Hinduja Global Solutions Limited (HGS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good evening, everyone. I'm Rajitha Cholleti, moderator for the 29th Annual General Meeting of Hinduja Global Solutions Limited. Through audio and video conference. I confirm to the company's secretary that sufficient members to constitute the quorum for this AGM have logged in as members. Further, the proceedings of meetings are being recorded, and all the shareholders who have joined this meeting were by default placed in listen-only mode to ensure the smooth functioning of these proceedings. I now request the Company Secretary of your company to take the meeting forward. Thank you, over to you Mr. Narendra.

Thank you very much, Ms. Rajitha. Our respected Chairman, Board members and dear shareholders, good afternoon to you all. I am Narendra Singh, Company Secretary of Hinduja Global Solutions Limited. A warm welcome to all the respected Board members and the shareholders to this 29th Annual General Meeting of the company. Pursuant to the circulars issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the SEBI, this AGM is being held through video conference, without the physical presence of the member, the registered office of the company, shall be deemed to be the venue of this AGM. Members attending the AGM through video conference shall be counted for the purpose of quorum in terms of the MCA Circular, read with Section 103 of the Company's Act 2013. Members may also note that since this AGM is being held through VC, and the resolutions mentioned in the notice of AGM have already been put to vote through e-voting. Hence, there will be no proposing and seconding of the resolutions. Members are also requested that the following documents are open and accessible to the members electronically during the continuance of the AGM. Register of Directors and Key Managerial Personnel and their shareholding, Register of Contracts, Secretarial Auditor Certificate, certifying implementation of the ESOP scheme of the company, documents referred to in the notice dated August 14, 2024, convening this Annual General Meeting. I -- since Mr...

Narendra?

Yes, sir.

Can you hear me now?

Yes, sir. Yes.

So I'm now connected.

Yes, sir. So I am now requesting Sri Ashok P. Hinduja, Chairman of your company, to continue with the proceedings of 29th Annual General Meeting, sir. Over to you, Chairman sir.

Good afternoon, dear shareholders. It's unfortunate that we are not live sitting in the auditorium. I'm from London and my other colleagues may be from different destinations. So this is the advantage of the technology as well as not a good technology because we are not able to meet each other. Anyway, as already informed that the requisite quorum is present, the meeting is in order. I'm pleased to welcome you all to this 29th AGM. I now introduce the Board members, Key Managerial person who have joined the AGM. Mr. Anil Harish, Mr. Sudhanshu Tripathi, Ms. Bhumika Batra, Mr. Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Mr. Partha Sarkar, Mr. Pradeep Udhas, Mr. Paul Abraham, Mr. Munesh Khanna, Mr. Vynsley Fernandes; and Mr. Srinivas Pala, Chief Financial Officer; and Mr. Narendra Singh, Company Secretary. This AGM is also being attended by the partner representatives of the statutory auditors, Haribhakti & Company. And the scrutinizer, Secretarial Auditor, Mr. Virendra Bhatt. AGM notice dated August 14, 2024, convening this AGM and the annual report for financial year ended March 31, 2024, were circulated to the members of the company electronically on September 3, 2024. With your permission, I take the notice convening the 29th AGM of your company together with the annual report for the financial year ended March 31, 2024. Including message of the Chairman of the Board and the CEO's message already circulated to the members as read. The auditor's report on the financial statements of your company as of March 31, 2024, and the secretarial audit report for the financial year ended March 31, 2024, do not contain any qualifications, observations or adverse remarks. With your permission, I take the auditor's report and secretarial audit report as read, in terms of the Company's Act 2013 and Secretarial Standard-2 issued by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. In the notice convening 29th AGM, there are eight items, three ordinary business and five special business, that have been put for approval of the members as ordinary or special resolutions, which are as follows: Item #1, adoption of audited financial statements stand-alone of the company for the financial year ended March 31, '24, and the reports of the directors and auditors thereon. And b, audited financial statement consolidated of the company for the financial year ended March 31, 2024, and the report of the auditors thereon. Item #2, declaration of final dividend of INR 7 per equity share on an equity share of par value of INR 10 each for the financial year ended March 31. Item #3, the appointment of a Director in place of Mr. Tripathi, who retires by rotation and being eligible, offered himself for reappointment. Item #4, which comes under Special Business, is pertaining to me. And hence, I being interested request Mr. Anil Harish, Independent Director to occupy Chair for Item #4. Mr. Anil Harish, please.

So this is for continuation of Mr. Ashok P. Hinduja, as Non-Executive, Non-Independent Director and Chairman, after attaining the age of 75 years. That's it. Back to you.

