Godrej Agrovet Limited (GODREJAGRO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, members. I am Vivek Raizada, Company Secretary and Compliance Officer of Godrej Agrovet Limited, attending this meeting from Mumbai. I am pleased to welcome you to the 29th Annual General Meeting of Godrej Agrovet Limited being held through video conference service. In view of the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has vide circular dated 8th April 2020, 13th April 2020, and 5th May 2020, permitted the holding of AGM through video conferencing or other audio/video means without the physical presence of members at the common venue. In compliance with the provision of the Companies Act 2013, the SEBI Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations 2015 and the MCA circular mentioned before, the 29th AGM of the company is being held through video conference. The facility for the AGM and e-voting are being provided by NSDL. I would now like to brief the members about the certain procedural and technical aspect of the AGM. The facility of joining the AGM through video conferencing is being made available to the members on first come first served basis. As the members who are joining the AGM are by default placed on mute by the host to avoid any disturbances arising from any background noise and to ensure smooth and seamless conduct of the meeting. Once the question-answer session starts, the names of the shareholders who have registered as speaker shareholders will be called out one by one. Only the audio of the speaker shareholder will then be unmuted by the host. To start speaking, the shareholder is requested to turn on his or her video. If the shareholder is unable to join through video due to any technical issue, the shareholder can speak through audio only. If the speaker shareholder face any connectivity issue, we would invite the next speaker to join. And once the connectivity improves, the speaker shareholder [indiscernible] called again to speak once the speaker shareholders have completed their term. The speaker shareholders may also call the helpline number mentioned in the AGM notice in case of any technical issue faced by them. The speaker shareholders are requested to be loud and clear while speaking, so as to enable us to note the questions correctly. [Operator Instructions] Now I would request the Chairman to take over the proceeding of the AGM. Over to you, sir.

