Specialist in Indian Banking and Economic Research

Hemindra Hazari

Even though <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/axis-bank-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:768:1" rel="noopener">Axis Bank Ltd (AXSB IN)</a> reported an impressive growth in net profit, higher than that of its peers, the stock market penalised the bank, as the growth of its business, top line and profit before provisions was lower than that of its peers. The stock market traditionally favours both top and bottom line growth, and in Axis Bank’s case the market believed that the poor business growth is a symptom of a deeper problem in the bank’s business model.Some analysts have highlighted Axis Bank’s poor business indicators in the 2QFY2022 as compared with those of its peers, and their reading-between-the-lines is that it may be an undisclosed or even undiagnosed problem. It is also possible that Axis Bank 2QFY2022 was an off quarter, where the management took its eye off the ball, and that performance may rebound and match that of its peers in 2HFY2022. However, another, more ominous, explanation could be that staff morale may be the cause of the poor performance.This analyst was the first to <a href="https://hemindrahazari.com/2021/05/26/why-are-axis-banks-directors-mum-about-the-extraordinary-staff-churn/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">highlight</a> Axis Bank’s high and worsening attrition from FY2018 to FY2020, when it peaked at 36.8% for the overall bank and an alarming 69.2% for the sales category (this category has the maximum number of staff which sources new business). In FY2021, Axis Bank reported a trend reversal, a significant improvement in attrition to 23.8% (sales attrition at 49.7%); the improvement was also seen in other private sector banks. It is possible that the work-from-home regime in FY2021 resulted in less stressful daily physical meetings, and relaxation in achieving sales targets, on account of the lock-down. With 2QFY2022 gradually returning to normal, the pressures on the staff may have resumed to a point where attrition may have increased and morale plummeted, impacting the top line performance of Axis Bank.Attrition can be a lead indicator for future performance, and analysts have been concerned with the steady senior level <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/two-senior-executives-quit-axis-bank-for-piramal-nbfc/articleshow/75546095.cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exits</a> since Amitabh Chaudhry took charge as Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2019. The latest <a href="https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachHis/299d20f1-8fa4-45d5-90f5-e4aed0484c6e.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resignation</a>  was of Rajesh Dahiya, executive director and in-charge of human resources since June 2010. But what was largely unreported was the plight of the bulk of the Axis Bank staff, which was ignored by analysts. This despite the fact that the bank had comprehensive disclosures on the issue which painted a sorry picture of human resource management since FY2018. Staff discontent may take some time to filter down to impacting overall performance, and we need more quarters to monitor performance to validate this hypothesis.The Axis Bank board of directors need to urgently enquire into the reasons for the poor business and revenue performance in 2QFY2022 and the stock market penalising the share price may provide the appropriate push to the board to investigate the matter and come out with remedial measures.

Even though Axis Bank Ltd (AXSB IN) reported an impressive growth in net profit, higher than that of its peers, the stock market penalised the bank, as the growth of its business, top line and profit before provisions was lower than that of its peers. The stock market traditionally favours both top and bottom line growth, and in Axis Bank’s case the market believed that the poor business growth is a symptom of a deeper problem in the bank’s business model.Some analysts have highlighted Axis Bank’s poor business indicators in the 2QFY2022 as compared with those of its peers, and their reading-between-the-lines is that it may be an undisclosed or even undiagnosed problem. It is also possible that Axis Bank 2QFY2022 was an off quarter, where the management took its eye off the ball, and that performance may rebound and match that of its peers in 2HFY2022. However, another, more ominous, explanation could be that staff morale may be the cause of the poor performance.This analyst was the first to highlight Axis Bank’s high and worsening attrition from FY2018 to FY2020, when it peaked at 36.8% for the overall bank and an alarming 69.2% for the sales category (this category has the maximum number of staff which sources new business). In FY2021, Axis Bank reported a trend reversal, a significant improvement in attrition to 23.8% (sales attrition at 49.7%); the improvement was also seen in other private sector banks. It is possible that the work-from-home regime in FY2021 resulted in less stressful daily physical meetings, and relaxation in achieving sales targets, on account of the lock-down. With 2QFY2022 gradually returning to normal, the pressures on the staff may have resumed to a point where attrition may have increased and morale plummeted, impacting the top line performance of Axis Bank.Attrition can be a lead indicator for future performance, and analysts have been concerned with the steady senior level exits since Amitabh Chaudhry took charge as Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2019. The latest resignation  was of Rajesh Dahiya, executive director and in-charge of human resources since June 2010. But what was largely unreported was the plight of the bulk of the Axis Bank staff, which was ignored by analysts. This despite the fact that the bank had comprehensive disclosures on the issue which painted a sorry picture of human resource management since FY2018. Staff discontent may take some time to filter down to impacting overall performance, and we need more quarters to monitor performance to validate this hypothesis.The Axis Bank board of directors need to urgently enquire into the reasons for the poor business and revenue performance in 2QFY2022 and the stock market penalising the share price may provide the appropriate push to the board to investigate the matter and come out with remedial measures.

