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Q4-2025 Earnings Call
AI Summary
Earnings Call on May 5, 2025
Record Annual Results: CDSL delivered record annual consolidated revenue of INR 1,199 crores and profit of INR 526 crores for FY '25, with profit up about 25% year-on-year.
Quarterly Decline: Q4 revenue and profit dropped year-on-year, with income at INR 256 crores and net profit at INR 100 crores, reflecting lower market activity.
Strong Demat Growth: Demat accounts grew 32% to 15.29 crores, giving CDSL about 79% market share.
Technology Investments: Technology costs surged as CDSL continues ongoing modernization across infrastructure, applications, and security; management emphasized this is a recurring and necessary investment.
KYC & CVL Ventures: CVL income rose 35% to INR 254 crores, with profit up 28% to INR 109 crores; KYC account growth slowed in recent quarters due to muted market activity.
Dividend Policy Maintained: Payout ratio was about 61% of standalone operating profits, consistent with stated policy.
No Forward Guidance: Management reiterated they do not provide revenue or earnings guidance.
While CDSL achieved its highest-ever annual revenue and profit for FY '25, quarterly results for Q4 showed a decline compared to the same period last year. The drop was attributed to lower market activity, especially in delivery-based market volumes, and a slowdown in demat account additions and KYC activity.
CDSL reported robust growth in demat accounts, reaching 15.29 crores and maintaining a market share of around 79%. The total number of demat accounts in India rose to 19.24 crores by March 2025, though recent quarters saw the pace of new account openings slow down.
Management described a significant increase in technology spending, covering hardware, infrastructure, applications, and security. They explained that modernization is a continuous process and essential for supporting market infrastructure and regulatory expectations, with costs viewed as both recurring and necessary for long-term efficiency and resilience.
CVL, CDSL's KYC subsidiary, saw strong income and profit growth, but noted a recent slowdown in new account creation and fetch records, mirroring market trends. The ongoing regulatory shift towards centralized KYC is being monitored, but management emphasized that business strategies must adapt to evolving regulation.
CDSL maintained its dividend payout policy at around 60% of standalone operating profits, with the actual payout slightly exceeding this. Management addressed shareholder concerns about cash utilization, reiterating a focus on both shareholder returns and maintaining strong infrastructure.
Annual issuer charges were discussed, with total folios rising from 19.5 crores to 22.76 crores. Unlisted revenue for the year reached INR 36 crores. The company charges a one-time processing fee of INR 15,000 for unlisted issuers, and expects the growing number of folios to support future income.
Progress was reported on the insurance repository business, including the new LIC tie-up and opening a direct portal for policyholders. Management acknowledged they lag behind competitors in market share but are focused on growing this segment as regulations evolve.
Management highlighted the impact of market volatility and regulatory change on business performance, emphasizing prudent strategy and readiness to adapt. They provided no forward guidance and stated that future product or pricing changes would be announced only after regulatory decisions.
Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the CDSL Q4 FY '25 Conference Call hosted by HDFC Securities. [Operator Instructions]
Please note that this conference is being recorded. Ladies and gentlemen, please note that CDSL does not provide the revenue or earnings guidance. Anything said on this call, which reflects CDSL's outlook for the future or which could be constituted as forward-looking statements must be reviewed in conjunction with the risk that the company faces.
I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Amit Chandra from HDFC Securities. Thank you, and over to you.
Yes. Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of HDFC Securities, we welcome you all to the CDSL Quarter 4 FY '25 earnings call. Today, we have with us the management team of CDSL, represented by Mr. Nehal Vora, MD and CEO; Mr. Girish Amesara, the Chief Financial Officer; and other senior leaders.
We will start with a brief overview of the quarter by Mr. Nehal Vora, and then we will open up the floor for the Q&A session. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
So first of all, I'd like to thank Amit and the HDFC Securities team. A very, very good afternoon, and welcome to everyone. I hope each of you and your loved ones are safe and healthy. Thank you for joining us today to discuss CDSL financial results for the final quarter and the year ending March 31, 2025.
We posted a detailed investor presentation on our website for your reference. I'm joined by the CDSL Group's leadership team, including the CEOs of all the subsidiaries. Let me start with the industry heights and then take you through to some of the key aspects of our performance. Financial '25 -- financial year '25 has been a record year for CDSL with our revenues reaching an all-time high of INR 1,199 crores approximately INR 1,200 crores and a profit of -- annual profit of INR 526 crores with a year-on-year growth of about 25% on the consolidated profits.
The Indian capital markets have experienced some amount of movement, volatility in the wake of circumstances. However, despite these fluctuations, the market had achieved a historic milestone of crossing the highest-ever market capitalization of $5.7 trillion in September 2024.
