how it happens in the month after. Now coming to the parameters, which is going to influence it. See, the one thing is that in the downward decision scenario, when before it is being cut, suddenly you will see, you know, because there is a lag, the deposit lag behind by a few months or quarters. But then there is an immediate impact on the loan part, asset part. So I think that is one thing. But even then we have defended. So that is one part. Second one is, you know, the how you place yourself with the CASA and how you place yourself with the retail term deposit and how you place with your total fixed deposits. And I think the more important thing for the NIM is that how you manage your average advances during the quarter. Because the last moment will probably not make it more. So I think we all are working in the same line. Just I wanted to supplement the first part which you have already told. The parameters which you have asked, I think this one. The second part of your question was that how you foresee the RAM, that retail and MSME and growth and all. And corporate, so what I would like to suggest to my ED, Ramasubramanian, will tell you on the RAM side. And from the corporate book side, our ED Amresh, they will give you. So if you're looking at the retail and the MSME, consistently this year we have been showing a good growth year on year. It is around 22% and 20%. Yes, we had some issues, but if you look at it in the last quarter, we have picked it up and we have shown a good growth on the agriculture. Going forward, we will be driving it because these all have to be done by the field at the branch level. So we will be driving this business and try to maintain the same 58-42 or 60-40 ratio between RAM and the corporate. Regarding the growth of the corporate book, sir, and this has already said we are having some pipelines already sanctioned there, and some good number of proposals are also in hand, which are going to be sanctioned this quarter or a year. So we don't see any challenge in growing the corporate book also, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Jairam, please rejoin the queue for more questions. Next question comes from the line of Parth Gutka with 360 One Capital. Please go ahead. Mr. Gutka, please go ahead. Yeah, hi sir. Thank you for the opportunity. What is your NIM guidance for FY 2026? Yeah, NIM I think we have already discussed in the last quarter also when we met on 28th or 29th of October, one stance which we communicated that we would like to defend it and let us see. So actually we moved better though the condition or maybe the scenario was towards the downside. So still we will say that we would like to defend to 0.76, but then we hope for better, I think. Though you may be finding a different scenario, but then there was some opportunity in our shuffling from the book which we have done. Okay, okay, sir. Fair. And And second question, how much of the deposits are set to reprice in terms of retail term deposits and certificates of deposit in quarter four? Yeah, see, the deposits which are going to mature in this quarter are in the range of 1 plus around INR 50 lakh. So that are under different rates. So it consists of even the bulk side and it also consists of the retail side. But how we are looking at it, you know, the composition should be in such a fashion that it doesn't impact my LCR much, number one. Number two, the high cost we are very keen. Actually, we are very, you know, even when we are quoting, we are very specific to the quote. If it is a financial institution, we are actually not quoting at a higher rate because the runoff factor is 100% on that. But meanwhile, we have created a different structur e. Probably the only bank which we have created is the ecosystem banking, which is headed by a very senior official at the general manager level. And he's having almost 1,600 people under him across India. And he's having units at various locations. So that is the effort which initially, if you want to know the initial sort of results, that our CASA has been improved with 140 basis points. So we are actually thinking more of adding RTD, adding CASA, and then to an extent left out, we will be taking the deposit, but certainly in a range which is acceptable to us. Thank you. Mr. Gutka, please rejoin the queue for more questions. Next question comes from the line of Antariksha with ICICI Prudential. Please go ahead. Yeah, good afternoon, sir. Just wanted to ask, what is the size of the gold loan book that we have, both in retail and agri? Our gold loan portfolio is around INR 84,000 crore total. Actually, you know, let me share with you, we were hovering at the same level for past two quarters, but now this quarter there is an increase of around INR 2,200 crore, but at the same time, we were actually, it is not like the revenue is not there, it is not like we didn't want it, but we wanted to strengthen the systemic procedure in that, and actually, we have done it somewhere in the month of October and November, and now we are poised for taking it forward, so I think that we will move forward and our yield is also good. Actually, it is coming around up till now, I can take not exactly with the quarter, but the nine months is coming around 8.859% levels. This year saying agri? I'm saying about gold, all three. All the three. All the three. Total. This is in retail and agri. Okay. Agri is about 48,000 crore. I think we'll get there. 48,000. 48 is agri. Agri is 42,000. Incrementally, what LTV are you doing these loans at? In agri as well as? 25,000. 85. 