Chairman of the company attending this meeting through with video conference from my residence in Mumbai. I am informed that the directors are attending this AGM from their respective locations through video conference: Mr. Vijay M Crishna, Ms. Tanya Dubash, Ms. Nisaba Godrej, Mr. Pirojsha Godrej, nonindependent directors from Mumbai. Mr. Balram Yadav, Managing Director from Mumbai; Mr. Kavas N Petigara, Dr. Ritu Anand, Ms. Aditi Kothari Desai, and Ms. Roopa Purushothaman independent directors from Mumbai; Dr. Raghunath A Mashelkar, Independent Director from Pune; Mr. Natarajan Srinivasan, Independent Director from Chennai; and Mr. Kannan Sitaraman, Independent Director from Bengaluru. Mr. Jamshyd N Godrej has expressed his inability to attend the meeting due to unavoidable commitments and has requested for leave of absence. I'm also informed that S. Varadaraj, Chief Financial Officer, is attending this AGM from his location in Thane. We also have representatives of BSR & Company, chartered accountants, the statutory auditors; BNP & Associates, company secretaries, the secretarial auditors; P. M. Nanabhoy & Company, cost accountants, the cost auditors; Kfin Technologies Private Limited, registrar and share transfer agents, attending this AGM through video conferencing. Mr. B. Narasimhan, practicing company secretary, the scrutinizer, is also attending this AGM through video conference. I extend a hearty welcome to all the shareholders, all the directors and the invitees to the 29th AGM of Godrej Agrovet Limited. Due to the social distancing norms and in order to ensure the safety of the members and employees of the company during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the first time ever that the AGM is being held in -- by virtual mode. A live streaming of this meeting is also being cast on NSDL's website. I thank all of you for participating in today's meeting and sincerely wish that you and your families stay safe and healthy. I'm informed that the requisite quorum for the AGM is present. So I call this meeting to order. Since there is no physical attendance of members. And in compliance with the circulars issued by MCA and SEBI, the provision of appointment of proxies is not applicable. The registers are required by the Companies Act have been made available electronically for inspection by the members during the AGM. Members seeking to inspect such documents can send the request to the GAVL secretarial -- [email protected]. I repeat, to [email protected]. AGM notice -- since the notice convening the 29th Annual General Meeting, along with the annual report for the financial year '19/'20, have already been circulated to the members of the company, I take the notice convening the meeting as received and read. Since the statutory auditors' report on the financial statements for the financial year ended 31st March 2020, as circulated to the members, does not contain any qualifications or adverse remarks, I take the same as received and read. Since the secretarial audit report for the financial year ended 31st March 2020, as circulated to the members, does not contain any qualifications or adverse remarks, I take the same as received and read. It gives me great pleasure to present to you the developments of Godrej Agrovet Limited during the financial year '19/'20. In fiscal year '19/'20, while India's economic growth rate was already at a multiyear low in the first 9 months, the COVID-19 pandemic in the fourth quarter further lowered the growth. The agricultural sector, in which we operate, also grew in line with the overall economy, supported by a good Rabi crop. However, macro indicators in a few of our businesses were unfavorable, which adversely impacted our profitability. Also, in the fourth quarter, our businesses were impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19. The company reported consolidated total income of INR 7,011 crore for the year '19/'20, registering a healthy year-on-year growth of 17.4%. However, profit before tax, excluding nonrecurring and exceptional items, declined by 22.4% to INR 280 crore. This was mainly due to high raw material prices in the food business and low output prices in the vegetable oil business. Further, in February 2020, false rumors linking coronavirus infection as being spread to poultry consumption significantly dented the demand and prices for chicken, eggs and other poultry products in the months of February and March 2020. This led to lower demand for cattle, broiler and layer feed as well. As a result, during the fourth quarter, the performance of our animal feed and poultry business was very significantly impacted. The segment-wise performance update is as follows: Animal Feed. Segment revenues and segment results grew by around 20% each, supported by price hikes taken during the year. This was despite the fact that fourth quarter performance was impacted by the coronavirus rumors, which lowered the volumes for broiler and layer feed in the quarter. Further, volumes in other feed segments were also impacted due to the lockdown in the second half of March 2020. Crop Protection. In the current year, the company introduced 2 new products, Hitweed Maxx and Hanabi, which have increased our product offerings to the farmers. The stand-alone segment revenue growth was modest at 3.3%, but segment results declined marginally by 3.9% for the year. This was on account of lower volumes compared to the previous year, especially at the higher-margin specialty products. Further, placements in the month of March 2020 got severely impacted due to COVID-19, resulting in a drop in volumes and profitability for the month. However, our subsidiary, Astec Lifesciences, maintained its robust performance as total income and profit before tax, excluding nonrecurring items, grew by around 21% each. Vegetable Oil. In this segment, the company reported revenues of INR 673 crore, which were at a similar level to that of the previous year though the segment results declined to INR 89 crore from INR 113 crore reported last year. This was because of a decline in the prices of crude palm oil as well as palm kernel oil by 16% and 32%, respectively, in the first half of the year, which is the peak season for the business. Dairy. The company operates in this segment through its subsidiary Creamline Dairy Products Limited. During '19/'20, we launched new variants of existing products and launched Jersey Recharge, which is a nourishing milk protein energy drink. Our value-added products portfolio gained more customer acceptance and its share increased to 29% of sales from 24% 2 years ago. However, overall performance was impacted by high milk procurement costs. The sale value -- the sale of value-added products was also impacted by the lockdown from mid-March 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Despite taking price hikes throughout the year, the entire procurement price increase could not be passed on to customers. Therefore, while the total income grew by 3.3%, profit before tax declined to INR 3 crore from INR 20 crore in the previous year. Poultry and processed foods. The company operates in this segment through its subsidiary, Godrej Tyson Foods Limited. It was a difficult year for the poultry businesses, especially the live bird segment. In the first 9 months, business was impacted by a supply side glut. And in the fourth quarter, performance was further impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand in prices of chicken and egg fell to unprecedented low levels in the months of February and March 2020, while the cost of production was high. Because of the above 2 reasons, the business posted a yearly loss before tax of INR 77 crore in '19/'20. However, from April 2020 onwards, the coronavirus rumors have started receding, and we are seeing a sequential uptick in poultry prices as well as demand. In our joint venture, ACI Godrej Agrovet Private Limited, Bangladesh, performance was strong as the company posted revenue and profit before tax growth of 56.9% and 339.6%, respectively. This concludes the performance highlights for '19/'20. Now I would also like to update you on the results of the first quarter of the current year, which would have taken on record by the Board in its meeting held this afternoon. The consolidated total income INR 1,562 crore as compared to INR 1,713 crore reported in the previous year. The consolidated profit before tax for the quarter is INR 134 crore, representing a healthy growth of 19% year-on-year. The world is currently grappling with very challenging times, and the situation is frequently changing. To manage through these tough times, it will require a high degree of nimbleness and coordination among people. We are swiftly adapting to these changes and are working towards serving our customers in the most efficient way. We are showing that we are both resilient and adaptable. Also, we, at Godrej Agrovet, are fully committed to support our nation, customers, employees and the public at large. Our end products are part of essential commodities. And during the lockdown, our teams across locations were fully committed to ensure the uninterrupted supply of our products. We have taken all measures to ensure safety and well-being of our employees at various locations, including the contract workers. We are also serving the local communities at the locations in which we operate to the best of our abilities. Going forward, I believe more opportunities will emerge in the agricultural sector, and your company is well equipped to capitalize on them, given its strong balance sheet, focus on research and development and diversified business portfolio. As we look into the future, we remain confident of achieving our long-term objective of sustainable and profitable growth and creating long-term shareholder value. Finally, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our employees, business partners, vendors and other stakeholders for their efforts and contribution to the company. I would also like to express my gratitude to all our shareholders for their interest and faith in the company. We look forward to your continued support in the years ahead. Instructions regarding e-voting. I would like to inform the members first, that as per the provisions of the Companies Act, the remote e-voting process was carried out by the company from Monday, 27th July 2020, till Thursday, 30th July 2020, through the services of NSDL. All feasible efforts under the circumstances have been made by the company to enable members to participate and vote on the items being considered in this AGM. I am interested in Item #3 of the notice of AGM pertaining to my reappointment. Therefore Mr. Kavas N Petigara may please be considered as the Chairman for the said item. The members who have not cast their votes earlier through remote e-voting can cast their votes during the course of this AGM through the e-voting facility, which is now open. Members may visit the e-voting page of NSDL's e-voting website and cast their votes, while at the same time, view the proceedings of the meeting. The e-voting facility will remain open up to 15 minutes after the conclusion to enable the members to cast the vote. Since the AGM is being held through video conferencing and the resolutions mentioned in the notice covering the AGM have already been put to vote by remotely voting, there will be no proposing and seconding of the resolutions. Mr. B. Narasimhan, the scrutinizer, shall submit his report to me or Mr. Balram S Yadav, Managing Director. The results of e-voting shall be announced not later than 48 hours from the conclusion of this AGM by intimation to the stock exchanges and will be placed on the website of the company, www.godrejagrovet.com, and also intimated to the stock exchanges. We now open the floor for any questions from the shareholders present at the meeting. I will now request the company secretary to call the names of those shareholders who have registered themselves to speak or ask questions pertaining to the performance of the company during financial year '19/'20 one by one. Thank you. Vivek, you are muted.

