Parag Milk Foods Ltd — Q4 FY26

Parag Milk Foods Ltd Q4 FY2025-26 Earnings Conference Call https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bmdqxCjXaA Published: 5 days ago

0:01 1 second Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q4 FI26 earnings conference call of Parag Foods Limited. 0:11 11 seconds As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listenonly mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. 0:20 20 seconds Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing start and zero on your touchstone phone. I now hand the 0:27 27 seconds conference over to Mr. Ryan Berna, head investor relations. Thank you and over to you sir. Yes. 0:35 35 seconds Good day. Good evening everyone and a warm welcome to the Q4 FI26 and fully year FI26 earnings call of Barakided. 0:44 44 seconds We are pleased to have you all join us for this virtual meeting. 0:49 49 seconds For the meeting today we have with us our executive director Mr. Akali Sha, our chief operating officer Mr. Rahul 0:57 57 seconds Kumar Shaska our chief strategy officer Vashank Jay and myself head of relations 1:04 1 minute, 4 seconds Brian Deana after the presentation concludes we will commence with a Q&A session just a 1:11 1 minute, 11 seconds couple of points to remember while asking a question we request you to announce your name and organization we request that you limit your 1:19 1 minute, 19 seconds participation to one question at a time and rejoin the queue if you have additional questions 1:26 1 minute, 26 seconds For the purpose of completeness, I do want to read out our safe harbor statement. 1:32 1 minute, 32 seconds Certain statements in this meeting with regard to our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements which involve a number of risks and 1:40 1 minute, 40 seconds uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. 1:48 1 minute, 48 seconds I now hand over to Mr. Abalisha for opening remarks. over to yourself. 2:00 2 minutes Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us. I hope you and your families are doing well and we truly appreciate your continued interest in Parag Foods. 2:12 2 minutes, 12 seconds If I were to describe FI26 in one line, I would call it a pivotal year where our 2:18 2 minutes, 18 seconds strategy started to translate into visible and measurable outcome where the business began to scale with greater clarity and confidence. 2:30 2 minutes, 30 seconds Over the past few years, we have been consciously reshaping Parag into more focused future ready dairy and nutrition company. 2:39 2 minutes, 39 seconds In FI26 that direction became far more evident not just in what we delivered but how we delivered it. 2:48 2 minutes, 48 seconds We crossed 3,800 crores in annual revenue growing in double digits with volume growth of 5%. 2:58 2 minutes, 58 seconds Overall the core categories volumes grew by 8% and the new age business that is avar inside of cows grew up 91%. 3:10 3 minutes, 10 seconds More importantly this growth was accompanied by stronger profitability improved margins and a healthier balance 3:18 3 minutes, 18 seconds sheet which tells us that business is becoming structurally stronger. What stands out even more is the quality of this growth. 3:27 3 minutes, 27 seconds Despite elevated milk prices and inflationary pressure, we were able to expand our gross margins to 28% in Q4. 3:41 3 minutes, 41 seconds This was not driven by external factors but by sharper execution that is with 3:48 3 minutes, 48 seconds better product portfolio mix more disciplined pricing tighter cost controls and a clear focus on 3:55 3 minutes, 55 seconds profitability at every level. Our new wage business has emerged as a strong 4:02 4 minutes, 2 seconds growth engine crossing 100 crores in quarterly revenue for the second consecutive year uh quarter 4:12 4 minutes, 12 seconds and growing over 100% yearonear in Q4. 4:17 4 minutes, 17 seconds Its contribution to our overall business has moved to a meaningful double digit at 10%. 4:25 4 minutes, 25 seconds The commodity witnessed inflation of 15% yearonear and 4% sequentially during Q4 4:32 4 minutes, 32 seconds FI26 with average milk prices at 42 rupees a liter 4:40 4 minutes, 40 seconds on quarteronquarter basis while the milk prices inched up 4% sequentially the company has been able to improve the 4:48 4 minutes, 48 seconds percentage gross margins to 28% for Q4 versus 25.6 or 25.9% for Q3. 4:59 4 minutes, 59 seconds The the company has been able to navigate the cost push with pricing and promotion strategy 5:07 5 minutes, 7 seconds portfolio mix yearon-year basis. While the milk price is inched up by 15% yearonear, the 5:16 5 minutes, 16 seconds company has managed to pass on the cost push in a calibrated manner. 5:21 5 minutes, 21 seconds In an inflationary environment, the percentage of gross margin last year was 26.7% 5:29 5 minutes, 29 seconds which is now 28% for Q4 FI26. 5:34 5 minutes, 34 seconds This movement entailed a combination of portfolio myths and inflation. 5:42 5 minutes, 42 seconds Today's consumers are making more conscious choices. They are seeking for quality protein and more differentiated 5:49 5 minutes, 49 seconds experience. Our portfolio is increasingly aligned to the needs. And this is where we see long-term sustainable growth coming from. 6:00 6 minutes If there is one theme that cuts across everything we are building, it's protein and nutrition. 6:07 6 minutes, 7 seconds We believe protein is no longer a niche. 6:10 6 minutes, 10 seconds It's becoming a very integral part of everyday consumption. Our effort has been to make it more accessible, more 6:18 6 minutes, 18 seconds relevant, and more integrated into daily lifestyle. 6:25 6 minutes, 25 seconds At the same time, we have been very deliberate about expanding into newer formats and occasions, whether it is 6:32 6 minutes, 32 seconds through high protein offerings or convenient snacking or like a premium dairy experience. 6:40 6 minutes, 40 seconds Innovation for us is not about launching more products but building relevance in in the moment that matter the most to the consumers. 6:49 6 minutes, 49 seconds Equally important has been how we are building our brands in a more contemporary way. During the year, we have strengthened our presence across 6:58 6 minutes, 58 seconds modern trade, quick commerce and digital platforms while driving deeper consumer engagement through on ground activation 7:08 7 minutes, 8 seconds and partnership like from mass visibility platforms like Kon Banega, Karupati to a very very 7:15 7 minutes, 15 seconds targeted uh focused youth and lifestyle ecosystem. Our approach has been to meet consumers where they are and build stronger and more meaningful connection. 7:28 7 minutes, 28 seconds We will continue to build on this momentum with a sharper focus on scaling our consumer portfolio, strengthening our brand relevance and 7:37 7 minutes, 37 seconds driving consistent and profitable growth. 7:40 7 minutes, 40 seconds At the same time, we will remain disciplined in our execution ensuring that growth is sustainable and backed by 7:48 7 minutes, 48 seconds stronger fundamentals with a strong portfolio improving qual uh financial quality and a clear 7:57 7 minutes, 57 seconds strategic direction. We believe we are well positioned for the next phase of growth. To conclude, thank you for your 8:06 8 minutes, 6 seconds continued support. We will now be happy to take your questions. Thank you very much. 8:14 8 minutes, 14 seconds We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchstone telephone. If you wish to 8:23 8 minutes, 23 seconds remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, 8:32 8 minutes, 32 seconds we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. 