Thank you, Anil. And I go to Item #5, the appointment of Ms. Bhumika Batra as an Independent Director of the company. Item #6, reappointment of Dr. Ganesh Natarajan as an Independent Director of the company. Item #7, reappointment of Mr. Partha DeSarkar, as Whole-time Director of the company. And Item #8, the next item is about ratification of the remuneration payable to cost auditors for the financial year ending March 31, 2025. The details of all the above resolutions, including the profiles of the proposed appointees Directors are set out in the notice of the AGM. The explanatory statement in respect of the special businesses contains complete material facts of the resolution. So these are the items which will go for the voting. And in the meantime, I will ask -- request Mr. Vynsley Fernandes, Whole-time Director, to make a presentation on our company's Digital Media operations. Mr. Vynsley Fernandes?

Thank you, Chairman sir, and good afternoon, good evening to all the shareholders of Hinduja Global Solutions. As I start this presentation, it's important for me, if I may go to the next slide. May I request the next slide, please. Yes. Very important to inform you all that certain statements in this release concerning HGS, Hinduja Global Solutions' future growth prospects may be seen as forward-looking statements, which are subject to a number of risks, and uncertainties as a result of which actuals could differ materially from such statements. HGS does not undertake to update any such statements that may have been made from time to time by HGS or on its behalf. Thank you for taking due note of that. Coming to the Digital Media business. I request going to the next slide, please. Yes. There are two key initiatives that we've undertaken in the year 2024. And the very first one is in keeping with our growth strategy, our broadband business, which has been on the cusp of significant growth, as you all know. We inked a -- we acquired a majority stake in a leading Mumbai-based broadband company called -- or ISP, called Seven Star, this has allowed us to get into markets where earlier we faced some level of challenge. And the new joint venture has been branded as One7star. The logo you can see on the screen. It's already got a lot of positive traction, not just in Mumbai, but also certain parts of Maharashtra, like Jalna, et cetera, where we're looking to continue expanding our business. So that's the first key initiatives for FY '24. The second one is the most important one, which we shared with you briefly in the last AGM. We launched CelerityX and the one critical synergy between HGS BPM division and the Media division, as we've been developing a lot of products and solutions, which are customized, especially for the Indian market and be able to take them overseas. This brand, CelerityX has done some very, very good work in the last 1 year. The very first thing is we launched NetX and we're very proud that the connectivity that was required for the launch of the Shree Ram Mandir inauguration in Ayodhya in Jan 2024, we provided all the connectivity there for that. So we're quite proud and humbled obviously, to have been selected for such a critical and global event. We also launched OneX, very interesting product, which is basically a network-as-a-service solution. We launched this in April 2024. And it is a great solution, especially for rural markets in India, rural banking, if I may say so. And as part of that, we've actually partnered with the Maharashtra State Cooperative Credit Societies Federation called MAFCOCS, for this solution. And for this solution, we are looking at providing high security and high uptime banking solutions and connectivity for over 40,000 branches in the state. These are all credit cooperative societies, rural credit banking societies, smaller banks across the state of Maharashtra. That is our first step. And obviously, as we look at it, we will continue to expand across the rest of India. As the business continues to expand, and may I request the next slide. It really is a matter of great pride that our client list today includes the who's who, not just of the corporate world, but also of our own government, right? We were involved in the launch, in providing connectivity for Pragati Maidan in Delhi, which was inaugurated by our honorable Prime Minister. In fact, we also provided connectivity for the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & narcotics in Palasamudram. This was again inaugurated by Sri Narendra Modi, our honorable Prime Minister. So we're very proud to have been part of these two very large projects, providing connectivity. And while our private portfolio includes companies like Chola, Greenply, Sify, Adani Realty, Jindal Steel Works, JSW Energy. We're also proud to be a part of the story of concerns like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, GRID-INDIA, of course, Doordarshan and All India Radio. So we will continue to take that going forward as well and grow this business. This is the broadband business. Coming to our performance, and if I can go straight to the next slide, please, to the next one. Yes. So here, you can see it. It's been a very, very good year for the Media business. Our Broadband business, which was at about 1 million customers, the previous year, has grown by nearly 24% year-on-year, closing the fiscal FY '24 1.22 million. And our main bread and butter business, which remains so strong and continues to drive value for us, which is our digital television business. that we provide through our Headend-In-The-Sky platform and our wired cable services grew by another 8.3% to cross nearly -- to grow by about 8%. So effectively, we've been growing significantly, and we've crossed as a consortium as a media group. We've crossed 6 million homes today. We're quite proud of that because that is something that we've been aiming to do. And thanks to the synergies that we've established between HGS and the Media business, we've been able to take it and accelerate the business. Our churn, which you see in the lower portion, which is very, very critical again, which is to be able to control. What it means is how well are we able to control our business and control our subscribers leading us has shown continuous improvement. If you look at closing Q4 of last year in terms of digital television, while the industry standard is close to about 2.5%, we closed Q4 at just over 1%. So overall shareholders, I thought it was important to brief you all, and tell you that we've had a good strong year. It's going to be equally strong this year, as we focus effectively on our path to now bring in significant profitability. With that, I'm going to hand you back to the Chairman. Chairman, sir, thank you for the opportunity of briefing the shareholders.

