Rating Rationale
July 08, 2020 | Mumbai
Venus Trust December 2019
(Originator: HDB Financial Services Limited)
'CRISIL AAA (SO)' Converted from Provisional Rating to Final Rating for Series A PTCs 
 
Rating Action
Trust Name Instrument
Details
Amount Rated (Rs.Cr) Outstanding Principal
(Rs.Cr)*
Original Tenure (Months) Credit Collateral (Rs.Cr) Ratings/ Credit Opinion Rating Action
Venus Trust December 2019 Series A PTCs 447.90 353.12 50 36.46 CRISIL AAA (SO) Converted from Provisional Rating to Final Rating
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities
*After May 2020 payouts
Detailed Rationale

CRISIL has converted its provisional rating assigned to Series A Pass-Through Certificates (PTCs) issued by 'Venus Trust December 2019' under a securitisation transaction originated by HDB Financial Services Limited (HDBFSL; rated 'CRISIL AAA/CRISIL PP-MLD AAAr/Stable/CRISIL A1+').
 
CRISIL has received the legal documents executed for this transaction at the time issuance of the PTCs and other required documents as listed below. The executed documents are in line with terms of the transaction when provisional rating/credit opinion was assigned. Hence, CRISIL has converted the provisional rating/credit opinion to a final rating/credit opinion.
 
Executed legal documents received

  • Trust Deed
  • Deed of Assignment
  • Power of Attorney
  • Cash collateral Agreement

 Other Documents received

  • Information memorandum
  • Legal opinion
  • Trustee's awareness letter
  • Auditor's certificate
  • Seller's representations and warranties letter

Please click on the following link for detailed information on CRISIL's policy on provisional rating:
Revision in CRISIL policy for assigning 'provisional' ratings.
 
This transaction is backed receivables from a pool of commercial vehicle and construction equipment loans originated by HDBFSL. The rating / credit opinion is based on the credit support available to the PTCs, credit quality of the underlying receivables, HDBFSL's origination and servicing capabilities, and soundness of the transaction's legal structure.
 
The transaction has a 'Par with Excess Interest Spread' structure. In exchange for a purchase consideration amounting to future principal outstanding as on the pool cut-off date, HDBFSL assigned the loan pool to 'Venus Trust December 2019', a trust settled by IDBI Trusteeship Services Limited (ITSL), which then issued instruments to investors. Investor payouts for Series A PTCs are supported by credit collateral and excess interest spread (EIS).
 
Post the announcement of RBI permitted payment moratorium on term loans, as confirmed by the Trustee, repayment moratorium was granted to several underlying borrowers in the securitised pool backing this transaction for the three months ended May 2020. Furthermore, in line with the pass-through nature of the instruments, PTC payout schedule has been revised to reflect the changed repayment schedule of the borrowers. CRISIL is closely following up on the status of the moratorium for July 2020 to September 2020 PTC payouts. Executed amendment documents pertaining to these changes are expected post the complete lifting of the lockdown.
 
Investor payouts for Series A PTCs are supported by credit collateral and excess interest spread (EIS). The total credit support available in the transaction at the time of securitisation is as below:

  • Internal credit support in the form of scheduled EIS assuming zero prepayments aggregating Rs 41.87 crore (9.3% of pool principal)
  • External credit enhancement of Rs 36.46 crore (8.1% of pool principal)

Investor consent on extension of moratorium to the underlying borrowers and an attendant revision in PTC payouts until September 2020, and collection efficiency for the underlying pool post the expiry of the RBI-permitted moratorium period remain key monitorables.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description
Supporting Factors
  • Internal and external credit enhancement
    • As of June 2020 payouts, credit collateral of Rs 36.46 crore (9.6% of outstanding pool principal) provides external credit support to Series A PTCs. The PTCs also enjoy internal credit support through scheduled EIS (assuming zero prepayment)
  • Strong collections from the pool pre moratorium annoucement and investor approval for revision of PTC schedule till June 2020 payouts post announcement of moratorium
  • As of April 2020 payouts, the cumulative collection ratio (CCR) was 97.2% against the TCR of 84.7% and 0+ OD stood at 0.6% of the initial pool principal. While collection efficiencies (based on original billing schedule) has declined since then, there were no promised investor payouts to be made till June 2020.
 Constraining Factors
  • Impact of Covid-19 pandemic
    • Uncertainty regarding the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the magnitude of resultant asset quality implications on retail asset classes such as CV & CE loans
    • The extent to which collection performance of the pool would be impacted due to the spread of Covid-19 and the consequent wide-spread lockdown is a key rating monitorable.
  • Moderate geographic concentration
    • 43.8% of the pool principal is from contracts originated in the top 3 states
Liquidity: Strong
Liquidity is strong given that the credit enhancement available in the structure is sufficient to cover losses exceeding 1.5 times the currently estimated base shortfalls.

Rating Sensitivity Factors

Downward factor:

  • Credit enhancement falling below 2.0 times of estimated base case shortfalls for Series A PTCs
  • A sharp downgrade in the rating of the servicer/originator
  • Non-adherence to the key transaction terms envisaged at the time of the rating
  • Investor not granting extension of moratorium to the underlying borrowers and an attendant revision in PTC payouts until September 2020.

