Arman Financial Services Ltd

Concal Summary Q1 FY25

• Higher credit cost and low volumes, due to issues in the Microfinance industry.
• Previously Lending for MFI customers were capped at 1.25 lakhs which is changed to 50% FOIR (Fixed Obligation to Income Ratio). This was done to better align with the borrower’s actual repayment capacity.

Challenges for the new rule:

1. Assessment of household income is a big challenge and a WIP for the industry due to non determinism of the income, and over leveraging (If one company quotes 2 lakh as the household income, some other might peg it at 3 lakhs)
2. MFI operations are highly linked with the credit so getting high repayment for it is highly important. In rural areas, the income is not easily predictable due to dependency on agriculture and other factors. There may be cases of overreporting the household income by branch staff to facilitate loan approval.
3. Arman has a centralized credit assessment, introduced pilot project with credit managers for loan sanction and assessment in 100 branches (by next quarter). There might be higher operating costs but will help in quality disbursal.

• Non-MFI loans have become more accessible to rural customers, with banks and NBFCs offering a variety of loans (fintech, MSME, personal, gold, vehicle loans)
• Heat waves, elections, high employee turnover lead to higher slippage. Also, a primary reason for the write-offs were overleveraging due to regulatory changes.
• A positive development is that Namra Finance received a credit rating upgrade from A- stable to A stable. The standalone credit rating for Arman is expected to be released shortly. This will help in reduction of cost of funds. Confident of maintaining the NIMs.
• AUM increased by 21% while disbursement degrew by 13% yoy. Consolidated collection efficiencies stood at 95.8%
• Cumulative provisions amounted to INR 101 crores, Arman’s stand-alone contributed INR 20 crores, while Namra was for INR 81 crores. The decline in PAT is due to higher impairment costs and slightly lower yields in the MFI book.
• The rural Micro LAP product launched in Q4 of last year has an AUM of 6 crores, management is optimistic of it’s long term potential.
• Namra Finance has reduced rates slightly, leading to a minor decline in yields. Any further decline in yields is projected to be around 25-30 bps in the coming quarters.
• Guidance was not given but management mentioned visible improvement post Diwali.
• The aggressive write-offs are a strategic decision to stay ahead of potential issues and to be extra conservative. Another reason for aggressive write-offs mentioned was tax benefits.
• They do not expect a significant decline in total impairment in the next couple of quarters. However, by Q3 or Q4, there might be a reduction in write-offs.
• The credit cost guidance, which was previously set at 2.5% to 3%, might be revised slightly upwards by about 50 basis points.
• Management is hopeful for improvement from Q4.
• The Micro LAP product has seen limited volume growth so far, currently piloted in Gujarat. Southern states like Telangana are being explored and launch is anticipated soon.
• There is a growing emphasis on work-life balance, especially among field staff who face challenging working condition, came #1 issue in their internal survey for job satisfaction. Attrition has been mostly for ground level staff.
• Evaluation for CGFMU and credit insurance is going on, but there are concerns related to cost and claim rate.
• Geographical based interest rates were considered but not pursued yet. If the credit issue becomes worse in local regions, then it might be implemented as a last resort.
• The deterioration in loan performance is broadly observed across all states. There has been dilution of JLG culture post COVID due to easier credit availability as more players are entering and change in customer’s expectations.
• Aadhaar-based authentication has been strengthened with biometric verification, but still fraud can happen for other documents like Voter ID, electricity bill, etc.

Some strategies which the company uses for stringent quality checks:

1. Separation of Credit and Sales
2. Advanced ML based analytics
3. Collection strategy adjustments (previously collection happened from 1st-12th of the month, but now it’s throughout the month)
4. Specialized Recovery Teams
5. Cashless Payment Initiatives (Namra app launched on play store)
6. Technology Enhancements like Biometric eKYC, geo tagging

Feel free to add any missing points and any feedback!