Thank you, Vynsley. Now I request Partha DeSarkar, to give you a presentation.

Thank you very much. So if you could put my presentation up and very good afternoon to all shareholders and the Board members who have assembled today. Am I -- is my audio clear?

Loud and clear, Partha.

Okay. Is the presentation up? I don't see the presentation.

Yes.

Okay. Yes, the presentation is up. So once again, a very quick snapshot of our business. So if you could move to the next slide, the financials to start with. Good financial performance, our growth, the numbers are not coming up here for some reason. The numbers are INR 5,087 crores in total income. INR 8,615 crores in operating revenue, growth of 2.5%. Operating EBITDA moved from INR 244 crores to INR 355 crores. That's a growth of about 45.8%. Our operating EBITDA percentage moved up from 5.4% to 7.7%. Again, very pleased with the 230-basis-point improvement in operating EBITDA. You will see that there is a decline in the PAT, but there are special circumstances that explain that. One is there was lower tax reversals. We did have some exceptional items the year before, which are not there this year. And also the other income coming out of our treasury surplus was lower this year because a large part of our treasury surplus has already been given back to shareholders in the form of buyback and dividends. So that explains the drop of profit after tax from INR 288 crores to INR 131 crores. If you move to the next slide, please. We've been a very busy business. It's been an extraordinary business, extraordinary busy time since the sale of the health care business. We, as you know, acquired TekLink, we completed that in March 2023, and is delivering a very strong performance this year. Seven Star' Broadband business was acquired in April 2024 to add new subscriber base. We've added 324 BPM clients and 797 HRO payroll clients, we continue to service. 40% of our revenues come from clients who've been with HGS for 10 years, which is a massive endorsement of the high-quality service that we provide because clients always have a choice to go to other providers if they are not satisfied with us. The fact that 40% of our revenues come from customers who have been with us for 10 years, speak volumes and the quality of the service. We have expanded to large parts of the world now. We are present in Barranquilla, Colombia, which is in South America. And we just opened up our new site in Cape Town in South Africa, which we are going to provide CX services to our global clients. Our worldwide head count is 18,000 people. The best thing about this number is the fact that 49% of them are women, so which we are very proud of. Very few companies have this gender diversity ratio. 5,000-plus employees volunteered for various CSR activity globally. And overall, the volunteering hours are about 5,000 equivalent over 200 working days that our employees have put in on their own, to volunteer for causes with a social impact. We'll move to Slide 4, please. This business is all about technology and AI is the biggest thing right now in our domain. So we have developed our own customized model, integrating existing Gen AI platform that are commercially available with specialized domain knowledge. Multiple use cases across our technology, media, our telecom business, banking and financial services business, retail, energy business, et cetera. These are models that we're building in our AI labs in New York and Philippines. And as we speak, we are also in the process of building another AI lab in India. Most of these AI tools are about hyper-personalization of customer journeys. Conversational bots that learn from every call that is happening, an intelligent automation with image and video processing capabilities. We are trying to embed AI in all our internal applications as well, including data analytics platforms, HR apps and training portals. The biggest output of all our efforts in the last 3 years on the AI field has been our proprietary Agent X platform. It has been deployed across 16-plus clients. It covers about 1,300 associates in North Americas, which is Canada, U.S., Jamaica and Colombia. This has led to lower attrition, better operating efficiency and margin improvement. We also have gone through a talent transformation. We have now about a 1000 digital transformation consulting. We are doing 5,000 plus digital transformation for clients, cloud migration, analytics projects, 700 process transformation, and we work with 55-plus technology platforms. So you can see on the right-hand side that we are no longer just a CX or a BPM company. We are tech-led BPM. That's our position. Next slide, please. We are also -- huge synergies between NXTDIGITAL and BPM. Apart from financial synergies, which is making cash available for NXTDIGITAL for its acquisition plan and also retiring some of its high-cost debt. We had a lot of developmental work that we did together. Vyns talked about CelerityX and NetX. Proud to say that has been developed with the combined capabilities of NXTDIGITAL and HGS. The internal IT systems, at the Digital Media, such as SAP platforms are now managed by HGS. It's made -- the digital business has made significant strides in optimizing processes through strategic utilization of RPA tools that most of our HGS analytics and automation experts are able to give. These are provisional queue monitoring, IP correction, disconnects, cetera. These have all been automated using our IT engineers. Next slide, please. Since the health care business was sold in January 2022, we have been extremely busy. We acquired Diversify in Australia, so we have a big presence in Australia. We added three delivery centers. We acquired a company called TekLink, I mentioned that briefly. It's in Chicago and other three delivery centers. We acquired the Digital Media business. We issued 1:1 bonus shares, we declared dividends about INR 577 crores, and our buyback plus taxes came to about INR 1,246 crores. So we've not been sitting quiet since the sale of the health care business. We have been extremely, extremely busy. Next slide, please. I want to give you a snapshot of the value creation that we have tried to do for our shareholders. That has been the whole purpose why we are in business. If you were to have acquired 1,000 shares of HGS on 30th September 2020, the price was INR 693. We've since then given 1,000 bonus shares on top in February 2022. 2000 shares post bonus as on March 2022. Because of that, 220 shares you were able to tender in buyback at INR 1,700 per share. And your holding of 1,780 shares post-buyback as on 26 September 2024, would have yielded you a market price of INR 821 per share. The dividends that have been talked about includes interim, special and final dividends from November 2020 to September 2024. So the whole purpose of showing you all of this is a fact that we've been very focused on creating value for all our shareholders like you, to make sure that you are happy with what we are trying to do. Next slide. So be a solution orchestrated, as I said, bringing technology together with services, we call it solution orchestrating. We are strengthening our sales teams in North America, U.K. and in Australia, to drive growth and margins. That's what we are trying to do in our business going forward. It will be a technology-enabled business, and therefore, it should be able to drive growth and margins together. Next slide, please. With that, back to you, sir. Thank you.