8:45 8 minutes, 45 seconds The first question is from the line of Rahan Seyad from Three Netra Asset Managers. Please go ahead. 8:51 8 minutes, 51 seconds Uh yeah, good evening and thanks for taking my question. Uh my first question uh my first question is around your avatar business that you have started. 9:02 9 minutes, 2 seconds So your has now become a Hi uh your voice is coming a little muffled. Can you uh uh 9:10 9 minutes, 10 seconds yes Mr. Say we are unable to hear you clearly voice is sounding very muffled. Uh now it's clear. Hello. 9:17 9 minutes, 17 seconds Yes please go ahead. Uh so yeah uh I want to ask regarding your Avatar segment that Avatar has now become a 9:25 9 minutes, 25 seconds meaningful growth driver with strong traction in e-commerce and quickcommerce. So uh can management share the current market share in the 9:33 9 minutes, 33 seconds sports nutrition category and how the brand is differentiating itself versus international wh protein sector in India. 9:44 9 minutes, 44 seconds Uh hi. So um see uh as you see the protein industry overall is growing into 9:52 9 minutes, 52 seconds uh uh you know different different segments. You know you have dairy protein and you have plant protein and we have uh you know which is now east 10:00 10 minutes protein as well but there is no one such data which actually says that how is the protein category because you know it's 10:07 10 minutes, 7 seconds still very unorganized and it's still a very importd driven uh category. So there is no data. We've not subscribed 10:15 10 minutes, 15 seconds to a data as such. But overall when we see the quickcom and uh the uh you know 10:22 10 minutes, 22 seconds the marketplace numbers we are somewhere around uh uh somewhere between 14 to 15% market share in the protein segment. 10:33 10 minutes, 33 seconds But of course a large quantum of our sale also happens through our own website. So we would be very difficult 10:40 10 minutes, 40 seconds to say overall how much the business uh is in the market share uh per se over 10:48 10 minutes, 48 seconds just correcting myself you have said 14 to 15% of uh market share right yeah in the quickcom and uh quickcom and 10:57 10 minutes, 57 seconds the marketplaces. Oh okay that yeah but but of course a large portion of the business is also coming from our own 11:05 11 minutes, 5 seconds websites and uh the retail outlets so that's not anywhere uh this thing but I'm just giving you overall on the brickcom piece. 11:15 11 minutes, 15 seconds Got it. Got it. Uh and my second question is around your uh new age business contribution has increased from 11:21 11 minutes, 21 seconds around 4% in FY 23 we have seen to nearly 10% in FY 26. So over the next three to five years what is the 11:29 11 minutes, 29 seconds long-term uh revenue aspiration for this segment and can you structurally deliver a better revenue than the traditional 11:37 11 minutes, 37 seconds daily in the next uh 3 to 5 years uh we see this business uh contributing to around uh 20 to 25% of the overall uh revenues. 11:51 11 minutes, 51 seconds Um uh and of course this will this will be backed by newer formats that we launch in protein and newer categories 11:59 11 minutes, 59 seconds in pride of cows that we'll launch in the next coming couple of years. 12:05 12 minutes, 5 seconds Okay. Uh and my last question of your piece uh that like our cheese remains one of the strongest categories with 12:13 12 minutes, 13 seconds leadership positioning. So uh can uh can you tell me some comment on capacity utilization at the cheese plant 12:20 12 minutes, 20 seconds currently and whether any uh fresh caps may be required if demand continues to grow at current level 12:30 12 minutes, 30 seconds uh see overall G manufacturing and cheese manufacturing capacity 12:37 12 minutes, 37 seconds uh is around 110 metric tons uh you would have seen in our investor presentation we are looking at of adjacency uh in the 12:46 12 minutes, 46 seconds capital uh uh in the capacity increase uh which you will see very soon from our side. So what the overall plan is that 12:54 12 minutes, 54 seconds we increase our capacity of cheese from 60 metric tons to 80 metric t and then we take it ahead. uh we may not need a 13:03 13 minutes, 3 seconds green field expansion when we have to increase the capacity from say a 60 to overall 120 can be done with a uh 13:10 13 minutes, 10 seconds adjacent adjacency in the capex um the the plan is already work in progress I think we will update uh as soon as the 13:19 13 minutes, 19 seconds capacity is installed and ready okay okay that's it from my good luck 13:27 13 minutes, 27 seconds coming thank you thank Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address 13:35 13 minutes, 35 seconds questions from all participants, we request you to please limit your question to one per participant. The next question is from the line of 13:42 13 minutes, 42 seconds Harshett Kadka from Robo Capital. Please go ahead. 13:46 13 minutes, 46 seconds Yes, thank you for the opportunity. Am I audible? Yes, you are. Please go ahead. 13:52 13 minutes, 52 seconds Uh yes, thank you ma'am. Uh so ma'am you mentioned that uh you know the contribution from the new age business would be around 25% in the next 3 years 14:01 14 minutes, 1 second which uh you know roughly translates to around 950 crores of revenue. So is it safe to assume that we can hit the 1,000 14:09 14 minutes, 9 seconds crores mark in the new age business including aar and pride of cow in FI 29? 14:16 14 minutes, 16 seconds See uh we are looking at we working on a strategy for 10,000 cr road map but fi 14:24 14 minutes, 24 seconds 29 saying precise 10,000 crores we are not uh commenting on that what we are saying is as the newer formats we add 14:33 14 minutes, 33 seconds into this basket of new age business the way we have added say protein wafer bar or the way we have added jurik yogurt in 14:40 14 minutes, 40 seconds pride of cows. So there will be newer formats of the product which will be uh added to these categories uh which will 14:47 14 minutes, 47 seconds also improve the overall mix of new age business besides the significant growth what we see in the core business itself 14:56 14 minutes, 56 seconds of say a whey protein powder or even a pride of cows milk and other products. 15:02 15 minutes, 2 seconds Uh okay. And what is a combined margin in this business the new age business in IITA terms? 15:11 15 minutes, 11 seconds See uh in IITA terms. See I would like to maybe I we do not give a product wise 15:18 15 minutes, 18 seconds category wise margins uh and this is always a a blended margin which everybody looks at uh whether it is a 15:25 15 minutes, 25 seconds gross margin or a beta margin. However, I am referring to the my previous calls where we have commented specifically 15:32 15 minutes, 32 seconds that the new age business has almost uh doubled the company average margins. 15:39 15 minutes, 39 seconds Sorry to interrupt. May we request Mr. 15:41 15 minutes, 41 seconds Kadka to please rejoin the queue. Thank you. The next question is from the line of Debashi from Aban Dubai. Please go ahead. 15:51 15 minutes, 51 seconds Uh hi my question is uh that uh this uh new age business uh whether we do we'll 15:59 15 minutes, 59 seconds definitely hit,000 cr it's matter of time whether 28 29 or 30 my question is 16:07 16 minutes, 7 seconds uh typically it is a it is a specifically aar is like a D2C brand and D2C brand has huge uh multiple in terms 16:16 16 minutes, 16 seconds of valuation is there a thought of uh actually uh separating uh this uh 16:23 16 minutes, 23 seconds vertical and uh uh get more uh value created uh not from a only valuation 16:31 16 minutes, 31 seconds perspective but strategically also the way this brand should run is very different than the traditional brands. Any thoughts on that? 16:42 16 minutes, 42 seconds Hi hi uh hiish. 