The average daily turnover has surged by about 37% in FY '25, reaching about INR 1,20,000 crores. This growth is reflected in the growth of demat accounts in this year. India has added about 4.1 crore demat accounts in the year, taking the total to about 19.24 crores as on 31st March, 2025.
CDSL has experienced a 32% growth in the number of demat accounts reaching a total of 15.29 crores and enjoying a market share of about 79%. To further enhance our offerings for investors, CDSL introduced the unified features in the investor app, myEC earlier in the year. The significant update allows investors to access their information across market infrastructure institutions in one place.
I'm also pleased to announce that electronic consolidated account statement has been successfully integrated in various apps also as on 1st of April. CDSL also successfully executed the second addition of the CDSL Annual Symposium in February, but the theme is to reimagine CapEx and the future of capital markets.
We were honored to have the late ISRO Chairperson, Dr. Kasturirangan as our chief guest. It was his last public event. I would like to reaffirm that CDSL's focus remains on enhancing the capital market ecosystem by enhancing efficiency, trust and transparency.
We are focusing on #atmanirbhar investor focused approach while striving for innovation resulting in consistent and sustainable financial and business performance. Before I hand it over to our CFO, I'd just like to say that the growth of the Indian securities market of the past year has been extremely encouraging, and it focuses India's potential and a journey towards Vikshit Bharat. The market with its ebbs and flows has shown incredible strength even in this quarter as we owe it to a strong ecosystem, who put their constant faith on us. My appreciation and gratitude to all our stakeholders, our regulators, depository participants, issuers, investors, all other market participants, market infrastructure institutions and all employees. Thank you, and over to you, Girish.
Thank you, Nehal. Good morning and good afternoon to all of you. .
I'm Sorry to interrupt, sir. You're sounding a little distant. Can you come closer to the microphone, please?
So I'm speaking on consolidated numbers first. So speaking on the consolidated quarterly performance, the total income for the quarter ended March 2025 is at INR 256 crores as against INR 267 crores for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The net profit for the quarter ended March '25, is at INR 100 crores as against INR 129 crores for the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Same on consolidated yearly numbers for the year ended March 2025. The total income has increased by 32% to INR 1,199 crores as against INR 907 crores for the previous financial year. The consolidated net profit has increased by 25% to INR 526 crores as against INR 420 crores during the previous financial year.
Now I'll speak on stand-alone numbers. On a standalone basis, the total income for the quarter ended March 2025 is at INR 205 crores, which is at a similar level compared to previous corresponding quarter of the previous year. The net profit for the quarter ended March 2025 is at INR 81 crores as against INR 97 crores for the corresponding quarter during the previous year.
Sticking on stand-alone yearly numbers for the year ended March 2025. The total income has increased by 33% to INR 985 crores and against INR 743 crores during the previous financial year. The net profit has also increased by 27% to INR 462 crores as against INR 363 crores during the previous financial year. Now I will request Mr. Sunil Alvares, MD and CEO of CVL Ventures Limited, to take us through the CVL's performance. Over to you, Sunil. Thank you.
Thank you, Girish. Good afternoon, everyone. So far as CVL's performance for 31st March 2025 is concerned is there was an increase in income by 35% from INR 188 crores to INR 254 crores. The expenditure increased by 42% from 76% from INR 76 crores to INR 108 crores. And the profit for the year was increased by 28% from INR 86 crores to INR 109 crores. With this, I'll open the floor for question and answers.
[Operator Instructions] We'll take our first question from the line of Supratim Datta from AMBIT.
My first question is on the cost side. So the technology cost for FY '25 in the fourth quarter was similar to what you had spent on an annual basis in FY '23. So could you help us understand where is this technology spend really going towards? What proportion of this would be recurring versus what proportion of this would be onetime?
That would be very helpful. I understand you have talked about technology costs previously as well. But given the magnitude of increase here, some kind of granularity would be very helpful for investors. The second question would be on the KRA business. Now recently, the SEBI Chief had indicated that a centralized KYC system is being implemented and it could be in practice pretty soon.
In that scenario, what is the benefit of a KRA system? Or would the KRA system get consumed within this CKYC, which gets implemented across the board? And hence, how would that impact our CDSL's pricing ability? If you could give some color on that, that also will be very helpful. And lastly, on the dividend payout, the dividend payout ratio was around 50% versus 55%, 60%. Any reason for a reduction there given you are not using that much of cash? Those are my 3 questions.
Thank you, Supratim. First, on the technology spend, I have been saying that we are in the process of building and consolidation. It's all on all the core aspects, it's the hardware, that the infra, the applications, the security and the connectivity.