[Operator Instructions] Our first speaker is [ Dr. Arun Boppana ].

Dr. Arun Boppana, you have now been unmuted. You may please start the video camera and ask your questions.

I compliment the management for zero-harm management to follow. There is human and economic cost, our generations may surely have lost sight. The situation due to corona is alarming. What are the possibilities in modern farming? The youth find rural villages charming. Chairman sir, you're smiling. [ Actual employment is in being farmers ]. Whole nation will be empowered by the farmers. What are Godrej Agrovet's plans for the farmers to bring scale to rural India by the farmers? From corona disaster, agri will recover faster, Godrej Agrovet remaining a master. A question, sir. Indian cow is a great source of microbes. Indian cow has no bacterial impact to you. What are your comments on this? China has cracked down on polluting industries. Did they shift to India? And have Godrej got opportunity in there? So generally, environment is protected by the farmers. What is the country doing for it? The government of India aims to double the farmers' income by 2022. Chairman sir, your comments. Increased investment in agriculture infrastructure, such as irrigation facilities, warehousing and cold storage, what are the opportunities for Godrej there? Vision of $5 trillion economy, a sharp focus on 'gaon, gareeb and kisan' is now a cliché. What is your comment on that? Future of aeroponics needed growing in the air is going in the mist. I wish Godrej Agrovet all success and all-round progress forgetting all the stress, climbing the wall of worry without being in a hurry. Inspiring me to write correctly, Nadir Godrej, I thank. Nadir Godrej is a man I always bank. Thank you very much. All the best. And I propose and second Nadir's resolution. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Boppana. Our second speaker is [ Mr. Chetan Chheda ]. I don't think so Mr. Chheda has joined. So we move to the third speaker. Our third speaker is [ Mr. Ravi Kumar Nareli ].