Thank you, Partha. So dear shareholders. Now you saw the presentation of Vynsley as well as Mr. Partha. And annual reports have been circulated. So I'll appreciate if anybody has any questions, any clarifications, any suggestions, you are most welcome. Please restrict to your time as well as no repetition, please. Thank you very much.

Moderator, now, you will have to take the -- invite the members for asking questions.

[Operator Instructions] Now I request our first speaker shareholder, Ms. C.E. Mascarenhas to kindly un-mute your audio, switch-on your video and proceed with your question.

Hello? Am I audible?

You are audible, madam.

Respect Chairman, Mr. Ashok P. Hinduja, CEO Partha DeSarkar, Mr. V. Fernandes and other members on the Board, my dear fellow shareholders, I'm Mascarenhas speaking from Mumbai. First of all, I thank the company's secretary, Mr. Singh and his team for sending me [Technical Difficulty] also registering me as a speaker and giving me this platform to speak. Also a big thank you to the KFin for making it easy to interact on this virtual meet. Now I come to the annual report, which is very full of knowledge, full of information, facts and figures. At the same time, self-explanatory and adhering to all the norms of corporate governance. Our working is very good. Profits are good. Of course, in consolidated but not stand-alone. EPS is INR 27.52, dividend is INR 7 per share. And very good CSR work. Also congratulations for all the awards and applauds received during the year. Now as a very good presentation was made by Mr. Vynsley Fernandes and Mr. Partha DeSarkar has given -- has answered to -- has given a lot answers to my queries. So I limit to a very few. As usual, we like to ask something. So, my first question, understanding, we have launched NetX, an enterprise network converting solution, which was integrated at the inauguration of our Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. A historic moment for the nation. Here, I would like to ask how much revenue we got from the advertisement? We have now two verticals, Business Process Management and Communication. I would like to know from the management, which will be a most powerful vertical growth engine along with margins in the future? Lastly, but not the least, what is the future road map for the next 3 years, CapEx requirements for organic growth. And which any more businesses to be added? And how do we get our margins in the future? With this, I support all the resolutions, I wish you all the best, may it grow from strength to strength, so that one day we'll become more powerful than the earlier, and we will beat our own record for looking at anybody. With this, thank you very much. I wish you a very good health, because health is wealth. And plus all the festive seasons I wish you a very good health, because health is wealth and plus all the festive season, which are in the offing one by one, starting with Dasara and ending up with the New Year. Thank you very much. Thank you for this opportunity. Now I give it to Mr. [indiscernible], who is the next speaker.

Sir, I'm the next speaker in the queue. Can I proceed?

Yes, please.

Respected [indiscernible] sir, [indiscernible] members of the Board and my fellow shareholders, good evening to you all. My name is [indiscernible]. At the outset, I thank the management, company secretary and the team for sending me such [indiscernible] information, facts and figures in place. Our results are good, [indiscernible] and a good dividend also, most welcomeable. And we are in the right direction. We are going -- sky is the limit, we are going very much high with the market capitalization also. Now my questions are that the government has recently given the budget, how far it is applicable to us, negatively or positively? And who are our peers and competitors and what is our market share? Many questions have been asked by my predecessor shareholders, and many more will be asking the questions. So I don't want to repeat and give them a chance. So I give the platform to them to ask pertinent questions to you. And I end my speech wishing you personally, all the Board members and more importantly, all the employees, all the very best in the days and years to come. With this, sir, thank you very much for the patience hearing. We are in the midst of a festive season, so I wish each one of you a very happy festive season. With this, I end my speech. Good luck and goodbye.