And that's a process which we are going through to obviously bring in newer tools and techniques so that the market can really benefit from better tools and technology, speed would go up, et cetera. But the intent being is that we are an infrastructure -- market infrastructure company and technology is one of the key building blocks. And it would need a continuous assessment of newer tools and newer techniques so that the market will benefit from that. I don't think we gave out in the public domain as to what is onetime versus recurring expense. But we have kind of maintained a steady percentage as part of the revenue, the technology costs and basically, the regulators' expectations also have been to ensure that the newest technology is being deployed. Whilst this is a policy notch. But from our end, we continuously assess and improve upon our technology infrastructure on a very, very serious note. .
As regards to the second question on KRA. It's -- it's a process, which is the same interview of the SEBI Chair also talks about the efficiency of the -- we will have to wait and watch how that really pans out because it's yet not come out. It is all work in progress. So we will see how it goes. But I'm sure that all the aspects will be taken into consideration before we move forward. And the third one on the dividend payout, I think there has been a calculation at your end. We are about 61.3% payout. So we've continued to maintain our policy guidance on dividend payout at 60% of our operating profits. In fact, it is slightly more than that this year.
Okay. So just one follow-up on the technology bit, I do understand you don't give out the recurring and nonrecurring. But can you give us the split of hardware, how much of the spend would be on hardware versus application?
We don't give that because see, there is -- I'll tell you why we don't give it Supratim because it's a combination of fusion cost. You cannot segregate what is infra versus application. There is some which is mixed cost. So it will -- it would not create a right differentiation, and it is not right to even differentiate. The important thing is to ensure that the systems remains strong and the systems remain modern. Whatever it is to do that and that is been our intent whether it is in the hardware end, network end, security end or the application end, whatever...
So maybe let me ask it in this way that where are you in this journey of modernization, is the modernization complete? Or you are 60%, 70%? Where are you in this modernization journey?
I think you can ask any company. Nobody will say they are completely there in the modernization process because the process of continuous change. The larger companies also are continuously changing. Techniques evolve, methodologies evolve, products evolve and tools evolve. So I think it is in a constant state of work in progress because the intent is to enjoy that the modern infrastructure is provided to our clients and to the market.
Got it. Got it. In the dividend payout ratio that you're seeing, is that on the stand-alone? Or is it on the consol?
Standalone.
It is on stand-alone.
We'll take our next question from the line of Prayesh Jain from Motilal Oswal.
Just extending the question of the previous participant on technology. So how much of it is going towards capacity buildup and how much of it is towards efficiency buildup? So generally, the reason I'm asking that is the capacity buildup spend would be probably be like a onetime spend or spend that would get added and then probably will come again once you have read those thresholds. So is there a spend towards capacity buildup or it's purely based efficiency buildup? .
Prayesh, the way I look at it is that there's a Hindi saying that [Foreign Language] efficiency. Whether that lease, that is due to capacity buildup because efficiency is also a function of ensuring adequate capacity. But it's not only capacity, it's about ensuring how the application works. It is how the security works it. So it's a combination of what the intent is ensuring efficiency and intent is ensuring modern infrastructure, intent is ensuring the modern tools so that the market and the stakeholders are always subject to the newest form of technology.
And it's a process of really building evolution. If I look back at our journey also 5 years, 6 years ago, technologies used that have completely changed as we have moved, but the market have not known that the change which has happened. So it's a continuous process of change which has happened to ensure that the market is subject to the newest and the most modern tools and products.
So is it fair to assume that as a percentage of revenue, this would sustain? I know you don't give forward-looking guidance. But for us, it becomes very important to understand whether we should model it as a percentage of revenue? Or how should we look at it?
So you should look at our past and then take a call. I'm sorry, I will -- I actually would not be able to give you the future because we don't give future guidance.
The other question is on the online KYC business. Could you explain it to me how much of it is coming from demat accounts and how much is it coming from non-demat accounts with purely demat accounts?
See, if you really look at the KYC business, for us, it is very difficult to say what the pertains to the demat or say to a mutual fund account because when an entity fetches, he could be a broker, who's also having demat, who is also a DP for demat services. So whether he's opening it he's whether he's opening it for mutual fund or whether he's opening or security, I don't know, because the investor may be taking delivery of the mutual fund in the physical form. So it's very difficult to give you that answer.
And also Prayesh, in addition to what Sunil answered, I think the intent is again that CVL is being built to stand on its own 2 feet. So whether it is a demat account or non-demat account, the intent is it should be -- it should be independent enough to stand on its 2 feet. And that is how we have really progressed. If you see the way both these, despite being a 100% subsidiary, we gave it a requisite flexibility to grow to ensure that the shareholders of CDSL are benefited by both the growth, not only of CDSL, but CVL also.