Yes, sir. Respected Chairman...

You have been unmuted. You may please start your video camera and ask your question.

Respected Chairman, MD, eminent Board of Directors, employees of company and fellow shareholders. Sir, in this company, we are selling unrelated things like cattle feed versus juice, agro herbicide versus fish feed, dairy business versus palm oil. All are not related to each other. Will you do business with all such nonrelated products or someday, you segregate them and try to grow every one business independently. My point, what is in your mind, if you can tell, it will help us. Operating profit margin of company is 5.56% versus 6.94% in previous year. And net profit margin is 4.32% versus 5.90%. These margins are very low. If we compare this margin with other same business, like dairy and others, they have very high margin comparatively to Godrej Agrovet. Similarly, those companies are in agrochemicals. They also have higher margin. So something is not up to mark to [ compare ] ourselves with the best. Your commentary will help us. Third, we appreciate your working as 23% shares of Godrej Group are held in trust and do make investment to save environment, to promote health and education. Sir, our investment in plant and equipment is INR 1,724 crore as on 31st March 2020 while we are earning INR 300 core. It means less than 20% whatever we have invested in plant and machinery which is very low margin. So please, what is our planning to raise margin in future? Next, we have write-off bad debts, INR 22.85 crore this year, INR 18.67 crore last year. This amount is material one. Have you changed your sale policy on credit terms? Next, you have write-off INR 6.20 crore export incentive. Why write-off? Tell something about this transaction, please. And sir, thanks for giving me opportunity to ask question in AGM, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Nareli. Our fourth speaker is Mr. [ Shailesh Mahadevia ].

Mr. Shailesh Mahadevia, you have now been unmuted. Start your video camera and ask your question.