Thank you, sir. I request our speaker #2, Mr. [ Gautam Kedarprasad Tiwari ] to kindly unmute your audio, switch on your video and proceed with your question.

Yes, sir. I'm here. I think I'm audible, Ashokji?

Yes. Yes.

I'm audible, yes sir. Sir thank you really. Sir, we're really happy to see you, [indiscernible]. Once again, although virtually. Physically, [Foreign Language]. Sir, very much good evening to our very honorable, respectable Chairman Sir, Ashok Hindujaji; and our Partha DeSarkar; our CFO, Srinivas Balaji; obviously Fernandesji; [indiscernible]; Bhumika Batra and all; our CS, Narendra Singhji and all other [indiscernible] on Board and team of Hinduja Global Services Limited, I am Gautam Tiwari participating at this meeting from Mumbai. [Foreign Language] very proud of it, and I'm very sure in the days to come [Foreign Language] balance sheet will design, speaking to all noncore profit, governance are quite good in the facts [Foreign Language]. Dear sir, I thank management for paying INR 7 as dividend. Also I thank each member of the CSR team for doing the best in your CSR work. [Foreign Language] From [indiscernible] I would like to know sir [Foreign Language] Conclusively I would like say I support appointments and the reappointments of all directors, also strongly, I support all the resolutions. I'm a shareholder right from day #1 [indiscernible] confidence and [indiscernible] we have got there, our lifeline book is there with you. For each one of you, I wish a very healthy, happy, long life for each member of you and a very happy festival. Sir, I would like to say, just for [Foreign Language].

I request some members to kindly stick to strict 2 minutes speech. I request our next speaker, Ms. [ Sheetal Shankar Bansal ] to kindly unmute your audio, switch on your video and proceed with your question. No response received. I request our next speaker, Mr. [ Koushik Narendra Sahukar ] to kindly proceed with your question. Mr. Koushik Narendra Sahukar, we request you to kindly proceed with your question.

Am I audible sir?

You're audible, kindly proceed with your question. I request you to strict with 2 minutes.

Respected, sir, and distinguished guests, good afternoon to all. It is truly an honor to stand before [indiscernible]. I extend my heartfelt gratitude for the entire board for granting the opportunity to follow important event. First and foremost, I would like to comment our Chairman, Mr. Ashok Hinduja; our Wholetime Director, Vynsley Fernandes; again Wholetime Director, Mr. Partha DeSarkar for the comprehensive presentation on the [indiscernible] company. Sir, your intent was so thorough, I find myself with no questions to ask. Although as a speaker [indiscernible] to inquire, therefore, only I have only 1 part key point out of curiosity. Sir, can you please let us know of future CapEx plan? And employment generated out of this CapEx. Before I conclude I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to entire secretary team, especially Mr. Narendra Singh and his team for the efforts in connecting with me for this memorable event. However, I was deeply impressed by company's CSI initiative, but it was both focused on supporting specially [indiscernible] person. This effort [indiscernible] our companies unwavering commitment to making a positive difference in life of those who need it the most. On a personal note that I'm confident in our Chairman, Mr. Ashok Hinduja and our CS, Mr, Narendra Singh will consider my humble request to work together on certification audit including Form 15CB. I trust they will see the merit in this collaboration and give it a thoughtful consideration. Sir, as a [indiscernible] I believe we have right to visit our factories and see how our company function. Sir, ask management to please consider site visit or faculty orders or at least get-together for us [indiscernible] shareholders. Furthermore, I believe a separate fund should be created for shareholder expenses as this money belongs to the shareholders and should be used for their benefit. Perhaps we could also dispute [indiscernible] shareholder doing [indiscernible]. And on lighter note, as we embraced virtual meeting, maybe we could keep things lighter next time with virtual healthy competition. Before I conclude I'd like you to thought [Foreign Language]. So don't ever think in my way, highway, be humble. In my view, we will [indiscernible] thank you all for attention.

Koushik [Foreign Language], thank you very much. You have given a good [Foreign Language] and good learning. Thank you.

Thank you. I request our next speaker, Mr. [indiscernible] to kindly unmute your audio, switch on your video and proceed with your question.

Yes, Mr. Ashok Hinduja, Chairman, sir, Mr. DeSarkar and Mr. Harish, it's nice to see you all, but I would have preferred to see personally. Sir, please hold a physical meeting from next year and also don't roll in end of September when there are so many meetings. We have to run from one meeting to another. Sir, you've done very well during the year, considering all the geopolitical tension, and I hope you continue to do well for the current year also. Thank you very much, and all the best for the future.

