It is the right kind of property or the branch space that is — availability, that is a constraint. Now once that is done, enters our legal to ensure that the landlord who is leasing the property to us has got the title and it’s appropriately there so that we keep up our image that it’s a property that somebody is appropriately owning and we are able to lease it. So these are several of these that go in. And when we go through this process and get there, it gets to bunch up in the second half and the first half. That’s what we have seen over the last two years that we have seen, too, right? As much as we would like it to be even through the year, there are other constraints of availability, and that makes it tough for us to get there. And this is a machine, as you know, that’s right, it’s opening not 100, 200, it’s a machine that [indiscernible].
And so, when we are opening 500 branches in a quarter, the preparation and the legwork for that is a pretty long lead into getting there.
Piran Engineer: Okay, thanks for the elaborate answer. Just lastly, in terms of personal loans last couple of quarters, especially this quarter has been a slowdown. Just wanted to understand how much of it is deliberate versus market-led competition?
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan: I believe the market is quite good and underpenetrated. We have enormous of, I think, the pre-approved base, and we published that in the May month also where our pre-approved personal loan base is pretty high. And the demand is quite good. So, no question about that. In terms of the growth rate, we have about 15%, 15.5% year-on-year growth rate. We expect that — it has been in the — sometimes it’s been in the 20%-s, sometimes it has been in the high teens, but in the recent times, it has been in that 15%, 16% range. But we are confident that this is a strategic growth area for us. And the more customers we bring in and more they go through the seasoning process and monitoring process, we get the canvas even more opened up for an opportunity on personal loan.
Piran Engineer: Got it. Okay. Thank you, sir, so much, and wish you all the best.
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan: Thank you very much. Appreciate that.
Operator: Thank you. Next question is from the line of Manish Shukla from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Manish Shukla: Yeah, good evening, and thank you for the opportunity. Srini, you acquired about INR6.35 lakh crores of liabilities from HDFC Limited. What would be the average cost of those liabilities?
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan: That includes the borrowing you’re talking about?
Manish Shukla: Yeah, borrowings plus deposits, it was about INR6.35 lakh crores.
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan: Manish, I will direct you to what we have published, right, the cost of funds is up by about 80 basis points at an aggregate level. Most of that is driven through the incoming, you’ll be able to see that, right? You’ll be able to deduce and work it out. We have published the cost of funds at an aggregate price.
Manish Shukla: Sure, understood. And of these liabilities, roughly, if you can give an approximation of the maturity over either the next six months or 12 months, if you have it? What proportion of these liabilities will mature?
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan: That also, I think HDFC Limited has published as of May or June…
Manish Shukla: So, they have — as of March, but during June they…
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan: Team, can point you to the right place where it is.
Manish Shukla: No, we have it as of March, but during June quarter, they added a significant amount of liabilities, which is why I wanted to know as of June. We have the data for March.
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan: They are longer term, Manish, yeah.
Manish Shukla: Okay. Understood. All right. Those were my questions. Thank you.
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan: Thank you very much, Manish.
Operator: Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we have come to an end of the time allotted for the call. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Vaidyanathan for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan: Okay. Thank you, Nirav. We appreciate all the participants dialing in today and spending time with us. We are available through the week or through the next week, whenever you all need any other clarifications we can provide, we’d be happy to do. You know the contact of our Investor Relations team, Bhavin Lakhpatwala or others. Please stay in touch and get to us whenever you need. Thank you. Bye-bye.
Operator: Thank you very much. On behalf of HDFC Bank Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.