Respected Chairman, members of the promoter group of Godrej family, independent directors, including our Managing Director and members of the company. Sir, I would like to congratulate the management for achieving satisfactory result under critical and difficult conditions prevailing during the year. Sir, we have also noted the explanation given in the report and also in your statement, and we are very much satisfied. And we are assured that our times will improve considerably. Sir, I also wish to take first the opportunity to welcome our new directors on the Board who are coming for the first time. And I'm sure they will contribute greatly for the benefit of our company. Sir, I would also like to appreciate the webinar presentation made by our Managing Director, Dr. Yadav, which has given a very good picture about the agriculture-related business and village economy, and in a way, I realize that many of the requests made to the Finance Minister may have come from the house of Godrej only, and they have been appreciated and accepted by the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Agriculture. Sir, similarly, I would like to appreciate the excellent CSR work which is our way of life for many years to come. And before I complete, I would like to appreciate the cooperation of the secretarial department and the way in which the company has looked after all the families and other stakeholders. Now I wish to put some questions. It's a view to increase my understanding and appreciation of the working of our company. Sir, the first thing which I would like to ask is that our main business -- one of the main businesses is Crop Protection. In the report, we have given the details about the 2 new products which we have introduced, one for cotton and other for facing challenges of mites in the tea plantations. Sir, can you throw some more light about our activities in Crop Protection field? Sir, then my next question is regarding the report which we have prepared is mainly based on the stand-alone result. However, if we look at the total picture, our consolidated business is about 1/3 of our total business. So all our reporting should have been done on the basis of consolidated figures, and this becomes glorified when we look at only the stand-alone business responsibility report, which takes into account only the stand-alone situation. Now if we compare it with the number of people employed in our organization, we have given the figure of 2,708 employees. But sir, if we look at the contractual employees, they are another 3,873. Sir, I would like to know whether we are retaining the services of substantial people of contractual service also. Or are we facing any difficulty in this field? Sir, further, I would like to request the Board of Directors to consider to change the name of our subsidiary companies Astec Lifesciences to the new name of Godrej Astec Lifesciences. The reason being that 60% of the ownership of the Astec is with our company. And as a result of our association with Astec, that company has come to very big jump in the progress in their activities. Sir, another related question to the same thing is that the contract manufacturing is becoming more and more important in chemical industry. Sir, I would like to know whether this contract manufacturing will remain in a step only or are we also likely to have contract manufacturing of some of the products in our parent company, particularly in the field of Crop Protection area. And another thing related to the same thing, are we also likely to provide contract research facilities, which are also required to a great extent in the chemical industry? Sir, your clarification on this will be of great significance. Sir, then I would like to come to the next question of Jersey Recharge. Sir, I got the impression last year that we are not likely to concentrate on that particular business. But from current year's report, it appears that this is going to play a very important part. Sir, in this connection, I would like to know why we have retained the Jersey name. The reason is that the milk which we will be collecting, I hope it will be from all varieties of cows. And Jersey, as such, is more famous for its meat rather than milk while holstein-frieser is more familiar -- more popular because of its contribution to the milk rather than the meat. And of course, our local cows will be of great significance. Sir, we have emphasized in that particular aspect that we are increasing value-added products as far as this particular business is concerned. Sir, what I would like to know is that whether we will continue to grow as far as our milk collection and distribution business is concerned? And sir another related thing to the same aspect is where can we get our agri -- I mean, our -- these Jersey products as well as other food process products, particularly in the vegetarian group, which we have included in the current year? Sir, then my next question is whether we have a plant in Jammu and Kashmir or it is only a distribution center or a local office. In our report, we have stated that we have some association in Jammu and Kashmir. Sir, if you can make some clarification because future development in Jammu and Kashmir will be of great national value. And sir, my next question is regarding the patents and registrations, which we may be enjoying. Since we have succeeded in a joint venture in Bangladesh, it is likely that we may got -- get equally good results in some of the other foreign countries. And sir, our Godrej consumer products is well spread in many parts of the world, particularly in South America, in Africa and in those regions. So are we likely to make an application for registration so that we can export more and more of our products in these countries also in the years to come? Sir, then, my last question is regarding landless laborers in India. Landless laborers form a very big proportion of total people engaged in agriculture. However, we always talk about the -- agriculture is whoever having land, the agriculture is whoever having marketing facilities, et cetera. But sir, how are we taking into consideration the landless laborer of the country and they also form an important role in the overall picture of the Indian economy and particularly in the field of agriculture. Sir, I would like to support every resolution which has been proposed, and particularly, I'm happy that you are being reappointed in this particular AGM. Sir, with this, I wish every success and prosperity in the years to come. And I'm sure in the current year, we have laid the foundation for prosperity and progress of the next 4 to 5 years. Thank you very much, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mahadevia. Our next question speaker is [ Mr. Vinay Bhide ].

Mr. Vinay Bhide, you have been unmuted. You may please start your video camera and ask your questions. Mr. Vinay Bhide, you have been unmuted.

Hello. Are you able to hear me? Hello?

Mr. Vinay Bhide, you are unmuted.