Axis Bank: Toxic Workplaces Don’t Bring In More Business

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Equity Capital Markets

PB Fintech (PBF), India’s largest online platform for insurance and lending products, aims to raise up to US$793m via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its India IPO. The company is backed by a strong set of investors including Info Edge, Tencent, Temasek, Tiger Global and Softbank.The company operates two platforms: Policybazaar operates in India’s online insurance product and service industry; and Paisabazaar platform operates in India’s online credit industry. As per Frost &amp; Sullivan, the company is a leader in the online sphere in both segments. Despite Paisabazaar having taken a hit due to COVID-19, the company has managed to grow its revenue by 80% over FY19-21. In addition, it has been able to rein in expenses as well leading to an improvement in margins. Although, it was still making losses in FY21. On the flip side, its growth has come on the back of large ad spending and given the transactional nature of both of its platforms combined with the increase in competition, its ad spending will probably remain high. We have covered most aspects of the deal in our previous notes,  <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/pb-fintech-policybazaar-pre-ipo-the-positives-fast-growth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PB Fintech (Policybazaar) Pre-IPO - The Positives - Fast Growth</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/pb-fintech-policybazaar-pre-ipo-the-negatives-patchy-data-strategy-missteps" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PB Fintech (Policybazaar) Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Patchy Data, Strategy Missteps</a>.In this note, we will talk about updates since our last note and valuations.

PB Fintech (PBF), India’s largest online platform for insurance and lending products, aims to raise up to US$793m via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its India IPO. The company is backed by a strong set of investors including Info Edge, Tencent, Temasek, Tiger Global and Softbank.The company operates two platforms: Policybazaar operates in India’s online insurance product and service industry; and Paisabazaar platform operates in India’s online credit industry. As per Frost &amp; Sullivan, the company is a leader in the online sphere in both segments. Despite Paisabazaar having taken a hit due to COVID-19, the company has managed to grow its revenue by 80% over FY19-21. In addition, it has been able to rein in expenses as well leading to an improvement in margins. Although, it was still making losses in FY21. On the flip side, its growth has come on the back of large ad spending and given the transactional nature of both of its platforms combined with the increase in competition, its ad spending will probably remain high. We have covered most aspects of the deal in our previous notes,  PB Fintech (Policybazaar) Pre-IPO - The Positives - Fast Growth and PB Fintech (Policybazaar) Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Patchy Data, Strategy Missteps.In this note, we will talk about updates since our last note and valuations.

PB Fintech (Policybazaar) IPO - Increasing Competition Will Keep Ad Spending High

FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa) / Equity Capital Markets

FSN E-commerce (Nykaa) aims to raise around US$720m, via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its Indian IPO. Nykaa is a lifestyle focussed e-commerce platform and consumer brand offering a portfolio of beauty, personal care and fashion products, including its own branded products. As per RedSeer, it was the largest Specialty Beauty and Personal Care Platform in India in terms of value of products sold in FY21.As of March 21, it had 43.7m cumulative downloads across all its mobile applications. Its offline channel comprises 73 physical stores across 38 cities in India. It reported a gross merchandise value (GMV) of INR40,459.8m (around US$550m) in FY21. Nykaa’s GMV, revenue and gross profit have more than doubled over FY19-21, even though the company suffered from a drop in orders due to COVID-19 in 4Q20 and 1Q21. Overall, GMV grew by 62.7% in FY20 and 50.7% in FY21. Revenue growth has broadly kept pace with GMV growth while the company has managed to turn a profit in FY21. We have looked at various aspects of the deal in our previous note,<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/fsn-e-commerce-nykaa-pre-ipo-mixed-bag-fashion-growing-beauty-slowing" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> FSN E-Commerce (Nykaa) Pre-IPO - Mixed bag - Fashion growing, beauty slowing</a>. In this note, we will talk about valuations.

FSN E-commerce (Nykaa) aims to raise around US$720m, via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its Indian IPO. Nykaa is a lifestyle focussed e-commerce platform and consumer brand offering a portfolio of beauty, personal care and fashion products, including its own branded products. As per RedSeer, it was the largest Specialty Beauty and Personal Care Platform in India in terms of value of products sold in FY21.As of March 21, it had 43.7m cumulative downloads across all its mobile applications. Its offline channel comprises 73 physical stores across 38 cities in India. It reported a gross merchandise value (GMV) of INR40,459.8m (around US$550m) in FY21. Nykaa’s GMV, revenue and gross profit have more than doubled over FY19-21, even though the company suffered from a drop in orders due to COVID-19 in 4Q20 and 1Q21. Overall, GMV grew by 62.7% in FY20 and 50.7% in FY21. Revenue growth has broadly kept pace with GMV growth while the company has managed to turn a profit in FY21. We have looked at various aspects of the deal in our previous note, FSN E-Commerce (Nykaa) Pre-IPO - Mixed bag - Fashion growing, beauty slowing. In this note, we will talk about valuations.