About the Pool
The transaction is backed by receivables from a pool of commercial vehicle loan contracts. At the time of securitisation, contracts in the pool had a good seasoning profile as evidenced by a weighted average net seasoning of 10.7 months. Contracts in the pool are geographically concentrated with the top 3 states accounting for 43.8% of pool principal. The average ticket size for contracts in the pool is Rs 7.5 lakh, with a weighted average loan-to-value ratio of 86.9% at disbursement. The weighted average interest rate for contracts in the pool is 13.5%. All contracts were current on payment as of the pool cut-off date (August 31, 2019). CRISIL has adequately factored all these aspects in its rating analysis.


Rating Assumptions
 
To assess the base case collection shortfalls for this ABS transaction, CRISIL has analysed static pool information (with data on 90+ delinquencies) on new and used CV and CE loan receivables provided by HDBFSL. CRISIL has also analysed performance of past rated securitisation transactions and the performance of HDBFSL's vehicle finance portfolio.
 
Based on these aspects, CRISIL has estimated ultimate base case shortfalls in the range of 5.0% to 8.0% of future receivables for the tenure of the transaction and 10.0% to 15.0% of future receivables in the months post the expiry of the RBI-permitted moratorium period. Shortfalls and recoveries from overdue contracts have been adequately factored in.
 
CRISIL does not envisage any risk arising on account of commingling of cash flows since CRISIL's short term rating of servicer is 'CRISIL A1+'.
 
CRISIL has adequately factored in the risks arising on account of counterparties (servicer, collection and payout bank account, credit collateral provider, bank with which fixed deposit is placed and trustee) in the transaction.
 
CRISIL has also factored in monthly prepayment rate in the range of 0.3% to 0.8%.

 
Counterparty Details

Capacity

Counterparty Name

Counterparty Rating/Track record

Effect on credit ratings in case of non-performance

Originator and seller HDBFSL Rated 'CRISIL AAA/CRISIL PP-MLD AAAr/Stable/CRISIL A1+'  
No effect.
 
Servicer HDBFSL Rated 'CRISIL AAA/CRISIL PP-MLD AAAr/Stable/CRISIL A1+' Significant effect, because of change in servicing quality and replacement cost of servicer (not factored in by CRISIL given CRISIL's rating on the servicer). However, CRISIL does not envisage the requirement for replacement.
Collection and Payout Account Bank HSBC Bank Not rated by CRISIL Negligible effect. Account bank can be changed without impacting the rating.
Credit Collateral in the form of Fixed Deposit Axis Bank Limited Rated 'CRISIL AAA/CRISIL AA+/Stable/CRISIL A1+' Negligible effect. Bank with whom the fixed deposit is maintained can be changed without impacting the rating.
Trustee ITSL Adequate track record Negligible effect. Can be replaced at minimal cost.

About the Originator
HDB Finance was set up as an non-banking finance company by HDFC Bank in June 2007. The company began operations in fiscal 2008. As on March 31, 2019, HDFC Bank owned 95.9% of HDB Finance's equity shares.  On the same date, the company had 1350 branches across 961 cities in India. Apart from the lending business, HDB Finance is also engaged in the distribution of general and life insurance products for HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company and HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company, respectively. The company also runs BPO services that undertake collection services, back office and sales support functions under a contract with HDFC Bank.

HDB Finance reported a profit after tax of Rs 1153 crore on a total income of Rs 8724 crore for fiscal 2019 as against Rs 933 crore and Rs 7027 crore, respectively, in fiscal 2018.

Further, for the half year ended September 30, 2019, it reported a profit after tax of Rs 428 crore on a total income of Rs 5205 crore as against Rs 526 crore and Rs 4078 crore, respectively, in earlier fiscal.

Previously Rated Transactions
CRISIL has ratings outstanding on 6 ABS transactions originated by HDBFSL. CRISIL is receiving monthly performance reports pertaining to these transactions.
Key Financial Indicators
As on /for the half year ended September 30 Unit 2019 2018
Total assets Rs crore 60525 48685
Total income Rs crore 5205 4078
Profit after tax Rs crore 428 526
Gross NPA % 2.7 2.0
Overall capital adequacy ratio  % 18.2 18.9
Return on average assets % 1.5 2.2

Any other information: Not applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
CRISIL complexity levels are assigned to various types of financial instruments and are included (where applicable) in the Annexure -- Details of Instrument in this Rating Rationale. For more details on the CRISIL complexity levels, please visit www.crisil.com/complexity-levels.
Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)
Type of Instrument Rated Amount
(Rs.Cr)
Date of Allotment Maturity
Date#
Coupon Rate (%) (p.a.p.m.) Outstanding
Ratings/credit opinions
Complexity level Credit collateral (Rs.Cr)^
Series A PTCs 447.90 26-Dec-19 20-Feb-24 6.72% CRISIL AAA (SO)$ Highly Complex 36.46
#Indicates door to door tenure from allotment date. Actual tenure of instruments will depend on the level of prepayments in the loan pool, extension due to moratorium and possible exercise of the clean-up call option.
^In addition, scheduled EIS amounting to Rs aggregating Rs 41.87 crore also provides credit support to PTCs.
$Series A PTC investors are entitled to receive timely interest on a monthly basis, while the principal payment is promised on an ultimate basis.
Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years
  Current 2020 (History) 2019  2018  2017  Start of 2017
Instrument Type Outstanding Amount Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Rating
Series A PTCs  LT  353.12  CRISIL AAA (SO)  10-01-20  Provisional CRISIL AAA (SO)               
All amounts are in Rs.Cr.
 
Links to related criteria
CRISILs rating methodology for ABS transactions
Evaluating risks in securitisation transactions - A primer
Legal analysis in structured finance transactions

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