Are any other adjacencies that you're looking at to kind of get into on the BFSI space where you can get more KYC revenues?
So that's, again, a process of future. It's all regulation-driven. And I think as the journey of India is really embarking on public infrastructure, moving to a technology base. I think the process is something, which we are all basically hopeful in the future. But how much that will impact, what products, all that is all futuristic.
It is all regulation driven. It is how the regulation policy makers will kind of create that framework in which it will pan out. But I think the overall theme and the trend is that more and more people are joining into fold, and that is what we all have to hope for it.
Okay. Last question on the charges for both transaction and the issuer charges any representation to the regulator, especially for the issuer charges to increase the prices or anything that you can let us know?
We will -- it is all, again, between us and the regulator. We don't generally reveal that in the public domain. But as and when a final call would be taken, that would be kind of announced to the market. So we will all have to wait till then.
We'll take our next question from the line of Amit Chandra from HDFC Securities.
So first question is on the revenue. Obviously, there has been a fall in the quarters, and it is because of the market slowdown and slow down the account charges. But if you see our on account numbers, it has been increasing over the last 2 quarters. So in the KYC charges, if you can provide some color in terms of what has led to that stick fall? Is it the such have come down considerably? Or is it because of any other being in terms of discounts being given to the brokers in this? Or if you can provide some breakup of the versus account opening in the online data charges?
So before I ask Sunil to answer, I think me, Amit overall, the market volume delivery volumes growth in demat account has all seen a muted response we've seen in the fourth quarter. And I think that is kind of the overall impact on CVL also, but I'll ask Sunil to take that question. .
Yes. So like what Nehal just said, that the number of accounts anyway has dropped not only in the last quarter, but in the last 2 quarters, we've seen a drop in account opening has also with mutual fund investments and also with IPOs, which have come in, in the last 2 quarters. So typically, even if the account openings would have gone up, it could be more because of some facts, records, et cetera. But overall, we've seen the number of records itself, which are created have fallen down as well as the number of fetch records also have fallen significantly. So that's what has led to the drop in income.
Okay. So in terms of the fall, like what I was trying to understand is, is it more from the activity that because as far as my understanding goes, fetch was 70%, 80% of the overall revenue. So has that come down significantly in terms of the mix?
It's more or less in line with what is the creation. So in terms of percentage, it's almost the same equal share.
Okay. And also in terms of the IP and core production, obviously, it is market linked and there has been a sharp fall, but still in terms of the mix between the IPO and the core production revenue. What is it be short or is it only IPO? Or is it the combination of both? And is there any -- is there any component in this which is recurring kind of?
No, if your question is directed to CDSL, I think we don't look at it you have got corporate action. We look at it more as a -- everything has a corporate action in CDSL. So maybe Nehal would like to answer that.
Yes. So could you repeat that the very last part, I couldn't hear your last sentence.
So I was just trying to understand that the mix between the IPO and the corporate action in this space? And what is to the fall maybe in the last 2 quarters? Is it a combination of both? Or any one part has gone down significantly?
So it's overall market impact, impact is across both those teams. We don't give that different categories on the public domain. But to answer your question, it is overall impact amount.
Okay. And in the annual issuer charges, obviously, you don't give forward-looking guidance, but what has been in terms of the number of folios in -- like in this year till March? And also, you'll see the impact of this in like next year? And also, has there been any increase in the unlisted revenue? And what the unlisted revenue is good for the full year in FY '25? .
I will ask CFO to answer that.
See, we had disclosed that in the first quarter. Throughout the fourth quarter, it also remains the same. We have disclosed that INR 2,276 crores volumes that we had built.
For the revenue for unlisted for full year I want.
Unlisted revenue -- unlisted revenue for the full year is at INR 35.95 crores, so almost INR 36 crores.
Okay. And obviously, lastly, on the insurance piece, we have finally tied up with LIC. Any progress on that? If you can throw some more color on that. .
I'll ask Latesh no answer.
So basically, it's just a sign up, which is happened. Integration work is in progress. We are expecting that.
I'm sorry, sir, you're sounding very distant.
Yes. LIC signup has happened, basically and the integration work in progress. We are expecting LIC to provide a issue to the integration.
We'll take our next question from the line of Madhukar Ladha from Nuvama Wealth Management.
Just On that number that you just said, INR 2,276 crores. Is that number correct?
Of course, why?
No, I'm just -- no, I was not clear on the numbers. So that is the number of demat -- that is the number of folios which is basically a number of scripts into the demat accounts, like I wanted to understand context of that number.
SEBI circular, we have to raise the bill based on either flat basis or on the full year basis. From the folio, how it has to be worked out. It is an average of the prices which is helped in any demat account for any company.
