IDFC First Bank Limited

hi,
let me share my views on points you have highlighted.

1. Retail Profitability is function of retail asset profitability and retail liability profitability. The more branches they opens the less profitable will be retail side of business as liabilities business would be a drag. This quarter they opened 103 branches so i guess it is a bit subdued and also some extra provisioning not sure from where that was subtracted but there could be some from retail side too.
2. Merger ball is in IDFC LTD court as they will be initiator and IDFC First bank has already said they will coordinate. Merger question is more relevant for IDFC LTD Concall, but yes there were no question as more the IDFC First bank does good the better bargaining power will IDFC First bank have with IDFC Ltd for better valuation and/or less dilution.
3. The bank will always need capital as their Loan growth is 25%+ and ROEs are like 12.5%. They are trying to get capital through Debt securities like Tier 2 bonds. Also i think its Market cap and not number of shares that is important for valuation. This quarter too, profits grew 33% but EPS grew 25% so there is a affect. But it would not generate the EPS it is generating, if no new capital was raised. The important point is at what price it is raising the funds. Higher the price of shares the lesser dilution will happen. During covid19 the funds were raised at say 23 rupees and just a few months back funds were raised at 58 odd rupees. Raising funds at more than book value is actually a better thing for existing investors.
4. I feel banks branch strategy is very dynamic. If they need to grow aggressively they will open more branches and if they want to concentrate on the profitability they will reduce branch expansion. This quarter they were to get huge capital from IDFC Ltd, they opened 100+ branch. Geographically i think they are concentrating branches in most deposit heavy zones like western belt.