FSN E-Commerce (Nykaa) IPO - Beauty Showing Signs of Improvement but Its Too Expensive for Our Taste

PB Fintech (PBF), India’s largest online platform for insurance and lending products, aims to raise up to US$800m via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its India IPO. The company is backed by a strong set of investors including Info Edge, Tencent, Temasek, Tiger Global and Softbank.The company operates two platforms: Policybazaar operates in India’s online insurance product and service industry; and Paisabazaar platform operates in India’s online credit industry. As per Frost &amp; Sullivan, the company is a leader in the online sphere in both segments. In our previous note, we spoke about the positive aspects of the deal, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/pb-fintech-policybazaar-pre-ipo-the-positives-fast-growth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PB Fintech (Policybazaar) Pre-IPO - The Positives - Fast Growth</a>.In this note, we will talk about the not so positive aspects.

PB Fintech (PBF), India’s largest online platform for insurance and lending products, aims to raise up to US$800m via selling a mix of primary and secondary shares in its India IPO. The company is backed by a strong set of investors including Info Edge, Tencent, Temasek, Tiger Global and Softbank.The company operates two platforms: Policybazaar operates in India’s online insurance product and service industry; and Paisabazaar platform operates in India’s online credit industry. As per Frost &amp; Sullivan, the company is a leader in the online sphere in both segments. In our previous note, we spoke about the positive aspects of the deal, PB Fintech (Policybazaar) Pre-IPO - The Positives - Fast Growth.In this note, we will talk about the not so positive aspects.

PB Fintech (Policybazaar) Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Patchy Data, Strategy Missteps

Silver Point

Thomas J. Monaco

Independent Insight Provider

Silver Point is a boutique research firm that focuses on the broader financial services sector, with a particular focus on troubled institutions globally. 

Asia Ex Japan

Equity Bottom-Up

*Credibility Gap Continues To Widen: LIC Housing Finance (LICHF.IN) [LIC] reported FY 2Q22 bottom-line results of INR 2.5 bn, increasing INR 945 mn (61.6%) linked quarter. Results were simply odd, and driven by a loss provision cut of nearly INR 2.0 bn (23.4%) whilst problem loans continued to modestly tick higher. The oddness, in our view, came from now zero NCOs during FY 2Q22; and*Lack Of Clarity On Credit Delta: Despite the lack of NCOs, net new NPLs at LIC still increased 2.4% annualized versus 190.3% at FY 1Q21. By our calculation, LIC management ought to think about adding another INR 144 bn to the reserve.

*Credibility Gap Continues To Widen: LIC Housing Finance (LICHF.IN) [LIC] reported FY 2Q22 bottom-line results of INR 2.5 bn, increasing INR 945 mn (61.6%) linked quarter. Results were simply odd, and driven by a loss provision cut of nearly INR 2.0 bn (23.4%) whilst problem loans continued to modestly tick higher. The oddness, in our view, came from now zero NCOs during FY 2Q22; and*Lack Of Clarity On Credit Delta: Despite the lack of NCOs, net new NPLs at LIC still increased 2.4% annualized versus 190.3% at FY 1Q21. By our calculation, LIC management ought to think about adding another INR 144 bn to the reserve.

LIC Housing Finance – No NCOs Whatsoever?

India

HDFC Bank Ltd. offers a wide range of services to the global corporate sector. The Bank provides corporate banking and custodial services and is active in the treasury and capital markets. HDFC also markets project advisory services and capital market products such as Global Deposit Receipts, Euro currency loans, and Euro currency bonds.

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HDFC Bank (HDFCB IN)

Axis Bank: Toxic Workplaces Don’t Bring In More Business

2QFY2022 may have been an aberration, but if staff have become unresponsive to the management’s directives to push business growth, Axis has a ...

Hemindra Hazari

PB Fintech (Policybazaar) IPO - Increasing Competition Will Keep Ad Spending High

PB Fintech, India’s largest online platform for insurance and lending products, aims to raise up to US$793m in its India IPO. The company is backed...

Sumeet Singh

FSN E-Commerce (Nykaa) IPO - Beauty Showing Signs of Improvement but Its Too Expensive for Our Taste

FSN E-commerce (Nykaa) aims to raise around US$720m in its Indian IPO. In this note, we will look at the recent updates and valuation.

Sumeet Singh

PB Fintech (Policybazaar) Pre-IPO - The Negatives - Patchy Data, Strategy Missteps

PB Fintech (PBF), India’s largest online platform for insurance and lending products, aims to raise up to US$800m via selling a mix of primary and...

Sumeet Singh

LIC Housing Finance – No NCOs Whatsoever?

LIC HOUSING: LIC reported a QOQ FY 2Q22 bottom-line increase of 61.6%, driven by a loss provision cut. Oddly, LIC had zero NCOs and negative loan...

Thomas J. Monaco

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