Understood. Understood. Okay. Okay. Got it. And then I'm not sure whether you gave the unlisted revenue number for FY '25?
I just gave. I just said unlisted revenue from issuer is INR 36 crores, of around INR 36 crores for the full financial year. .
Got it. Got it. And this quarter, we saw a little bit of jump in that number from -- like you were doing about INR 81 crores, but we did about INR 87 crores. Is there any onetime sort of processing fee, et cetera, in this quarter or on an overall sort of basis because a lot of unlisted companies have also come into demat in this year. So is there any onetime processing fee in the annual issuer charges that if you could share that one.
So for unlisted companies, we charge a onetime processing fee of INR 15,000 per company.
Okay. So what would that total number be?
To answer your question, it's again a combination of both more companies coming on, and it's actually that more companies are coming into the field. So that continues as our journey as we.
We'll take our next question from the line of Santosh Kesari from SKK.
Am I audible?
Yes, we can hear you. Please go ahead.
Yes. I have been a shareholder since 2015, and I have been really looking at the portfolio for the company for a long time. So I have 2 questions. One is about insurance, the business where you can see that our nearest competitor is enjoying a market share of more than 40% now and they are having additions for something like INR 1 crore policies with EIA accounts close to 10 million or so EIA accounts. So somewhere, we do not see the same kind of performance and same kind of gene in CDSL repository. And also, our Powerpoint presentation about insurance resposity didn't cover much of the details. It just gives a little bit of numbers. I didn't say that what is the revenue that we are having, how many general insurance companies we have tied up. Like last quarter, we said that we have tied up with 48 companies. This quarter, we are saying the number is reduced. So my point is that we are sort of not within extra numbers for us to assess the business or maybe the business is not being given full attention in terms of better performance and the kind of action that we are seeing in the market. That's not seemed to be happening here. So I'm concerned from the point of view of being a long-time shareholder. That's my first question.
Sure. You want to finish both questions and I can answer that.
Sir, second question, a little longer. So let's discuss this and then I'll come to the second question.
The first question is maybe Latesh is here, who's the MD of the insurance repository, but before I hand it over to answer, our intent is, like any infrastructure business. We spend a lot of time in insurance as a platform, the technology becomes robust. It links up well with the relevant stakeholders and that its time on both sides to ensure it needs to be planned, tested, et cetera. And therefore, that time is taken before it because we believe in a philosophy that once you are in it, you'll try to give the best product, take time in kind of planning, but I'm certainly in it, so that's the confidence and trust of the stakeholders. I'll just hand it over to Latesh to answer.
Yes. am I audible? Okay. If you look at the past performance, we are in this business for almost 14 years. And again, the insurance business is also -- the repository business is also regulatory driven. Intiial 10 to 12 years, we were hoping that repository as a product would be made mandatory by the respective regulators and we shall await and are hopeful that in future that may come in. But yes, since this is what a mandatory subject, we've been limiting our investments on this business.
But last year, there has been a lot of changes, which has happened. Apart from the 3 revenue streams from which the business comes, we have now opened up the direct portal for the end policyholders to come and directly open their accounts and there has been some traction. We have noticed that is the marketing -- digital marketing there. But yes, the volumes in growth is coming in. And just to give you some flavor, you mentioned briefly about the competitors as well. Just to give a context of the insurance business, it's all in public domain. Annually, the country turned out some INR 30 crore policy and all the IR put together were debt crossed INR 2 crores. So 90% of the market is still upward there, and that's what we are strategizing on, and you'll see the positive outcome will be to come.
That's right. But then we haven't got an app also, something like a digital app, which can be -- like our competitors have already launched an app and the thing with this kind of thing is with app and connectivity and network effect that we get by making the new customers and the more new customers you have, the better acceptability is there for the newer customers to come and get into our platform. So all I'm saying is that we are missing a lot of action here maybe something can be done and a better details can be given in the PowerPoint presentation for the quarterly update. That was really helpful.