16:45 16 minutes, 45 seconds So uh I know how uh you know uh the D2C businesses nowadays are getting 16:53 16 minutes, 53 seconds valuation but uh if you see our long-term uh objective there and uh we 16:59 16 minutes, 59 seconds created these uh four wonderful brands uh is to have a sustainable and a profitable 17:07 17 minutes, 7 seconds uh business and uh and sustain it and you know grow the business in a certain way. of course uh uh uh and to of course create value for all the stakeholders. 17:18 17 minutes, 18 seconds Uh that's the overall objective. But of course we've never uh and we we we've never we've never really thought of 17:26 17 minutes, 26 seconds separating one little piece of it and uh uh and uh doing a separate valuation piece. Not at all. You also need to see 17:35 17 minutes, 35 seconds that Parag is a completely integrated uh business model. you know from the farm that we have you know with 5,000 plus 17:43 17 minutes, 43 seconds cows to you know the milk you're procuring the cheese and the byproduct is whey protein and then we've created 17:49 17 minutes, 49 seconds this uh brand Avdar from there so it's a very integrated business model it' be very difficult to carve out something 17:57 17 minutes, 57 seconds particularly and and uh uh and you know to just for the valuation game 18:06 18 minutes, 6 seconds any reason why the new age business is stagnant to quarter quarters because the e-commerce channel is growing PX the 18:12 18 minutes, 12 seconds tradition of Jabi we are doing very well avar is doing very well uh so why you know on a sequential basis with such 18:22 18 minutes, 22 seconds high growth category and where we are doing very well uh the sales is stagnant around 100 crores for two quarters 18:34 18 minutes, 34 seconds uh so hi there uh during quarter 4 uh of FI 26 uh we withdrew certain promotions 18:42 18 minutes, 42 seconds uh specifically from pride of cows. We had price transition in aftar. So there are a couple of transitional impacts 18:49 18 minutes, 49 seconds which happens because uh it was already a year that we have been there on quickcom for pride of cows as a business. So whatever the annual 18:59 18 minutes, 59 seconds contracts were over we wanted to stabilize and focus more on profitability. So there was certain 19:06 19 minutes, 6 seconds pricing promotion calibrated uh strategy which was deployed for quarter 4 and that's where we see some transitionary 19:13 19 minutes, 13 seconds gap. Having said that uh we are happy with the 100 crore milestone uh put together which these business have achieved and we're sure going forward 19:22 19 minutes, 22 seconds taking it ahead from where we are as a 100 core base. Thank you. Thank you. All the best. 19:31 19 minutes, 31 seconds Thank you. 19:32 19 minutes, 32 seconds Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. The next question is from the line of Danil Desai from Total Capital. Please go ahead. 19:40 19 minutes, 40 seconds Uh hi, good afternoon everyone. Uh so my first question is uh you know we've been doing very good volume growth till Q3. 19:48 19 minutes, 48 seconds In Q4 in our core categories uh you know uh volume growth has come down significantly and sharply. uh you talked 19:56 19 minutes, 56 seconds about uh Q4 of last year having some institutional sales built up but uh so 20:03 20 minutes, 3 seconds uh you know going into FI27 how should we look at this core category volume growth and since we have taken steep 20:10 20 minutes, 10 seconds price increases uh you know does it having some impact on that and uh should we recalibrate uh the pricing strategy? 20:21 20 minutes, 21 seconds Yeah. Hi uh as you rightly pointed out there is a volume decline of 5% almost uh for the quarter 4 as a overall 20:30 20 minutes, 30 seconds blended business uh in core categories itself uh there is a volume decline of 3%. uh we've explained uh in our 20:38 20 minutes, 38 seconds investor presentation that the decline is mainly due to the uh institutional and export uh sales in the base year 20:47 20 minutes, 47 seconds specifically um in the core categories itself which has led to basic decline in the overall core. Having said that we 20:55 20 minutes, 55 seconds understand that uh see we have to grow year on year. uh however uh the exports 21:01 21 minutes, 1 second have been uh relatively on a lower side u I'm not getting into the uh the global 21:09 21 minutes, 9 seconds uh economics but uh there have been decline in the export sales uh Q1 uh yi for quarter 4 and hence we see the 21:18 21 minutes, 18 seconds decline in the core categories that is one uh secondly you wanted to understand the guidance for fi27 see we don't 21:26 21 minutes, 26 seconds typically give a yearly guidance uh And hence I would not like to comment on specific guidance for core categories 21:33 21 minutes, 33 seconds etc. But we have demonstrated well enough in the past that core categories have tremendous potential and we all are 21:41 21 minutes, 41 seconds working upon uh the distribution and uh improving the health of the business with 21:49 21 minutes, 49 seconds more distribution so that we have uh a growth in core categories. core categories remain fundamental to uh our 21:57 21 minutes, 57 seconds business because comprising almost 60% of our business. So there's uh there's a strong focus. Uh we have so as you as 22:06 22 minutes, 6 seconds you questioned on the pricing strategy see while we have increased of course prices in ghee during quarter 4 but we have also done certain pack level 22:15 22 minutes, 15 seconds strategy pack promotion strategy uh with different SQS for different markets etc. 22:21 22 minutes, 21 seconds But those are all nitty-g gritties of the business. Overall, uh we are looking at u uh a double-digit volume growth for 22:29 22 minutes, 29 seconds four categories. That's what we aspire to. 22:35 22 minutes, 35 seconds Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ankit Gupta from Bamboo Capital. Please go ahead. 22:42 22 minutes, 42 seconds Yeah. Um thanks for the opportunity. Uh Ankit, you know, you have earlier alluded to, you know, about sharing the incentive number for the full year. if 22:50 22 minutes, 50 seconds you can uh you know uh share about the number and its impact on our overall margins for FI26. 23:00 23 minutes Uh I give you the number of the uh uh incentive because it will be soon out uh 23:06 23 minutes, 6 seconds together with the schedule of uh uh the revenue from operation. 