I'm audible. Yes. What about the video? Is the video also there? Fine. I think the video is [indiscernible]. Yes. I'll start. I suppose I'm audible. Our Chairman, Mr. Nadir Godrej; MD, Mr. Balram Yadav; directors on this AGM by VC; participating entities; company staff; shareholders, good afternoon to you all. The performance of our company has been nicely mentioned in the initial paras of the Chairman's communication to shareholders. The higher dividend of INR 5.50 per equity share of INR 10 each in a difficult year indicates management's confidence in both the business model as well as the future of the company. I now turn, sir, the questions that I have listed for asking. Question number one refers to Page #11, which is on the debt on the balance sheet. The question here is that debt on both stand-alone and consolidated working has gone up. So plans -- the question is that plans of the company to reduce both the debt at the interest cost. The next question is on antidumping duties. The question is, has the company made a representation for levy of antidumping duty on any import input, which is detrimental to our business or industry? And of course, this question relates not only to our principal company, but also to the joint ventures and [ associate companies also ]. The next question is related to Page #7, which, among other items, refers to major factories. What I have noticed in this particular is that Animal Feed, we have 12 manufacturing operating units out of which 2 are in the state of Ludhiana, and for vegetable oil, which is shown below that, out of 6 factories, out of which 2 numbers are in the West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. So my question is that why are we having as many 2 factories, first of all? And why do we have so many factories for Animal Feed? And second question is that, why do we have more than 1 factory in 1 district? And why -- do we have plans to rationalize any manufacturing unit? My next question, sir, is on Page #9. The question is that, we have successfully launched an in-house cotton herbicide, Hitweed Maxx. Sales for this product, what are the sales for Hitweed Maxx in the concluded accounting year? A related question here is that what was the size of this cotton herbicides in the Indian market? And who is the branded leader for cotton herbicides in the Indian market? Also a question, do we export or plan for export of cotton herbicides? Moving to next question. On the sales of the branded products. So sales for branded products, can you give the percentage of the branded product sales as a percentage of both stand-alone turnover as well as consolidated working? On the Jersey brand, I have a question. What is the sales value in the concluded financial year for the Jersey brands? Well, I think I have asked most of the questions that I've listed out. Now I close with thanks for going me the opportunity to speak. I support all the resolutions. And wish you management all the best.

Thank you, Mr. Bhide. All the questions have been taken up. Now over to the Chairman.

Thank you very much. I will answer the first question of Arun Boppana. My dear, Arun, I warmly thank you since you love to bank on us always adding charm and consciously avoiding harm. Now COVID-19 strikes us all. We don't know who is next to fall. While many sectors feel the pain, some may even stand to gain. GAVL can succeed as its products are in need. Our teams are brave as well as wise. No matter what, they strive and rise. We have clearly understood this year's monsoon will be good. Our farmers now are the staff. Their efforts take the nation far. The government has done its bit. Their farm reforms are a hit. Our R&D is true and tried. And therefore, we can provide solutions for all modern farming. Arun, you should find this charming. Hydroponics and aeroponics can, of course, be useful tonics as many benefits can be seen much land is saved and it's green. The woods we find are dark and deep, and we have little piece of sleep. We know the route. We'll find a way to give our farmers a better day. If we pay heat to their voice, all our stakeholders will rejoice. I now ask Balram to answer the other questions.

This question on -- hello?

No. You may go ahead. Everything is fine.

Can I go ahead, Vivek?

Yes. Yes.

Yes, sir.