To my website, we are production, I think you haven't seen the uplift. It has been a company's revamp on what was there last year. And we have a well-responsive application. So yes, you are right, we do not have a mobile app per se, but our portals are well responsive and it is visible on the mobile app. But I take that one. So
Okay. Now my second question is about the direction that the company is going towards, Nehal. One is that, see, like would we not charge anything for the demat account and we say that we have 15 crore odd demat accounts. Then we have a huge amount of cash in our books INR 1,500 crores, for which there didn't seem to be obvious usage that what you should is going to be put to. And the analyst committee and community have been talking about this in almost every call, but it looks like that there is no clarity in terms of annual report or the presentation that comes out after the quarter result. Every time we get to hear that the Board of Directors will be deciding and future do not make specific statements. So that we get to hear. And then we also get to hear that the extra amount of technology expenses that we have for stable infra institution, something the technology expenses went up by almost 70% compared to the last year. And our operational metrics also have been going down. Like this year, our PBT margin is something 58% and last year, it was 61%. Quarter-on-quarter, it is even worse. So are we settling -- my question is that are we settling into some kind of happy infrastructure institution and nothing beyond? We don't want to go further beyond this, because a lot of action is happening on the side, a lot of action is happening on the market side. Our associate DC is doing so well in terms of not only share price, but in terms of the lack of regulatory for whereas they got a lot of marketing action that's happening, Mr. the new CEO over there we have really changed the company. And the same kind of thing I'm not seeing in CDSL. So I'm not trying to express any kind of difference in the company. I'm just trying to express my feeling that we are making certain direction here. Or maybe we are -- we need more better communication. If you can clarify, Nehal?
Santosh, you need to see that various communications. I think it is your opinion. I don't think that your opinion of people I need and certainly not the opinion of what is in the mind of CDSL as a management and Board. We have a very specific focus. Otherwise, in the last 5 years, we would not have grown from 1.8 crores demat accounts to 15.5 crores. These numbers cannot just happen out of air. It needs a lot of planning, and there's a lot of behind the rings planning. Second is, the revenue, profits, if you see for the last 5 years has gone through a significant uptick.
And that can only happen when you are focused on what you want to do and how you want to do it. Third is the number of shareholders who have been there for the last 5 years, who was their total number of shareholders who were invested in CDSL has grown by multiple times over the last 5 years. This also would not have been there if the shareholder interest and maximization principle focus was not a part of CDSL's core activity.
Now these numbers show a different picture than the conclusion, which you are trying to draw. And I think you need to look at it from that perspective. Number of employees have grown in CDSL, importance and the brand of CDSL has grown very stronger. All these are clear indicators that if there was no focus, there was no in on how we are taking it forward. We would have continued to remain at the same level as in 2019, which is not of far away. It is just about 5 years away.
And in fact, that quarter-on-quarter, despite markets going through its ups and downs, we continue to grow in terms of number of demat accounts, number of people wanting to become a part of the CDSL ecosystem clearly showcases that this is with a customer-centric focus. Otherwise, this would not happen. So I would really like you to urge you to rethink on your conclusion because these metrics don't show the conclusion, which you were trying to draw.
But the thing is that though we are winning customer centric, are we also being sort of friendly? If that is also being taken into account, it would be really helpful. I do not want to go beyond that, but that is something that I wanted to highlight.
So shareholders, you will see, again, metrics on shareholders, 1 1 bonus, highest dividends year-on-year. This year also we had the highest dividend. If you see if you factor in the 1:1 bonus at INR 25 share, if you want to compare it to previous year. So it's INR 0.50, you have to multiply it by 2 to compare it with the previous years. And it is an all-time high dividend, which has been given.
Despite last year, we had given '19, which was a 60% profit plus a 3-year special dividend because of 25 years. This was taking into consideration the shareholder interest. And we have beaten that so this year because it's INR 22, which was last year with 3-year special dividend for 25 years. This year, we're giving at INR 25 to shareholders. Had we not been shareholder-centric also, these numbers would not have come in.
We'll take our next question from the line of Siddharth from YK Money.
The main thing that the concern would be that the Q2 of your company last year that delivered there has been a dip in terms of both Y-o-Y and Q-o-Q quarter. Can you just what led to it and what's the trajectory going forward would be? And like on an approximate number is at what growth rate can we expect in series as overall management as a whole?
So one is that Siddharth, we don't give future guidance. I don't able to answer what is the future. It is for each shareholder to assess for themselves, but to your question on why Q2 was higher in Q3, Q4 is because of overall market volumes have dropped, the delivery base volumes have dropped. An important metrics, which one needs to look at is the delivery-based volumes on the stock exchanges, which shows the market participation, which culminates into delivery. And that's what is important from a depository standpoint.
Our business is in long-term products are that people take more and more shares into delivery, and that's how we are promoting a culture of also people staying long-term end markets. And other an infrastructure institution, it's important to understand that we are building the right building blocks so that when we saw the spurn volumes post our COVID, during COVID and post COVID, CDSL was able to withstand that higher volume and continue to work seamlessly. So I think that is where our focus and incentive that under all circumstances, we have to keep on ensuring the value proposition to the market. And when the market volume spud the infrastructure should be equipped to handle that. So that's where our focus is.
Got it, sir. And the other thing is the delivery-based volume has led to be entire. Do you have any idea on how going forward it might be if you would be willing to share any -- I mean, insights or any idea on that?