Thank you, Ghautam.

I request our next speaker, Mr. [ Dinesh Gopaldas Bhatia ] to kindly unmute your audio, switch on your video and proceed with your question. Mr. Dinesh Gopaldas Bhatia we request you to kindly proceed with your questions. He is available, but he's not audible. So we'll come back to you. Sir, I request our next speaker, Mr. [ Bimal Kumar Agarwal ] to kindly unmute your audio, switch on your video and proceed with your question. No more response received, I request Mr. [ Hiranand Kotwani ] to kindly unmute your audio, switch on your video and proceed with your question.

[Foreign Language]

Yes, yes, Mr. [indiscernible], please.

It's a great pleasure to [indiscernible], certainly, but you should do listen to the shareholders. Our compliance is not good as previously. I have not received balance sheet. Previously, I used to receive. So really a few people or few investors [indiscernible] looking at. Secondly, how the future growth will be or should be? How the future growth and expansion? If you don't narrate the growth history and the possibility ahead of any acquisition, are we looking for the expansion? Because you already told so many things, but how the future will be? I don't want to waste your time. But certainly, physical meeting is good, because when we are not able to speak, some of you say after some time, we come to know that what our company is doing best. So how the growth and the prosperity will be there in the future? Any other vertical we are going to expand? How our new buildings are doing? So nothing more to add. Convey my good wishes for the future organization. Thank you. Please improve your -- this compliance because now it is not the way [indiscernible] culture is there. So please stop this [indiscernible] culture. Thank you, and good luck.

I request our next speaker, Mr. [ Vinod Motilal Agarwal ] to kindly unmute your audio, switch on your video and proceed with your question. Mr. Vinot Motilal Agarwal, we request you to kindly proceed with your question.

Respected Chairman, Ashok Hindujaji, and Wholetime Director and CEO, Partha DeSarkar; Wholetime Director, Vynsley Fernandes; CFO, Mr. Srinivas Palakodeti; and CS, Narendra Singh. Good morning to Ashokji, and good afternoon to the other Director who are there in Mumbai. Sir, my objection is on the annual report. The revenues are good, but the profits have been affected mostly due to the buybacks and other things, and we have been tax-writing and all those things, which it is due to that, sir. No other income -- lower income. And the only thing which I'm observing is, sir, book value per share is about [indiscernible] [ INR 1,643 ] and our share price is [ INR 826 ], which is about 50% of the book value per share, sir, this is what I'm being able to go through the annual report. So how do we come back to the book value per share. That is the inherent value of the share of the company, book value per share. Now it is trading at half the value share. We'll have to come back to those levels, sir. And we've got 2 verticals, verticals or business process and digital. And both were explained and that respective by Mr. Vynsley and Mr. Partha DeSarkar. Sir, the revenues from the business in media was 32% and -- the other businesses also was very good, and we got 18,000 employees, sir. I wish the company all the to keep on giving good dividends. Sir, you paid 25% as a dividend of the PAT, INR 27 of the PAT. And we have given INR 7 [indiscernible] about 25% of the payout ratio that is. I wish the company all the best, signing off, Vinod Agarwal from Mumbai. Thank you, sir.

I request our next speaker, Mr. [ Abhishek Jay ], to kindly unmute audio, switch on your video and proceed with your question.

First of all, I congratulation on the eve of Annual General Board meeting. I muted all other devices, now the disturbance will not continue. Sir [indiscernible] in this challenging situation. The company deserves much more [ respect ] than the current market. After completing all the dedicated successful operations, profitability and becoming one of the strongest brands in the [indiscernible] my team and a leader in the name inside of several wealth approaches. So I would request the management to kindly enroll the form in the amendment of the company, and we will be glad to [indiscernible]. Sir, our EPS has turned negative and is [ INR 23.44 ], a return on equity is minus [ 3.51% ]. And [indiscernible] ratio is [ -35.03% ]. So what is the reason, sir, that everything has turned into negative, a profit making company, suddenly has its own a downtrend. What is the reason, so kindly give a brief on that. And we have [indiscernible] of the company. Sir, I have casted the vote [indiscernible] all the votes in favor of the Board. I can say all the votes are in favor of the Board. And I would request the management to kindly consider hybrid AGM in the [indiscernible] because of the digital challenges in this virtual platform [indiscernible] hybrid AGM [indiscernible] that will be helpful for the management to empower in the coming future. Sir, the [indiscernible] if you can update a link for [indiscernible] contacts of any. The shareholders are very [indiscernible] online itself. And we may not reach out to you on a later state is singing for all these documents. So please kindly look into that. What is the CapEx plan for the coming future and where you see the light in the end of the tunnel and what would be the growth figures in the first half and the second half? I would request you to kindly conduct con call and presentations and meeting with global investors on a regular basis. And nothing much to ask sir. I would request you to kindly take care of the [indiscernible] this structural conference and make this 29th Annual General Body Meeting a grand success. I wish the company and the Board of Directors a great success and prosperity in the coming future. And thank you for giving the opportunities. I hope to see you in the hybrid AGM next year. So then 1 more shareholder, Mr. [ P Jaichand ], who is also a speaker shareholder and subsequent speaker, kindly give him an opportunity to speak from the same device and [indiscernible] because of the technical challenges in the social platform, given platform, he is unable to join. Kindly give him an opportunity to join from the same device, sir.