23:11 23 minutes, 11 seconds Yeah. But uh uh for uh for the year ended uh for this year the incentive 23:18 23 minutes, 18 seconds numbers has reduced uh drastically. So overall incentive number for um current 23:25 23 minutes, 25 seconds year is almost 46 crores as against 88 crores uh last year. Uh mainly on account of two reasons. one last year I 23:34 23 minutes, 34 seconds think we have clarified that for last year we had accounted for almost two years of incentive because there was additional scheme uh under mega which we 23:42 23 minutes, 42 seconds had applied for and we got the sanction so that's where we had to account for a larger base but that was oneoff secondly 23:50 23 minutes, 50 seconds what has happened is uh from H2 this financial year uh post changes in the GST reduction uh from 12% to 5% for our 23:58 23 minutes, 58 seconds core categories like so uh the incentives are typically based on the reimbursement of the SGST which is the 24:06 24 minutes, 6 seconds uh sale in the state of Maharashtra. So while the sale has not reduced but overall output GST is reduced because 24:13 24 minutes, 13 seconds from of reduction from 12% to 5%. So this has led to a significant reduction in the overall number as well. 24:21 24 minutes, 21 seconds Sure. And this number will remain at this level going forward also around 40 45 cr is what we can expect. Uh yeah it 24:29 24 minutes, 29 seconds may it may it will reduce marginally further because uh in the base year number half one uh is a full year number 24:37 24 minutes, 37 seconds the 44 45 crores is a full year number so the first half was having higher GST 24:45 24 minutes, 45 seconds okay okay thank you thank you the next question is from the line of VJ meta from enigma please go 24:53 24 minutes, 53 seconds ahead yeah uh hi uh my first question is on employee expenses. If I look at our 25:02 25 minutes, 2 seconds sales growth and visa v our employee expenses has just exploded at north of 20% growth for like couple of quarters 25:11 25 minutes, 11 seconds now on a y number whereas growth has tapered down significantly. So where is this mismatch like did we hire too many 25:19 25 minutes, 19 seconds people uh assuming a lot of sales but which did not transpire. Can you can you talk about this anomaly please? 25:28 25 minutes, 28 seconds See employee cost I will give you a couple of reasons. Last quarter uh we have had two impacts uh in the 25:37 25 minutes, 37 seconds last sequential quarter for quarter three as we mentioned typically uh the appraisal gets subsumed in quarter three 25:44 25 minutes, 44 seconds even so so is all the previous year trend also if you look at so quarter three is typically higher uh than the uh 25:53 25 minutes, 53 seconds half first half of the year. So that is one reason on the cycle of appraisal. 25:58 25 minutes, 58 seconds The second reason is u the change in the director's reminisation. I think the resolution was approved on 29th September for CAGM and there was an 26:07 26 minutes, 7 seconds impact corresponding to the same. The third is with respect to uh the ESOP. I think uh there has been increase in the 26:15 26 minutes, 15 seconds overall ESOP program uh to a CXO and the business heads and accordingly again see this is again more of a 26:23 26 minutes, 23 seconds long-term strategy for more skin in the game. So from that perspective there's a additional impact on account of ESOP. So when you look at the employee cost 26:31 26 minutes, 31 seconds schedule you will you'll be able to figure out the impact. Uh and the fourth one is of course the change in the 26:39 26 minutes, 39 seconds talent. uh of course we have strengthened the overall talent base. We have strengthened uh various um areas uh 26:46 26 minutes, 46 seconds and more so specifically in the business. So we have separate business heads for each of the uh verticles. We have strengthened specifically business 26:56 26 minutes, 56 seconds uh for the consumer product business which is uh GT for modern trade. So all 27:02 27 minutes, 2 seconds in all uh uh this is this is where you see the impact. 27:09 27 minutes, 9 seconds Sir my only question is I understand there was some impact in Q3 which were oneoff uh but the changes in removation 27:19 27 minutes, 19 seconds and if we are hiring more team we are now at a 54 crore run rate on a quarterly basis. So a as an investor do 27:28 27 minutes, 28 seconds I have to assume that these are there is no one-off in this number and and on ongoing basis this is more or less uh a 27:36 27 minutes, 36 seconds number we should look at and the number of people that we have hired now to what sales I'm sure you will see the future 27:45 27 minutes, 45 seconds growth so to what you will not like not see a substantial jump because in last one year we have seen a jump from 40 cr 27:53 27 minutes, 53 seconds six quarters back to 53 crores a quarter So uh without really a large change in uh sales which is where the whole dichotomy I'm trying to understand. 28:06 28 minutes, 6 seconds Okay. U see there are of course one-offs even in the current quarter. I understand your question that how should you presume for uh the year going ahead. 28:15 28 minutes, 15 seconds See quarter 4 has one biggest uh uh change is with respect to the ESOP expenditure because certain ESOPs which 28:22 28 minutes, 22 seconds were issued granted um the last of the quarter three so they have got really impacted more as a as a cost during 28:31 28 minutes, 31 seconds quarter four uh so that is one of the biggest impact the second impact is on account of the director's remineration I think which I explained to you that 28:39 28 minutes, 39 seconds after the shareholder approval during quarter three the approval was taken from the board and according ly the change in the director's remunation was 28:48 28 minutes, 48 seconds implemented from quarter 4 and if you look at the change in the remination of the executive directors see the remuneration has been fairly stable 28:56 28 minutes, 56 seconds stagnant for the last 7 8 years and there was no change in the remuneration um so it was actually a need of the r or 29:05 29 minutes, 5 seconds more imperent that we had to change it but uh and finally we took that step of changing the same and uh we implemented 29:13 29 minutes, 13 seconds this on quarter four. So the entire impact for the year comes under a quarter four number. That's why you see a quarter four relatively again on a higher side. 29:24 29 minutes, 24 seconds Sure. And my last question is on volume growth. I I understand what you explained to the earlier speaker but from a very high growth of uh in Q2 or 29:34 29 minutes, 34 seconds of north of uh like 25% revenue growth in core category um the volume growth 29:41 29 minutes, 41 seconds seems to be plummeted. Now uh like again your industry so if you can throw a little bit more light have we lost out 29:48 29 minutes, 48 seconds the competition due to a little bit of more aggressive pricing to improve our margins or would you say the whole 29:56 29 minutes, 56 seconds industry has not grown? If you can just show a little bit of color on this. 30:02 30 minutes, 2 seconds Uh sure see when we look at the core categories again there are three businesses which is ghee, cheese and paneer. Now looking at G there's 30:12 30 minutes, 12 seconds definitely a no brainer that we are number one despite premium and the premium index is almost maintained 30:20 30 minutes, 20 seconds versus what it has been there right uh premium has marginally increased over last year but over the sequential quarters there is no impact uh in the uh 30:29 30 minutes, 29 seconds pricing premium. So having said that ghee remains uh clearly outlier with a 30:37 30 minutes, 37 seconds strong volume growth. Uh there were certain export orders which I explained in the previous question. There were certain export orders and the 30:44 30 minutes, 44 seconds institutional uh supplies which we had done in the base year quarter. Uh in this year quarter we had almost very minimal amount of exports. So that has 30:53 30 minutes, 53 seconds led to a reduction in the overall number for the current quarter. uh paneer is broadly again based on the pricing 31:01 31 minutes, 1 second strategy u u the pricing strategy is more like uh so it is about a pricing 31:09 31 minutes, 9 seconds and promotion strategy which we have little tweaked and u that's how you see but paneer as compared to gh is 31:17 31 minutes, 17 seconds relatively small so overall I would say uh we don't see a impact on account in 31:23 31 minutes, 23 seconds the market share uh certainly not and We believe the potential is there uh the 31:30 31 minutes, 30 seconds immense potential is there in the core categories itself to grow in a double digit volume growth which you would have seen that in the last