Full impact assessment after clarity on stimulus – Mr Uday Kotak, Kotak Mahindra Bank

Update on the Indian Equity Market:

On Thursday, Indian shares erased the gains of the previous day after the initial stimulus announced by the government to aid Covid-19 hit businesses was poorly received. The gloomy outlook from the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve did not help the market sentiment either, as Nifty ended 2.6% lower at 9,143. Among the sectoral indices, IT (-3.5%), Financial Services (-3.4%), and Bank (-2.9%) led the losers. FMCG (+0.7%) and Pharma (+0.3%) were the only sectoral gainers. INFRATEL (+4.9%), HEROMOTOCO (+2.9%), and ZEEL (+2.2%) led the gainers. TECHM (-5.4%), INFY (-5.2%), and HINDALCO (-4.8%) ended in the red.

Full impact assessment after clarity on stimulus – Mr. Uday Kotak, Kotak Mahindra Bank

Excerpts from an interview with Mr. Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman & MD, Kotak Mahindra Bank published in Financial Express dated 14^th May 2020:

• Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) recently declared its 4QFY20 results. The bank has divided the stress tests to assess the full impact of Covid-19 into two sets- up to March 31 and after March 31. Gross provisioning done toward a specific account gives a net NPA of 0.71%. A look at standard provisioning plus Covid provisioning and others independent of direct provisioning led to total provisioning being greater than the total net NPA.
• Starting FY21 with a clean slate in terms of the balance sheet and from the point of view of all provisioning, which was felt necessary.
• In terms of FY21, the bank is in uncharted territory. While work has been done in different sectors, a lot will depend on how the lockdown opens up, and how the stimulus is given. Impact assessment of the virus’ impact on the bank’s loan book will be possible after there is some clarity on government fund flows to various sectors.
• In regard to unsecured retail lending, the bank had become conservative on advances well before the pandemic started. Thus, growth in advances was more calibrated in design. He believes that retail unsecured is where pressure is going to come at some point in time. Hence, KMB’s portfolios on unsecured consumer retail have been far more conservative than earlier.
• The post-Covid era will help reduce the impact of the potential burden which may come out of stress, particularly in unsecured retail which is pretty sensitive to the lockdown and the slowdown in the economy. So, they are waiting for the stimulus.
• Talking about the credit growth, they have received wide estimates by expert economists on growth for FY21. KMB will be getting out there and supporting the economy provided they are comfortable with the risks.
• They will continue to be cautious on unsecured consumer lending to make sure that the consumer is well-protected. He is of the opinion that if many companies start retrenching people, which is something we can assume may happen, then even unsecured lending to salaried customers will come under pressure.
• They will watch out for sectors directly affected by Covid like tourism, hospitality, or retail malls.

Consensus Estimate: (Source: market screener website)

• The closing price of Kotak Mahindra Bank was ₹ 1,177/- as of 14-May-2020. It traded at 3.0x/ 2.6x the consensus book value estimate of ₹ 398/450 for FY21E/ FY22E respectively.
• The consensus target price of ₹ 1,399/- implies a PB multiple of 3.1x on FY22E BV of ₹ 450/-.

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