No, Siddharth, we don't give future guidance. But had I even known I -- actually, you and I would not need to work any longer because if we all can predict what the volumes are going to be. It's cumulative thing of the entire market participation. So that's something for us to wait and watch.
We'll take our next question from the line of Sanketh Godha from Avendus Spark.
And sir, initially, if you directed to 2 points, can you allow cash income e-voting income and pledge income in the current quarter and also the impairment cost.
Yes, I will ask the CFO to answer that.
So the cash statement was INR 11 crores in the quarter. E-voting was around INR 6 crores. You also wanted the data provision, right?
Yes, provision cost, impairment costs and the pledge income.
Sure. So impairment was INR 88 lakhs in this quarter, and pledge income was INR 5.40 crores.
INR 5.40 crores. Okay. And sir, the second question was -- yes, sir, you alluded to the point that a number of folios at the start of the year was INR 2,276 crores. So just if you can tell me how it grew compared to the previous year? I just wanted to reconfirm the point that to INR 2,276 crores was based on number of folios of '24, which got reflected in '25. So given the number of IPOs, we are so strong in '25. Is it fair to say that the number of portfolios surely would have gone up because of more listing and that will get more reflected in '26 as a growth in the annual issuer charges?
So Sanketh, previous year, what we had disclosed was is it was at INR 19.50 crores. And currently, it is INR 22.76 crores.
Okay. Okay. And so the point that I'm trying to make that given the INR 32.76 crores was reflected to last number of folios, which we actually would have grown because of number of IPOs. So the benefit will be more reflected in the next year, sir?
Yes. Possibly.
Okay, okay. And the third thing, sir, just if I look at cash ADTO, quarter-on-quarter, it declined by 18% -- 8% for the country, BSE, NSE put together cash ADTO. But if you look at our transaction income, it has dipped by 17% as Q-o-Q. So there seems to be a divergence typically is not there. So I just wanted to understand what led to more fall in transaction compared to the falling cash ADTO.
Sanketh, when we closely monitor the delivery volumes of exchanges vis-a-vis our billable transactions. And we don't see that kind of slowdown decrease compared to what it is based on the -- see, what we see is the delivery volume and the delivery transaction move hand-in-hand. That's what we see from the historical data that we have.
So the reason why I was asking this question was that, sir, have you seen any market share loss with respect to transaction income because our decline seems to be a little more compared to cash ADTO what we can see from the public information.
So we don't know the billable transactions of our competition. We only track what is there at our end. And you have to compare it with the overall volumes out now.
We'll take our next question from the line of Parimal Mithani from Credential Investments.
Sir, I just wanted to know a couple of quarters back, our tension about an account aggregator thing, can you give a highlight on where are we and what is the progress in terms of that? And secondly, sir, in your CDSL venture, you do e-Sign and e-KYC, is there a -- for the that service?
Could you just repeat that final part that was not too clear.
So your -- in the CDSL Ventures, you do e-Sign and e-KYC. I think there are significant traction in both of that, if you can explain how do you plan to go ahead with that?
Yes, we don't give future guidance, but I'll ask Sunil to answer the second question. But before that, on the first question on the account aggregator, we are part of the account aggregator framework. We are -- there is something called an fip or financial information provider. CDSL was first amongst the kind of the ecosystem at the securities market, one of the first, which has become a part of this FIP, and we have been keenly giving that. So that is what our role is. .
So whatever account -- wherever data is requested by investor through the FIU or a financial information user, it gets routed through the account aggregator and comes to us and we provide that information after ensuring that relevant security checks, et cetera. So that's what our role is. I'll ask Sunil to answer the second. .
Revenue stream from them? If you can -- is there any? Or is just add on value-added service, sir?
Revenue as of now is not yet been there. It is in the process of getting formulated because these are early days. But I think there is some discussion, which is going on, but how much it will fructify and all that is yet to be seen.
[Operator Instructions]
No, I think the second part of this question is left, Sunil, if you can answer that.
Yes. On the second part, with regard to the traction that you're seeing on the e-Sign and the e-KYC business, is that so far as e-KYC is concerned, the intermediary like the , et cetera, need to be registered as a. Currently, they are losing Digilocker for the services, but we are seeing some intermediaries, who have registered recently. And once they start off in this financial, yes, we will see more revenues coming in from there. On the e-Sign business, the way it functions is that we do not tie up with the end customer who is a participant or the broker, but there is a third-party service provider, who gives the entire onboarding solution to the end client and e-sign is just a part of it. So basically, we have tied up with a couple of such third-party service providers, and we are looking at adding more such service providers. So when we add some more, definitely, we'll see an increase in income out there as well.