Good evening, respected Chairman, Board of Directors, Secretary and distinct and my fellow shareholders. Sir, I am P. Jainchand, [ IN30163741159143 ]. I and my family are proud shareholders of the company from the date of IPO. I request the management to reduce expenditure as fast and being effective at all possible. I request the management not to take away the maximum profits into reserves and also consider bonus issue to shareholders sir. The only dividend of shareholders is expecting better dividend and appreciation of share price. Sir, what are the future expansion plans? How are we going to extend a tough competition? I wish all great success. I wish our company will touch sky heights. The management with great efforts and hard work have established our company. I hope the management will not get down the shareholders, who have stood behind in thick and thin. The performance of the company has come down, sir. Please kindly look into the matter sir, which is of serious concern. I request the management to consider the hospitality department of the shareholders. I thank the management for giving me the opportunity. Thank you very much, sir.

Thank you. Moderator, anyone else is around the waitlist?

Yes, sir. I request our next speaker, Ms. [ Mitha Shiva ] to kindly unmute your audio, switch on your video and proceed with your question. Ma'am, we request you to kindly limit your question to 2 minutes, please. Ma'am, we request you to kindly unmute your audio and proceed with your question.

Thank you so much. [Foreign Language].

[Foreign Language].

I request our next speaker, Mr. [ K. Bharatraj ] to kindly proceed with your questions. .

Moderator, how many more do you have?

Sir, we have close to 15 more, sir.

Okay.

I request Mr. Bharatraj to kindly unmute and proceed with your question, and I request Mr. Bharatraj to kindly limit your question to 2 minutes. No response received. I request [ Ms. P. Shamasundari ] to kindly proceed with your question. No response received. I request [ Mr. Ramesh Shankar Gurla ] to kindly proceed with your question. No response received. I request [ Ms. Vasudha Vikas Dhakre ] to kindly proceed with your question. No response received. I request [ Mr. Anil Babubhai Mehta ] to kindly proceed with your question. No response received. I request [ Mr. Vinay Vishnu Bhide ] to kindly proceed with your questions.

Are you able to hear me?

You're audible, sir. Kindly proceed with your question and we request you to limit within 2 minutes.

Good evening to all of you, Mr. Ashok Hindujaji, Mr. Sarkar, Mr. Fernandes, and other directors present on call today. As already announced, my name is Vinay Bhide, and I'm a long-term supporter and shareholder and I'm speaking from Mumbai. At the outset, let me congratulate the company for having done a very good restructuring in terms of the business. We have [indiscernible] health care vertical at the right point of time. And as explained by Mr. Sarkar in the presentation, we're very happy that we are in the new verticals. And he's carefully explained as to how we plan to grow these businesses. And we have a lot of faith in what the Hinduja group does, and this company is no exception for that. And so also, Mr. Fernandes has also given all the details. I will not take much of common time by asking any detailed questions. What I would definitely like to say are a couple of things, I support all the resolutions. And I've been coming to physical meetings as well as attending online meetings for so many years now. Sir, I have seen directors taking leave of absence, and I salute your commitment to the company, Hinduja for coming both for physical meetings as well as online meetings year after year. I hardly recollect any situation where you have not been, and even now when you've asked the moderator about the pending speakers, we've been very polite. I hardly recollect any situation where you have not been. And even now when you've asked the moderator about pending speakers, you've been very polite to any -- I really appreciate that you love meeting the shareholders and interacting with them. And I think this is an example -- setting an example for colleague shareholders as well as other directors who request for leave of absence, those meetings are held once the here. And I will close with support for all the resolutions. I wish you Ashok sir all the best of health because the company needs support for a longer period of time. And thank you for giving an opportunity to speak, sir. Thank you so much.

I request our next speaker, Mr. [indiscernible] to kindly proceed with your question.

Respected Chairman sir, Board of Directors and my fellow members, good evening. In regards to [indiscernible] from Mumbai. First of all, I am very much thankful for our company secretary for sending the AGM notice well in time. We gracefully acknowledge, facts and [indiscernible] in place. Chairman sir, you have explained everything in your opening remarks. Hence, I have no questions today. Team, facing [indiscernible] login without any problem. I would lag thank them for the best services especially Arun bhai -- Arjun bhai. Chairman sir, I hope the company will continue video conference meeting in future. So I strongly and whole heartly support all the resolutions for today meeting. Thank you so sir.