So Mr. Ravi Kumar asked this unrelated business, what is the way forward. From the outside, it may look like this, but we deal in 2 verticals, agri vertical and the -- the plant vertical and the animal protein vertical. India is different, but rest of the world, if you see, animal protein works as value chains, integrated value chains where everything else as we import only the finished product is the output, and we are evolving towards that. If you see broiler industry, which is about INR 70,000 crore, there's almost 80% integrated. The shrimp industry is also almost 50% integrated. And we feel that this is the way industry will evolve. In the plant vertical, we are in 2 segments, one is the technical manufacturing and one is -- which is the formulations, et cetera. One serves B2B and one serves B2C. Normally, they are -- they should be seen together because plenty of technicals manufactured by the technical manufacturing company can also be sold in future by our B2C business. So you're absolutely right that how does it all come together. All the businesses are managed by separate CEOs and CFOs who are very experienced in this. And we strongly believe that definitely, we will be able to evolve towards value chains in our protein businesses. Having said that, I must also tell you that we keep on evaluating our portfolio on a regular basis, and we shall continue to do that in future also and add and trim whatever is not core to us or what we see -- the sector which we see do not have a very big promise or not evolved in the way we had envisaged them to be. You also talked about -- just 1 sec. Yes. You have talked about operating margins. The investment is high because we have gone in for investment in dairy business because the value-added plants had to be invested upon. That is part of our strategy to go for more and more value addition, which is more profitable, sustainable and scalable. We also invested in some R&D projects, which are likely to yield results in time to come. And we have also acquired a majority stake in Godrej Tyson last year because of which the investment was revalued. Definitely, the return is low. But the way we see the future, we believe that we will be able to improve it significantly. You talked about bad debts. I must tell you that our bad debts are close to 0.33% of our turnover in last 2 years, which is at par or lower than our peers, but definitely it is a cause of concern because most of our bad debts arise in Crop Protection business and Aqua Feed business. And there is a very strong effort to change the terms of trade in future and bring more and more cash sales and reduce this dent to profitability, which happens every year. I'm glad to say that some of the results have started coming. On an almost flat sale of INR 205 crore, Crop Protection business has collected INR 94 crores more than last year, which is very encouraging. The times are tough, so we strongly feel that a lot of effort will be needed this year, in particular, to collect money, but we are on the job. Mr. Mahadevia -- yes. So that was one. The other question was on export's incentive. So we have been getting export incentive in Astec Lifesciences and -- at the rate of 3% of export value. And [indiscernible] reclassification, the government conveyed to us that it should be 2%. And not only us, the entire industry, which was exporting certain type of chemicals, had to pay back 1% whatever benefit we had taken, and this refers to this INR 6.2 crores you mentioned. This was a onetime hit, which has been taken. Now we are getting export benefits at the rate of 2%. Mr. Mahadevia asked about 2 products which have been launched. Hitweed Maxx, I must tell you, it is a combination of 2 herbicides, one which will kill broad-leaved weeds and one which will kill grassy weeds. This has been quite a hit product. Last year, sales were close to about INR 37 crores. It was the year of introduction. And in this tough time also, we believe that it will be close to double this year. You talked about consolidated report should be there instead of stand-alone business. I would request my CFO to answer this question. You said we have 2,700 of our own employees in stand-alone business, 3,000-plus contractual employees. We will continue to employ contractual employees because a lot of loading, unloading and unskilled jobs are there in most of our factories, for which contractual employees are very suitable, but we make sure that all statutory requirements are followed by contractors and they are verified every month before any payments to the contractors are made. And we keep a lot of vigil on how the contractual employees are treated throughout the organization. In the COVID times, majority of the contractual employees were retained and sat at our factories for several weeks. Not only these contractual employees, but we also gave food to several contractual employees around our factories where the factories had closed and they were not being catered to by anybody. Astec Lifesciences to be named Godrej Astec Lifesciences. We will consider it. Contract manufacturing will be always in Astec Lifesciences because contract manufacturing [indiscernible] contract research. We are developing a state-of-art facility. Unfortunately, because of COVID, we could not start construction of that. But my sense is in 4 to 5 quarters' time, the state-of-art facility will come in -- near Bombay, where Astec Lifesciences and our Crop Protection business research will be done. Jersey was a -- it's a legacy brand. The company we acquired had a brand called Jersey. We did a lot of brand studies, et cetera. And we realized that the brand recall and the brand is very strong, particularly in the several cities in Andhra Pradesh. So we retained that, but we have brought Godrej brand name in the Jersey -- ahead of Jersey brand name now. The way you want Godrej Astec, now it should be Godrej Jersey. And most of our value-added products are also branded and they are called Godrej Recharge, et cetera. So the brand Godrej is coming in quite prominently. Value-added products is a focus. Last year, it was what -- '18/'19, it was at 24% of our total value. '19/'20, it is 29% in spite of COVID. And we are hoping that we will substantially increase that this year also. Jersey products are available only in 5 Southern Indian states, not in Bombay. We just cannot handle the supply chain right now. But veg products Yummiez, which are sold by Godrej Tyson, are available throughout Bombay in about 700 cold storages and most of the modern retail formats carry this -- these products. J&K plant for -- in Crop Protection business, we have a plant in Samba in Jammu and Kashmir. It employs more than 125 people. And we produce almost 50% of the agrochemicals we sell at the Jammu plant. It has been a very successful investment for us. Yes, several of our brands are also just started in Bangladesh. We are present in Bangladesh. And most of the Animal Feed brands of India are popular there also. Are we likely to register brands in other countries? Not in Animal Feed because we do not have any plans to go in any other country in Animal Feed. Most probably in food businesses, if we get export opportunities, we may think of that. You talked about landless labor. I must tell you that 23% of rural workforce is landless. I must also tell you that latest data shows that 29% of rural income comes from agriculture. So 70% of -- 71% of rural income is coming from allied activities where landless labor is engaged. I must also tell you that the investment in the rural infrastructure now will get a boost because INR 1 lakh crore is being earmarked, and that will provide lot of opportunities, entrepreneurial as well as labor opportunities closer to their house. So my sense is that this will be a very good opportunity for people who don't have land. Mr. Vinay asked about debt on balance sheet. I'm glad to say that as we go along, our debt is reducing. And there is a special effort which has been made in recoveries, particularly to lower working capital. I think that will help us reduce debt. And we are also reducing interest costs because our interest cost is coming down, and you will be glad to know that commercial paper rates are one of the lowest in the country. They are sub-4% now for us. Yes, we have made -- only one representation has been made on imports which are coming in lower duty. The industry has made a representation on shrimp feed, which is coming from Vietnam and China under a category where it is attracting 5% duty, whereas duty on feeds is 30%. So that representation is under active consideration of Finance Ministry after the endorsement of Ministry of Animal Husbandry. Animal Feed, I'm saying that it is a broad category. Definitely, 2 factories are required in Ludhiana because Punjab has a big cattle feed business, which is a separate factory. And North India has a big poultry feed business, which is a separate factory. The oil palm mills, there are 4 factories in Andhra Pradesh. Actually 3 factories are at the same location. So -- sorry, 2 factories are at 1 location and 2 factories are at the other locations. So that is why you will see 2 factories. They are not different location, but they are 2 different plants. We have kept them different plants because at a particular scale, we are able to manage the cogeneration, et cetera, much better and also able to manage the pollution and affluent treatment, et cetera, much better. So our size is 60 tonnes per hour. And every time we finish the size, we set up another factory because we acquire a lot of land around our factories to make sure that we have sufficient expansion opportunities in future. Cotton herbicide. Our sale of cotton herbicide Hitweed and Hitweed Maxx should be about INR 120 crores or so. Herbicide market in cotton is close to about INR 400 crores, and we have substantial market share. And it is increasing because earlier, we were only in between, which is a broad-leaved herbicide. Now that we have Hitweed Maxx, which is a combination of broad-leaved herbicide as well as grassy-weed herbicide. So we believe that our market share will continuously improve. Jersey brand, I will tell you the turnover of Jersey brand. Just a sec. Jersey brand turnover was close to INR 1,100 plus crores last year. You talked about the other launch -- somebody talked about was a miticide in tea. This is an imported product by Nissan. It is a very effective miticide. We introduced in tea last year because our registration process, we just could manage only the -- some part of the season. So sale was INR 6 crores. We are very sure that this will definitely grow very rapidly in tea, and we are also trying to find out other uses for this miticide. Thank you.