three quarters Q1 31:38 31 minutes, 38 seconds Q2 Q3 we had almost in by December itself we had a 12% volume growth so 31:45 31 minutes, 45 seconds sure we continue uh with that right and just uh a last understanding 31:51 31 minutes, 51 seconds from is you know we have always mentioned that um you know we'll we'll improve growth cost margins with product 31:58 31 minutes, 58 seconds mix and and and higher C core categories growing faster than the rest of the business um which will lead to at some 32:06 32 minutes, 6 seconds point in future uh you know 20 30% gross margin uh taking us to double digit 32:14 32 minutes, 14 seconds and and you guys have been a fabulous drop this quarter in an inflationary environment your gross margins are improved um but the translation to a 32:22 32 minutes, 22 seconds good doesn't seem to be happening how confident are you that in a couple of years or or whenever the time frame is 32:29 32 minutes, 29 seconds uh that translation or improvement in gross margins will actually flow down to EBIDA as well. 32:38 32 minutes, 38 seconds Yeah. See um your observation is correct that with respect to gross margin and definitely you will see a improved gross 32:45 32 minutes, 45 seconds margin in quarter 4 on a overall basis it is around 28% for the quarter 32:52 32 minutes, 52 seconds versus last year um number of uh maybe close to 27% 26.7 to be precise on a 32:59 32 minutes, 59 seconds like to basis. So y of course there is a improvement but we look at sequential see sequential is something we should definitely look at when the milk prices 33:08 33 minutes, 8 seconds was 40 we were at almost 26% margin now even with increased milk prices at 42 33:14 33 minutes, 14 seconds average 42 we are at quarterly gross margin of 28. So this shift in gross margin is again one because of the 33:23 33 minutes, 23 seconds favorable product mix. The second is again the in a hyperinflationary environment the percentage gross margin 33:30 33 minutes, 30 seconds dips down. So even though uh the gross margin has improved with a favorable mix it has been offseted by a uh price 33:39 33 minutes, 39 seconds change impact. Uh having said that we have also taken a price correction in quarter 4 specifically in he and cheese. 33:47 33 minutes, 47 seconds Uh but uh the percentage margin is always impacted because of inflation. uh because we tend to pass on only the cost 33:55 33 minutes, 55 seconds push and not the profit on the the revised pricing. uh we if you look at on the and I'm just coming on to the iita 34:03 34 minutes, 3 seconds your question on iita see overall um you would look at while the iittita 34:10 34 minutes, 10 seconds has dropped sequentially or y mainly because again uh y we have dipped from 34:17 34 minutes, 17 seconds 8.5 to almost 8.1 mainly on account of the inflationary environment during the year uh having said that there are other 34:26 34 minutes, 26 seconds levers as well you would notice yeah the increase is there in even employee cost as a percentage to sales or the other 34:35 34 minutes, 35 seconds expenses as well. Um see we are confident that uh with the strategy which we have put in for uh improving 34:44 34 minutes, 44 seconds with the new product portfolio increasing the new age business focusing on core categories with distribution expansion and uh giving a backbone to 34:53 34 minutes, 53 seconds the business for the profit margins we will definitely we are confident we're fairly confident that we will inch up to 35:00 35 minutes double digit margins uh that's what we aim for we aspire for yes we have to move to double digit I'm not talking 35:07 35 minutes, 7 seconds even a journey way ahead after double digit but yes the idea or the business strategy is to enter into double digit margins. 35:20 35 minutes, 20 seconds Sorry to interrupt maybe request participants to please rejoin the queue. 35:25 35 minutes, 25 seconds The next question is from the line of Venod Krishna from Aendas. Please go ahead. Am I audible? 35:33 35 minutes, 33 seconds Yes you are audible. So my question is also on code categories. See we have 22% market share in ghee. So and I'm 35:41 35 minutes, 41 seconds assuming because you're saying that you are con you're expanding the distribution. So I'm assuming that this market share is coming from presence in mostly north and western market. So can 35:50 35 minutes, 50 seconds we assume that doubledigit growth in ghee should not be a problem and cheese also mostly is in uh uh north western 35:59 35 minutes, 59 seconds north. So uh can you explain what are the drivers of the growth? Is it just distribution and not having presence across India or penetration? So how 36:07 36 minutes, 7 seconds should we think about long-term core category growth? Because I think even though your market shares are 22 and 35, it is not evenly distributed across 36:15 36 minutes, 15 seconds India, right? Or I may be wrong. So please correct me. 36:18 36 minutes, 18 seconds You're Rahul, you're right because you know you know India is very fast country and we are concentrated our market share 36:24 36 minutes, 24 seconds also in in a certain big state and uh we don't have that strength in in northern India as well as south India. So we have 36:32 36 minutes, 32 seconds deliberately working very uh hard and to get the inputs into the lot of markets in north India as well as south India. 36:40 36 minutes, 40 seconds So obviously these are the big states like UP has a population of 21 cr and south all the four states have population of 28 crores and we are very 36:48 36 minutes, 48 seconds very strong in Maharashtra but you know we are have lot of investment as a efforts for the from the sales team to 36:56 36 minutes, 56 seconds get market share in those states. So uh obviously it will be a very big uh growth in those states for all the core 37:04 37 minutes, 4 seconds categories and uh all the required investments have been have been already in place in terms of getting our cold chain established, warehouse 37:12 37 minutes, 12 seconds established, supply chain established as well as you know the awareness of the brand through uh you know in the Hindi bed through KBC and all. So it will be a 37:21 37 minutes, 21 seconds fantastic uh years to you know get the uh very good growth in those state. 37:25 37 minutes, 25 seconds You're right that this will be a gamecher as as far as volume goes are concerning poor category in these states which are roughly 30% of Indian 37:34 37 minutes, 34 seconds population. Sir I agree but there should be somebody already present there right so what are we not having any challenges so that was my question like you go into 37:41 37 minutes, 41 seconds UP but there should already be some people already there so how do you get the market share yeah no basically the the main main 37:48 37 minutes, 48 seconds thing which is changing we all must know is about the change of the consumer preference from unorganized players to 37:56 37 minutes, 56 seconds organized players. So if you if you talk about if you talk about ghee then because of the lot of you know uh you 38:03 38 minutes, 3 seconds know bad publicity of the adultated ghee and also lot of people are changing from you know unorganized ghee to organized ghee 38:11 38 minutes, 11 seconds brand only. Same same is the case with paneer also you see the big change in the consumer preference of the consumer preference from unorganized paneer to 38:19 38 minutes, 19 seconds paneer market. In fact lot of adultated paneer or a paneer analog now have been will be classified as a as a we cannot 38:27 38 minutes, 27 seconds call it as a paneer. So the these are the government laws are going to come. 38:30 38 minutes, 30 seconds So these things will certainly give us a big impetus to to make lot of endorse to those markets. 