Will focus more on secured loans, as it looks to diversify loan book says Bandhan Bank’s Chandra Shekhar Ghosh

Update on the Indian Equity Market:

On Wednesday, NIFTY closed in the green at 9,383 (+2.0%). Top gainers in NIFTY50 were ZEEL
(+7.7%), Axis Bank (+7.0%) and ULTRACEMCO (+6.4%). The top losers were Nestle (-5.2%), Sun
Pharma (-2.2%) and Bharti Airtel (-1.1%). Sectoral gains were supported by Banks. Top sectoral
gainers were PSU Banks (+6.1%), Bank (+4.1%) and PVT Bank (+3.9%) and sectoral losers were
Pharma (-1.1%) and FMCG (-0.7%).

Excerpts of an interview with Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, CEO, Bandhan Bank Ltd with Financial
Express dated 13 th May 2020:

● Bandhan Bank expects around four weeks could be needed for normalisation of its
microfinance collections after the countrywide lock-down is lifted
● For microloan, 100% loan moratorium in value opted for April as they could not meet their
microfinance borrowers for collections due to the lock down.
● Around 79% of their microfinance borrowers have an average deposit balance of around Rs
3,070, which is equivalent to over four weekly instalments.
● Around 87% of their housing loan EMIs had come in April, while 65% (in value) of SME
instalments had come during the month. Around 41% (in value) of NBFC-MFI’s instalments
had been paid.
● They have started operations in microfinance business with opening offices in the green
zones across the country. They have disbursed some microfinance loans, though the amount
is very small.
● They will disburse more loans to micro-credit customers if they need because they know
their credit history for a long time. They have not yet started fresh disbursement in the non-
micro-credit sector (after the lock down is imposed).
● After restarting the operations, customers will look into their cash flow conditions.
Depending on that they will take a call on fresh loans.
● The faster the lock down is lifted, the faster they will get back to the pre-lockdown period in
terms of collections from different sectors. Until that happens there will be requirements for
supports from the RBI and the government. The loan moratorium has helped.
● Going forward, they would like to go for more diversification of their loan book, more
secured loan book than the current book.
● As of now, around 62% of their loan book is micro-credit. They would like to be more focus
on affordable housing and MSME sectors. Also, they would like to go for more geographic
expansion across the country.

Consensus Estimate: (Source: market screener and investing.com websites)

● The closing price of Bandhan Bank Ltd was ₹ 254/- as of 13-May-2020.  It traded at 2.3x/ 1.9x
the consensus earnings estimate of ₹ 111 /135 for FY21E/22E respectively.
● The consensus price target of Bandhan Bank Ltd is ₹ 316/- which trades at 2.3x the book value of
₹ 135/-

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