Q: With respect to the credit default swaps (CDS), the street was expecting a further hit of about USD 80 million. Did you have to take a hit on the CDS?

A: No, we didn’t have to take any hit on the CDS and Collateralised Debt Obligation-Credit linked note (CDO-CLN) portfolio. We did not increase the portfolio in the last 6-8 months and ave been very carefully monitoring the credit quality underlying those portfolios. The market really did not widen much, so we did not have to take any hit on the CDO and CLN portfolio.

Q: Can you enlighten us a bit about the international business/ What was its contribution and growth?

A: The international part of the business grew almost 60% for us and now it forms 30% of our total banking book.

Q: What about retail?

A: When we look at the bank and the housing finance put together, it grew by 5%, which is inline with what I have been saying since the beginning of the year.

Q: Would you say that your Non-Performing Assets (NPA) problems are kind of plateauing out? What has been the NPA percentage net and gross this quarter?

A: I don’t see any NPA problem as such. The increase in provisioning is in line with what happened the last quarter. So, there is no significant deterioration here the credit quality is under control; so that is the increase in the NPA.

The ratios would tend to increase now over a period because the balance sheet growth is not at the same rate as what it used to be in the past. So, what is important is to look at the addition to the NPAs on a QoQ basis. That is clearly in line with what happened in the last quarter as well. 

Q: Is the net NPA a little over 1.5%?

A: The net NPA is 1.7%.

Q: That is compared to the 1.5% that you reported last year?                      

A: Yes, that is because the rate of growth of balance sheet is much lower.

Q: In general, the insurance business was believed to be slowing down. How has been the performance of the insurance space?

A: Insurance companies have actually increased their market share. Our life insurance company’s market share in the total market has gone up from 12.7% to 13.8%. Similarly, the non-life insurance company has retained its market share at about 12%. So, our insurance companies have seen robust growth.             

Q: There was news of bringing ICICI Securities to the market i.e. listing that company. Was there any progress on that front? One was expecting something in this quarter.

A: We were planning that issue to realise and set benchmarks in terms of pricing and not really because we had a desperate need for capital. So, with these capital markets, we don’t think that this is the optimum time to take any company to the market.

We would take such steps only when we believe the market conditions are right because otherwise we are not really desperate to raise capital. Even at the bank level, our capital adequacy is actually very strong. We are at 13.5% compared to our requirement of 9%.    

Q: What about the insurance companies? You had given yourselves and even the law required that you should bring it to the market. I know you still have some elbowroom. But what is the timetable of bringing the insurance companies to the market, into listing?

A: We have quite some time available for that, so we would keep watching. The whole decision would depend on the rate of growth of insurance business; what is the right timing in the market and when do we think we would get the right valuations. As of now, there is no firm plan on any of these. We have a lot of elbowroom both in terms of timing as well as capital availability. We don’t really need to take any steps which need not be right in terms of its value.   

Q: There is no timetable at all at the moment on the radar?

A: At the moment, there is no timetable.