38:39 38 minutes, 39 seconds So can I assume that you are more confident of growing in the states and most of the investment in terms of distribution is distribution and logistics is being placed. 38:48 38 minutes, 48 seconds Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sorry. 38:51 38 minutes, 51 seconds Thank you sir. Thank you very much and all the best. Thank Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aish Dwari from Varia. Please go ahead. 39:01 39 minutes, 1 second Hi. Uh given the past uh cycles you would have seen uh in terms of the uh 39:09 39 minutes, 9 seconds inflation shocks. Uh currently what we are experiencing in terms of fuel cost increase which may lead to feed stock price increase and eventually the milk 39:17 39 minutes, 17 seconds price increase. And then there's some uh also concerns around Elmino. So if you 39:24 39 minutes, 24 seconds were to take a scenarios what kind of uh uh price increases which we might experience and how you plan to sort of 39:32 39 minutes, 32 seconds uh like how much lag typically you have before you are able to pass on these in your in your let's say liquid milk 39:40 39 minutes, 40 seconds price. I know that the in the value added you would have more more pricing strategy but just want to understand the raw material cycle from your perspective on the historical context here. 39:52 39 minutes, 52 seconds Uh yeah I got your question. We always take the you know cognizance of what is happening in terms of the energy prices uh across the world as well as the 39:59 39 minutes, 59 seconds effect effect in Indian prices. So because of the because of the you know war and all this thing there were 40:06 40 minutes, 6 seconds inflammatory pressure on the polymer prices and plastic raw material that has already increased the packing material prices. 40:15 40 minutes, 15 seconds So this this has changed our our uh you know pricing in the fresh milk in in terms of the milk pouches and all. So we 40:23 40 minutes, 23 seconds have increased we have taken the price increase in that. As far as you know diesel and petrol prices if the effect 40:30 40 minutes, 30 seconds said if if the prices are increased certainly we will be able to take the price increase because uh this will uh 40:38 40 minutes, 38 seconds create lot of cost pressure on the supply chain and logistics. So uh we we'll be taking as as and when the prices are increasing petrol and diesel which is not the case as we speak today. 40:50 40 minutes, 50 seconds Yeah. And do you have a perspective how much the milk document price is today is around 42 rupees. How much what are the probable scenarios there which can go up given the farmer go up? 41:02 41 minutes, 2 seconds See as compared to last year we have about 15% more prices in milk which is presently at the rate of 42 rupees per 41:10 41 minutes, 10 seconds liter. uh what I think the uh this prices should be stable for uh next 2 3 months uh until something uh big happens 41:18 41 minutes, 18 seconds in energy prices because that that that uh uh has impact on the logistic and collection of milk and all this thing including cattle feed prices. So uh if 41:27 41 minutes, 27 seconds if things are stable from the from the warfront and all and the prices are stable then we see the milk prices also 41:35 41 minutes, 35 seconds stable. uh then after monsoons are there and grass comes and all these things there will be there might be some softening of the prices otherwise I 41:42 41 minutes, 42 seconds think same prices are nextly three three four months sorry may we request Mr. Dwari to please rejoin the queue. Thank you. The next 41:50 41 minutes, 50 seconds question is from the line of Paradesha Gupta from Fair Value Capital. Please go ahead. Thank you very much for the opportunity. 41:58 41 minutes, 58 seconds My first question is on the inventory levels at 730 crores. I just wanted to understand how much is bulk fat versus 42:06 42 minutes, 6 seconds cheese. Now I do understand that in order to produce whey protein, we produce uh cheese and paneer as well. 42:14 42 minutes, 14 seconds But from a strategic perspective, is this a conscious working capital investment considering the higher milk prices or stocking demand or is it a 42:24 42 minutes, 24 seconds sign of channel inventory buildup? 42:29 42 minutes, 29 seconds Uh see there is no channel inventory as such. Uh the entire inventory whether depo stock or uh the factory stock even 42:38 42 minutes, 38 seconds the SFG stock is our inventory. Uh having said that if you look at uh overall uh variance in inventory u the 42:48 42 minutes, 48 seconds inventory has increased by almost 150 odd crores and purely on account of rate variance at a overall level. Uh there 42:56 42 minutes, 56 seconds will be mix uh which would have changed but overall the quantitative variance uh at overall inventory level is uh almost 43:03 43 minutes, 3 seconds nil and the entire inventory is because of the inflation. How having said that uh the inventory composition has also 43:12 43 minutes, 12 seconds changed over a period of time uh considered with the change in the mix of the business accordingly uh the entire 43:19 43 minutes, 19 seconds rate variance uh is flowing uh in form of inventory increase. 43:26 43 minutes, 26 seconds I understand. My second question is on the capeex. I know we did around 100 crores in FI26. Uh what is the guidance for FI27 and where is it exactly going? 43:37 43 minutes, 37 seconds uh capacity expansion, cold chain or the new age business buildout. 43:46 43 minutes, 46 seconds Hello. Yeah. So, uh see this capeex has been uh with respect to the uh commitments which we have already given 43:56 43 minutes, 56 seconds with respect to the when we initiate a project there is a overall uh capital investment everything may not be incurred on day one. Hence, hence you 44:04 44 minutes, 4 seconds see a result and uh I think uh just few minutes ago or maybe uh in this call itself we spoke about expansion in 44:12 44 minutes, 12 seconds cheese. So that is one of the investment area where uh we have invested into. The 44:19 44 minutes, 19 seconds second is of course improving uh in lactose plant to etc. So there are multiple areas where 44:26 44 minutes, 26 seconds this capex uh has been spent. uh but uh for as a guidance for the next year um we will definitely give a guidance of 60 44:35 44 minutes, 35 seconds to 70 crores of uh capeex daily being capital intensive. There are some of the other uh capital projects which are 44:44 44 minutes, 44 seconds again for a relatively a longer gestation or a tenure which needs to be finished. So from that perspective u we 44:53 44 minutes, 53 seconds can fairly assume 60 to 70 crores of capital expenditure. Thank you very much. May we request Mr. 44:59 44 minutes, 59 seconds Gupta to please rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Kand from table tree. Please go ahead. 