85. We are different from 25 in non-agri, actually, LTV. And 85% in agri. Thank you. Mr. Antariksha, please rejoin the queue for more questions. Next question comes from the line of Akshay Badlani with HDFC Securities. Please go ahead. Yeah, hi. Thank you for taking my question. So on the credit cost, just wanted to understand, so why we used to be around 65-25 basis points kind of an average run rate. We have come down to 10 basis points as of now. So is it largely because of slippages coming down? Or is there some one-off in terms of write-backs or recoveries that we are getting that the credit cost is at this range? And what would be your steady-state credit cost that you would guide for going forward sustainably? I think if you see the movement of the provision, probably it gives some color out of it. Coming to the second point, there are six, seven parameters which the earlier questions which I replied. The one is the corporate book, what is the rating? So around 95% of the total loan book is AAA and above. And mostly it is in A and above. So that is the first part. The second part is that the SMA position which we have already given the presentation is the almost lowest right now in the absolute terms, which is 4,285 crore. So this is the second point. See, then third point is that the slippage ratio is also well within control. Actually, the bank has taken, you know, while you have strengthened the credit book on the one side, the other side is you have developed the better collection efficiency mechanism using the software, apps, and feet on the street. So now actually that has given me the results. So going forward, we do not expect some, you know, much of the things. We think in the same fashion to go forward as well. Understood. And second question. One more thing, probably you see my restructured book. Because there is one more portfolio from where this, you know, the credit cost slippages come. So if you take my restructured book also, even the 50% of that we have already realized as an NPA. So the question is that when already you have taken care of the things, probably we do not foresee, you know, until unless the situation goes something very heavier, like COVID or something like that, we foresee in a similar fashion to go forward. So any guidance around credit cost, like what we could give? Like that. Yeah, in a similar way, like one or two quarters which you're saying in the same range. Yeah, if you look at our nine-month credit cost, it's about 26 basis points, right? So what Sir is indicating is we would like to, you know, try and achieve that kind of a number going forward. Including, you know, because we have also evaluated, you know, as in when ECL comes in, right? So it will be a number which will move. But hopefully around that. Thank you. Mr. Badlani, please rejoin the queue for more questions. Next question comes from the line of Sanjay Singh with Kotak Securities. Please go ahead. Hi, team. Good afternoon. Two questions from my side. Firstly, if I look at the total recoveries which you report in your presentation on slide number 15, in FY 2025, you did upwards of 15,000 crore on total recovery, going by the new presentation which you are sharing. So far in FY 2026, you have done some 9,200 crore. So what do you think about the run rate? What do you think about the outlook for FY 2026 and FY 2027 on this number? That is one thing. Yeah, and secondly. On the recovery period? Yes, sir, please go ahead. On the recovery period, you are asking me what will be the going forward correct? Yes, please. Okay, that's what I actually told. Just comparing to the last year, the portfolio is different now. The slippages are coming down, actually. So seeing whatever is available, we have already done some 9,200. We expect that, as Sar has already told, there are some recoveries which we expected in the last quarter, which we will be realizing it. We will be ending up around, I think most probably with around, because we are not given any guidance this year, so I cannot exactly tell you the number, but you can expect more or less the same average which has been done in the last three quarters. It will be that, actually, on that. Understood, sir. And going forward, is it fair to assume a decline of, let's say, about somewhere around 10%-20% every year going forward in that number? Sure. In which one? Our recovery has been put in differently, not per se about our bank or something like that. It is the effort you have put in and the structure you have put in for the recoveries. Still, the book is always there, but you know some windfall happens when there is an NPA resolution. So the thing is that if you are talking about the regular recoveries, you may expect better than that because there are three baselines. One is the normal regular recovery. Another one is, you know, when you get through NCLT or some of the bigger resolutions. So bigger resolutions generally, because we expected actually last week of last 15 days of the last quarter, but that has not materialized, but will be materializing in this quarter. But at the same time, we do not consider in our forecast because the thing is that we have to concentrate upon the cases which are in DRT or maybe the associations and taking even the smaller loans are there where you recovery agents you deploy and take the position of the cars or maybe the house, and then you try to put into auctions and all. Actually, we have strengthened those systems, and that is why we are confident that the biggest question of the recovery you will see better than expected. And that related to the better or bigger one, we still have there. I think that will be ending going forward as well for maybe a few quarters and years. Thank you. Mr. Sanjay, please rejoin the queue for more questions. Next question comes from the line of Gaurav Jani, with Prabhudas Lilladher. Please go ahead. Yeah, thank you for taking the question and congratulations. Just, you know, firstly, on the LDR, right? Well, we have had a looking at the general term due to the CRR cuts. The LDR has kind of shot up by about 4.5% sequentially. So you know what kind of LDR levels are we looking at? I I believe given the fact that capital we are pretty comfortable at about 14%-15%. So yeah, that's the first question. Yeah, see, there are two kinds of LDR. One is domestic and another one is, you know, as a global consolidated. Typically, let us discuss first with the domestic one. Compared to the domestic one, we are in the below 81. And if you see the banks today and