We'll take our next question from the line of Sanketh Godha from Avendus park.
Sir, one small clarification. You said INR 22.76 folios, if I multiply by INR 11, the revenue comes at INR 250 crores, but what we reported is INR 326 crores. So the difference between INR 250 crores and INR 326 crores is predominantly explained by what, sir?
Sanketh, you have to look at the SEBI circular, we're able to bring the company based on folio and capital book and apart from that, we have unlisted coming also. So everything put together is a final number, which is there and then any issuer income. What you are immediately, what you have asked was only in the folios.
Right. Okay. Okay. So sir, basically, where you charge the fixed fees and basically what you charge for the listed companies, which could be much higher compared to a number of folios what they have explains the difference between 2 numbers, right, sir?
It's a combination of both.
[Operator Instructions]
We'll take our next question from the line of Mohit Surana from HDFC AMC.
Can you also -- the way you gave INR 22.76 crore number for the last year, could you give the number for this year?
That would be possible only in next quarter.
We'll take the next question from the line of Swarnabha Mukherjee from B&K Securities.
I'm sorry, Mr. Swarnabha's line is disconnected. [Operator Instructions]
We'll take a question from the line of Prayesh Jain from Motilal Oswal.
Just a bookkeeping question on the other income. What drove the sequential improvement in other income so much? And what -- could you give us a breakdown of your investment in in terms of where all the money is parked?
So other income is largely constituting of case charges, e-voting income, e-sign income and investment income. The investment income is largely based on investment in fixed deposits, investment in mutual funds, and investment in bonds, which are all based on an investment policy approved by the Board.
Okay. So the large part of the jump in the rescue in the quarter is mainly because from the mark-to-market. Is that, sir, a fair way to assume on the debt side?
Yes.
We'll take our next question from the line of Swarnabha Mukherjee from B&K Securities.
Am I audible?
Yes. But can you use your handset mode, please, Swarnabha?
Yes. Is this better?
Yes, please go ahead.
Yes. So sir, I just wanted to understand on the IPO corporate action part. So the INR 25 crores we have reported this quarter, this would be mainly from corporate action, right? So -- I mean I just wanted to know that this INR 25-odd crores, is this -- how much would be seasonality across the quarter, is second, third quarter much more heavier if you can give some indication based on the trends in last 2, 3 years.
IPO corporate action income is largely based on the IPO that comes in the market. So it is -- it is directly linked with market activity in terms of the IPO that gets business during the quarter. So if you ask us a seasonality, it is directly related to the market.
And also.
Yes, sir, please go ahead.
If you have to look at the past to see which quarter has more, but I don't think there's any specific trend in that. It depends on market.
Right, sir, I'm just trying to understand that since in fourth quarter, since you don't give the breakup of IP and corporate action in this fourth quarter, I think the contribution of IPO income would be quite negligible. So just to understand only the revenue from the corporate action. So this is a INR 25 crore number is a good number for. So I just wanted to understand that if I were to think about the same revenue from the corporate action in second and third quarter, for example, where there was a lot of IPOs. But additionally, was there also a higher seasonality of corporate action to the corporate action number in second and third quarter will be more than -- significantly more than INR 25 crores or would that be near about?
See, again, what kind of a loss of corporate action next shares related bolus is there. Now there is seasonality on that also. It depends all on each company, and I don't think I can be predicted if somebody is willing to do the part research and come out with some finding, that's a different matter, but we don't see it that way. We see it again. Again, our intent is that platform should be robust and stable. And so that people, whenever they want to come, they can commit is like the road or, like the road has to ensure its value proposition. It has to ensure security. So that cars as and when it comes in the middle of the day, middle of the night, whether they come more in January or they comoe in March, that is not a focus on how company makes roads is going to focus on. We have a similar kind of a focus on how we very structured and planners.
Understood. And also, sir, so if I were to think between the custody. So just as a conceptual clarification. So if the various shift of, say, from a retail participants, more institutional participants, then how would that impact our, say, annual issuer charges, if you could give some color?
The rules are there in the public domain. Number of folios it's a combination of various factors on how issuer charges are getting charged. So it is the fulfillment of those conditions. It's not only folios, it's a combination of various other factors also. So that will have to be assessed. Can you give a simplistic answer as to if there is a trend, a change in trend, et cetera. It all depends on all those conditions trend, et cetera. It all depends on all those conditions to ensure what would be the impact on the issuer fees, which we would receive.
Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Nehal Vora for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
I would sincerely like to thank all the callers for their questions and also their keen interest. Continue partnering with us as we embark on this journey of this phenomenon called India, which is growing at a great rate. Thank you so much, and stay safe.
Thank you members of the management team. On behalf of HDFC Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.