45:07 45 minutes, 7 seconds Uh thank you for the opportunity. Uh good set of results considering this hyperinflationary environment uh and 45:14 45 minutes, 14 seconds great growth on new age. I have a couple of questions. The first question is I mean uh growth margin improvement is 45:20 45 minutes, 20 seconds evident. uh question is because of institutional sales reducing and export sales reducing do you think it's a 45:29 45 minutes, 29 seconds mathematical impact on gross margin improvement I mean once institutional sales comes back I'm hoping they come back institutional export sales do we 45:38 45 minutes, 38 seconds come back to a 26 27% gross margin like the last quarter uh I mean this is only mathematical right because institutional 45:44 45 minutes, 44 seconds sales at lower margin didn't get sold our gross margin automatically improved Um see uh while you are looking at only 45:54 45 minutes, 54 seconds the institutional sales if you look at in quarter 4 actually we have increased prices uh across the board. We have 46:01 46 minutes, 1 second increased prices in ghee. We have increased prices in liquid milk. We have increased prices in pride of cows from 46:08 46 minutes, 8 seconds 120 rupees per liter to 135 rupees a liter. Similarly in Aftar also there are pricing uh changes and plus there is a 46:17 46 minutes, 17 seconds pricing promotion mix which we keep on tweaking uh for a overall operating effectiveness. Having said that, so of 46:25 46 minutes, 25 seconds course it has of course brought in a good amount of uh margin change from where we were in Q3 because Q3 was more 46:33 46 minutes, 33 seconds of a price reduction because of on account of GST despite inflationary environment uh we had to pass on the 46:42 46 minutes, 42 seconds benefits etc. So on a sequential basis if you look at there is a almost improvement of around 2 odd%. Which is 46:51 46 minutes, 51 seconds um in fact uh sequentially if you look at there's a change in the mix as well. 46:57 46 minutes, 57 seconds um uh where the whereby the core categories have uh relatively gone down 47:04 47 minutes, 4 seconds because again why it has gone down is as you rightly pointed out one of the institutional uh sales as a overall 47:12 47 minutes, 12 seconds quarter four mix. So put together so all in put together we we we see that 47:19 47 minutes, 19 seconds uh we should be able to maintain our gross margins to wherever we are around 27 28% and the endeavor will be of 47:28 47 minutes, 28 seconds course to pass on but if there is a further inflation if there is a further inflation whether in any of the commodities not only just the milk but 47:36 47 minutes, 36 seconds for example we do buy fat uh so all in all the inflationary environment in commodity cycle 47:43 47 minutes, 43 seconds will determine how our percentage margin moves in the coming quarters. But if you 47:50 47 minutes, 50 seconds look at it is clearly evident that our gross profit growths have surpassed volume growths which uh establishes that 47:58 47 minutes, 58 seconds yes we have the pricing power uh we have we can command pricing and we will be able to navigate the cost push if there is any. 48:08 48 minutes, 8 seconds Sorry may we request participants to please rejoin the queue. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions 48:16 48 minutes, 16 seconds from all participants, we request you to please limit your question to one per participant. The next question is from the line of Rahul Jen from Credence Wells. Please go ahead. 48:29 48 minutes, 29 seconds Hello. Am I audible? Yes, you are. Please go ahead. 48:33 48 minutes, 33 seconds Sure. Thanks. Thanks for the opportunity and uh uh congratulations to the management for the gross margin 48:41 48 minutes, 41 seconds expansion during a difficulty year and also uh absolutely wonderful growth on our new age businesses. So uh couple of 48:50 48 minutes, 50 seconds questions straight away on the new age businesses. Lakshi if you could uh share your thoughts you know from growing from this base of roughly about 360 crores 48:59 48 minutes, 59 seconds can we look for further 50 60% growth going ahead in the current year and uh the second question Ankit you mentioned 49:07 49 minutes, 7 seconds about uh one of in the employee expenses to one of the previous participants with regards to ESOP and director remission 49:14 49 minutes, 14 seconds if you could just uh give out that number what that number was and so so we can understand you know typically 49:22 49 minutes, 22 seconds what is the sustainable kind of quarterly employee expenses going ahead and of course taking some inflation for the next year and lastly this inventory 49:32 49 minutes, 32 seconds number which is roughly at 730 crores has seen a sharp jump uh if you could explain uh the reason for that 49:41 49 minutes, 41 seconds yeah so before I request to answer you on the question number one uh let me answer you on the employee cost front so 49:49 49 minutes, 49 seconds one uh you would have seen the shareholders approval on September 29. So overall the the 49:57 49 minutes, 57 seconds change in the remineration for executive directors is roughly around 9 odd crores. Uh that is for u for the full 50:06 50 minutes, 6 seconds years from a base year of 6 crores to a almost a 15 cr number that is one. 50:10 50 minutes, 10 seconds Secondly the overall impact on account of esop is almost around 5 crores. Both of this has been subsumed during quarter 50:19 50 minutes, 19 seconds 3 and quarter four. um and largely in quarter 4. Um that's these are the numbers. Uh now coming on to the 50:27 50 minutes, 27 seconds inventory variance. You look at inventory overall u uh the absolute 50:34 50 minutes, 34 seconds inventory has increased by almost 150 crores mainly due to the rate variance. 50:39 50 minutes, 39 seconds While we look at the composition of the inventory there will be change in the mix uh basis the recent business cycle. 50:46 50 minutes, 46 seconds For example, just sharing that our inventory in powders will significantly come down versus because the overall 50:54 50 minutes, 54 seconds business of powders has come down has reduced. But all in all, all put together at a quantitative rate variance 51:01 51 minutes, 1 second for the inventory as a whole is almost nil and the entire increase attributes toward the increase in the rates. 51:12 51 minutes, 12 seconds Uh now I may request actually to answer on the sorry Ankit you miss the sustainable employee cost number now that means 51:18 51 minutes, 18 seconds would be on a quarterly basis I think it should be around 45 crores 45 46 crores is that number correct 51:28 51 minutes, 28 seconds okay I will not be able to share off hand but roughly you can eliminate almost what I gave you the numbers around 7 and 51:36 51 minutes, 36 seconds a half crores 8 crores as exceptional items balance will be the regular number Yeah. 51:42 51 minutes, 42 seconds Okay. Yeah. Fair enough. Sorry Ashi. Uh yeah. 51:46 51 minutes, 46 seconds Hi. So uh hi Rahul. So of course exciting times for uh Absar and uh uh you know premium dairy which is pride of 51:54 51 minutes, 54 seconds cows. uh we've been if you see the run for the two consecutive uh quarters we've done 100 cr plus right and uh as I 52:04 52 minutes, 4 seconds mentioned earlier we see this portfolio becoming somewhere around 25 to 20% in the next uh 3 to 5 years when you know 52:13 52 minutes, 13 seconds when we to become a th00and cr 10,000 cr company this will be somewhere around 1,000 crores and of course uh gradually 52:20 52 minutes, 20 seconds to move there we've seen uh you know expansion growth in the next two to three years plus in newer formats as 52:28 52 minutes, 28 seconds well because we have a lot of uh new offerings which are coming uh every quarter in the next you know two to three quarters you'll see something new 52:35 52 minutes, 35 seconds coming up in this portfolio in uh various formats uh so yeah this is where the new business stands uh as of now 52:44 52 minutes, 44 seconds will be very difficult to comment on something as short-term as this year but of course it's going to be a gradual 52:52 52 minutes, 52 seconds move towards becoming a thousand going out forwards. So there'll be something for every year. 53:01 53 minutes, 1 second Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mahima from SHP. Please go ahead. 53:12 53 minutes, 12 seconds Yes, Mahima. Please go ahead with a question. 