the efficiency parameter-wise, I think 80-81 is a very good comfortable range for everybody, all the stakeholders. So absolutely that is not a unique achievement. The second one is, you know, compared to, because beforehand you will be knowing that including the GIFT City, generally you will see more of the CD ratios with them, LDR. So then that is the reason it is globally, if you see, it is from there 80%-83% range. But otherwise, we are in a comfortable range. We do not foresee any issue in that. That gives a good efficiency with that range. Subject to that, you know, you deploy the assets qualitatively and quantitatively in the right direction. So I think that LDR, we do not want to go beyond certain limits, maybe 0.5%-0.75% here and there. Okay, understood. Thank you so much. Secondly, on the OpEx side, right? I mean, last two years, OpEx growth has been kind of, you know, low. So for the next two financial years, what kind of an OpEx growth do we factor in? Should it be in tandem with the loan growth? OpEx growth. Yeah, actually, we have taken a few steps here. That is actually we cannot say much. But then probably you will be seeing the, like, you know, one is the Project Muskaan itself, where we are moving towards the efficiency point number one. Point number two, there are a few more which we have taken on the ATMs and similar some sort of equipment and other things, where we see that suddenly, because when you are in an economy where GDP is growing, everything, so the cost of your people, cost of your physical infrastructure increases. But then what we are looking at is actually we have identified and identifying further that what are the parameters where we can have a control. So specifically those parameters, the entire team is working upon. But going forward on an operational expenditure, you know, once we move towards more of a, like our ED, Sri Nitesh was telling you on the digital push and the digital infrastructure platform which the bank has built, once it is put to use to a good capacity, I would even not say 90%-100%, but even if it is put to 60%-70%, you will see good cost cutting along with the risk mitigation. So I think probably, you know, and we do have a plan. Now, I will come back to one more point. Because being an investor, you will have a notion of it. So we have a plan of opening some 75 branches this year itself. And going forward, we want to further open 200 branches. So that is also a cost. But then we would like, even then, we would like to, we would like to come down and bring it into the control. Quarter -to- quarter. Thank you. Mr. Jani, please rejoin the queue for more questions. The last question comes from the line of Siddharth Rajpurohit with Systematix Group. Please go ahead. Yeah, congratulations to the team, to the team for a good quarter. And thank you for the opportunity. I have two questions, sir. One is, what is our excess standard asset provision that we hold? And second is, this project finance provision rules have taken. So how do you see that impacting the provisions? And are you seeing any incremental increase in the private CapEx that is coming out? Or when do you see it will pick up? So, okay. So I'll take the first one, which is on the excess standard asset provision. So, you know, I don't think it's fair to look at it from a point of view of an excess standard asset provision, because what we are trying to do is bridge the gap between ECL and, you know, the current level of provisioning. So that is something that, you know, even in the, you know, the last couple of quarters, we've been saying that we will make standard asset provisioning. And, you know, giving you the excess standard asset provisioning would also give you an indication of what could be the potential ECL related provisioning, which we have not directly put in the public domain. So we are comfortable in terms of the excess, in terms of the standard asset provisioning that we hold. We will continue to look at it, you know, as and when the RBI releases the final ECL guidelines to see, you know, whether we need to increase or whether we need to, you know, maintain at the same level. Second on the project finance thing? Project finance, I don't think we are expecting much of it. Not much. So in project finance, there is not much provision has been made during this quarter. So, of course, there are some project finance where, you know, recently we have done it. So accordingly, the provisions have been made as per the norms. But that is not making much of a provision on the provision side. In fact, you are trying to understand that what is the impact of this new project finance guideline and provisioning? Yeah, so for the existing portfolio, there won't be any real impact because either COD has been achieved or COD has been extended. For only new cases where COD is getting extended, this will have some impact. So this will have incremental impact only, not. Yeah, so just keep on moving based on new projects which come to us in our portfolio and then the extension will be required to increase it. This will not be very significant. Yeah, thank you. All the best to the team. Thank you. So thank you so much to all our investors and analysts. And we are always thankful to you for being along with us. And we always appreciate, you know, whenever you tell some lacking from our side and something where we have to improve. So we always welcome those suggestions from you. And you have all our mail IDs and everything. And certainly, we can have a meeting as well. But then as a from the Union Bank and we all senior management sitting here, we welcome those and anywhere we would like to take further improvements because we will have some critical eye to make the analysis of the bank and tell us where we can a bit more improve upon. We are in that process, but certainly we value your submission, we value your proposition. And thanks to you for along with us today. Thank you so much. Thank you. On behalf of Union Bank of India, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.