Mr. Shailesh Mahadevia, thanks about -- for your observations and commentary. This is Varadaraj, CFO. With regards to the reporting, we strongly believe in providing maximum information to all the members of the company. And most part of our report, like the management discussion and analysis, the directors' report, all of this covers and reports the performance of the company on a consolidated basis. However, the business responsibility report we are mandated by statute to sort of put on a stand-alone basis. And that's the only place where you see it on stand-alone. Thank you.

Balram and Varada, one point I would like to add. Mr. Mahadevia asked about exports of the Crop Protection business. We have been trying to register Homobrassinolide in a few markets. We haven't registered it as yet. And we will be starting exports. We have done some small experimental exports, and we could increase this in the future. I would like to thank the members for their questions. In case any of the questions remain unanswered or the members were unable to speak due to any issue during the meeting, the members may please communicate their questions to the company through e-mail at [email protected]. I repeat, [email protected], which shall be answered suitably. I now request the e-voting procedure to be conducted and would like to conclude the meeting. The e-voting facility will remain open for the next 15 minutes in order to enable the members to cast their votes and will be disabled thereafter. I would like to take this opportunity to thank and express gratitude towards all the employees, business partners, associates, vendors, and also the central and state governments and the government agencies for their contributions and sustained support for the continued success of Godrej Agrovet Limited. Finally, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to you, our members, for your continued faith, trust, encouragement and support. With your consent, I and the other Board members would like to take your lead. I wish all the shareholders to stay safe and healthy. Thank you very much.

Thank you, everyone.