53:18 53 minutes, 18 seconds Ma, there is some students here unable to hear you. 53:25 53 minutes, 25 seconds As the line of the participant is not clear, we'll move to the next question which is from the line of Mohit Patel from Nest. Please go ahead. 53:35 53 minutes, 35 seconds Hello. Am I audible? Yes. Yeah. 53:40 53 minutes, 40 seconds Uh there was a slight degrowth in your new age business around close to 2%. And this was due to your you increase your V 53:48 53 minutes, 48 seconds price around three times in last one year and in Jan to clear your inventory you decrease the price by uh 10% to 53:56 53 minutes, 56 seconds clear the inventory otherwise your way segment would have degraded. So can you please throw some light on that? 54:05 54 minutes, 5 seconds See new age business as I think I explained in the previous answer that uh uh we have uh there are a couple of 54:13 54 minutes, 13 seconds changes in new age business. One in Q4 we have tweaked on the pricing promotion strategy for pride of cows. Um we have 54:21 54 minutes, 21 seconds of course increased the prices reduced promotional mix because uh we have we have had uh one year of uh being present 54:29 54 minutes, 29 seconds in quickcom. So we have uh we have reduced certain uh promotion items uh for uh improving and sustaining the profitability that is one item. 54:40 54 minutes, 40 seconds Secondly, we of course increase certain prices and of course uh uh change the distribution channel for Avdar. But 54:48 54 minutes, 48 seconds having said that, these are all normal transitionary part. U if you look at growth, you are looking at sequential 54:56 54 minutes, 56 seconds from 100 to 200 number. But uh we are happy that we have been able to deliver uh with a 100 core quarterly revenue 55:04 55 minutes, 4 seconds mark. The idea will be that from here on we at 100 core base how do we inch up again I'm not giving a numbers for the 55:12 55 minutes, 12 seconds next year what we are looking at but the idea is to grow from here what we are where we are 55:19 55 minutes, 19 seconds but other players in the market like mas old they have observed the increase in the way price but you have passed uh the 55:27 55 minutes, 27 seconds cost to customer uh isn't it due to the new marketing team there's no new marketing team. The 55:36 55 minutes, 36 seconds marketing team marketing team number one and number two see if you look at the overall global protein prices the p the 55:44 55 minutes, 44 seconds protein prices has seen a very northward movement and very very high movement. Uh 55:52 55 minutes, 52 seconds so again the could be one one reason is also on the effect side there's a change in the FX rate. So whosoever is 55:59 55 minutes, 59 seconds importing protein into the country is extremely high. For us uh the commodity prices of whey protein is uh 56:07 56 minutes, 7 seconds is just very secondary and is just a marker for us. But for us uh the whey protein price is mainly driven by the 56:16 56 minutes, 16 seconds volatility in the milk prices. It's not because of the commodity prices. Okay sir. Thank you. 56:24 56 minutes, 24 seconds Thank you. 56:25 56 minutes, 25 seconds Thank you. The next question is from the line of Parak Gupta from Fair Valley Capital. Please go ahead. 56:32 56 minutes, 32 seconds Uh so just one question in terms of the distribution network. I see that it remains the same for many quarters now. 56:41 56 minutes, 41 seconds Is that a strategic decision for us to focus on growth through the e-commerce or commerce channels? Because you know 56:48 56 minutes, 48 seconds in Afar around 65% of the business comes for e-commerce and we know that they sh take a lot of margin for putting 56:56 56 minutes, 56 seconds products on their on their portals. So just wanted to understand your strategy on this please. 57:07 57 minutes, 7 seconds Yeah. 57:08 57 minutes, 8 seconds Yeah. See we we we are improving our distribution in all the channels whether it's a D2C or or or modern trade or 57:16 57 minutes, 16 seconds e-commerce or or GT or quickcommerce. So uh let me tell tell you something about GT that that is also very big in India. 57:25 57 minutes, 25 seconds So we are adding uh every quarter about 30,000 outlets as far GT is concerned in terms of you know uh all the all across 57:33 57 minutes, 33 seconds India. Apart from that you know we are getting more and more uh aggressive in other other uh channels also. So uh this 57:41 57 minutes, 41 seconds is a uh continuous job continuous job to increase our distribution and outlets also on the categories uh that uh that 57:50 57 minutes, 50 seconds we are in you know u is growing very very rapidly on uh quickcom and ecom uh 57:58 57 minutes, 58 seconds that's why you know and hence we're growing with the category on these platforms really well. Of course in GT 58:04 58 minutes, 4 seconds we make sure that we're doing uh uh increasing our outlet reached and increasing our depth. So if we've been 58:11 58 minutes, 11 seconds selling X uh number of uh lines how do we reach 2X? So that's the work that we're doing. So increasing our depth in 58:18 58 minutes, 18 seconds the existing and growing our uh network but especially categories like uh paneer and cheese uh whey protein do really 58:27 58 minutes, 27 seconds well on uh quickcom and ecom especially high protein categories they they work really well on these platforms and hence 58:36 58 minutes, 36 seconds uh we're seeing much better growth on these platforms over uh GT which is not a measured in terms of only 58:44 58 minutes, 44 seconds the outlet number. Yeah, I understand. And if I could just please squeeze in one last question. Uh in you 58:54 58 minutes, 54 seconds also had set up a subsidiary in Dubai and I know that you know whatever is happening in the Middle East uh puts 59:01 59 minutes, 1 second uncertainty all across but uh how does plans for that subsidiary look like at this moment? 59:11 59 minutes, 11 seconds uh see setting up the subsidiary uh uh and having the operations uh we have we have got even the bank account opened uh 59:20 59 minutes, 20 seconds in quarter 4 but having said that that the first ODI has not gone into it but the idea is not see this is just a 59:28 59 minutes, 28 seconds similar I I'll tell you it's very similar just an extension of what we are really doing in India so we already have distributors that we are directly 59:36 59 minutes, 36 seconds supplying from India but of course we want to increase our reach in Middle East we said that okay we will have a company owned uh depot there and and 59:45 59 minutes, 45 seconds we'll make uh more and more distributors and increase our distribution range there but of course uh for the last two months or last 3 months you say 59:54 59 minutes, 54 seconds everything has been pretty much on hold and we've been working selling uh directly to the distributors now and not 1:00:01 1 hour, 1 second and not been able to open the depot uh hopefully uh uh you know the plans will remain the same in the next uh coming uh 1:00:10 1 hour, 10 seconds time when when Middle East opens up and it's a little more easy uh moment, we'll still continue with opening the depo and 1:00:18 1 hour, 18 seconds increasing and adding more distributors and increasing our reach there. 1:00:24 1 hour, 24 seconds Okay, these are very helpful. Thank you very much for your answers. Thank you so much. 1:00:30 1 hour, 30 seconds Thank you ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Brian Deepena for closing comments. 1:00:41 1 hour, 41 seconds Uh on behalf of the management of Parag Milk Foods Limited, thank you all for joining us today. Have a wonderful evening. 1:00:52 1 hour, 52 seconds Thank you. On behalf of Parag Milk Foods Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us.