Thank you, ma'am. I request our next speaker, Mr. [ Yashpal Chopra ] to kindly unmute your audio, switch on your video and proceed with your question.

Yes, myself [ Yashpal Chopra ] calling from Delhi. Being a super senior citizen, I have waited about 90 minutes just off only one query. So with all due complements for our Ashok and eminent team is having over there. I'm an investor for the last 60 years. But I just want to -- I'm surprised to find out only one thing. Generally, the share price in the market of share is multiple times of the book value. But over here, I see that the book value is rather double of the share price. So I just want to find out as to what is the reason? Actually, this is the only query because our company is a very, very big company. And just looking -- just dealing with the Ultra Modern digital operations and Ultra Modern digital solutions and in spite of all that and having international name, it is not in [indiscernible] small company. But only this question puzzled me that what is the problem, because they get the digital copy of the company means I could not get doesn't mean -- because I did not -- I did not apply for that. I would rather request our Mr. Narender, just to please send me a copy of this physical copy because on the digital, I cannot read because of my age, I want to understand it, I want to just pursue it and find out as to where lies the problem that is I want to check. Otherwise, I have got a lot of blessing for the entire team. I pray God for the positivity for the team ahead, so that our company should be strong and stronger as the company shall be strong, my investment can also be strong with that. So just to wind up, I would pray God for the positivity I have spoken. I will just say wish you a grand, grand happy festivals ahead. You enjoy that with your family being in a sound health and happy mood. So this is my blessing for you. I wish you best of luck and that's all.

Thank you.

I request Mr. Yusuf [indiscernible] to kindly unmute your audio, switch on video and proceed with your question? Mr. Yusuf [indiscernible], we request you to kindly proceed with your question. No response received. I request Mr. Rajesh Kewalram Chanani to kindly proceed with your question.

Next, please.

No response received. I request...

Respected chairman, Ashok Hindujaji, Partha DeSarkar [indiscernible] and a very highly eminent Board of Directors, fellow shareholders. I'm [ Rajesh Kewalram Chanani ], I'm speaking from Ville Parle, Mumbai. First of all, thanks to my company secretary Mr. Narenderji for sending the annual report notice very well on time, which is full of facts and [indiscernible] everything is covered in the annual report and the open presentation by Mr. Partha is excellent and entire road map has been given sir. I'm a very old shareholder of the group, sir. from 1994 when IndusInd Enterprises were there, I have all your company shares. As a physical AGM I attended in Pune IndusInd Bank. So there's no issues that if you're keeping a VC is fine because you are very much busy to all -- your schedules are very busy. So it doesn't matter. And we are also at the comfort of home attending because there's so much raining in Mumbai. So it would have been very difficult to reach Nehru Center. So I really appreciate, continue with the VC thing. Thank you for the dividend sir. And just I want to say a few words for you, sir. [Foreign Language] It is like a family, I'm speaking to a family member sir. And I'm really very happy with the performance of the company sir. But only thing is the share price. Ashok Leyland is working. IndusInd Bank is working. So I hope this will also rock sir. Thank you,. And [indiscernible] a very expert. So really, very happy to see you there. Thank you very much, sir. I have supported all the resolutions and so I'm holding my number is 37. [Foreign Language]

Thank you. I request our next speaker. Ms. [indiscernible] to kindly your unmute your audio, switch on your video and proceed with your question.

Hello Mr. Ashok Hinduja, we have [indiscernible] you were so happy to meet you. Your used to meet you at the AGM sir. We remember the day that you had formed our Hinduja Global. [indiscernible] I just want to say [indiscernible] Hinduja cable [indiscernible] so sir if Hinduja Cable still in the market. I just want to look to these, let me know. We will still provide services of cable because cable connection was only from Hinduja. And we want to continue only for Hinduja, but want to know whether it is using for broadband, something else I don't know. I just want to as regard of broadband, what is our market share in India. Could you please let us know. Are they have made country services to government offices and policies and all that and also India power all of the world just on a price and a [indiscernible] has a potential to rank up, just common sense, [indiscernible] less I want to know that -- Okay. That's all. I'm closing down. [indiscernible] be start up Mr. Partha DeSarkar and so on which our company is going to do best, this will be 1 day adaptive upside up, and we're not going to sell the share price all to get money. I'm very happy with company wish all the best to you also Mr. Ashok Hinduja.

I request our next speaker, Mr. Shobana Mehtha to kindly proceed with your questions.

Can you hear me?

You are audible mam. We request you to kind of limit your question to 2 minutes, please.

Okay. Thank you. Respected chairman, Mr. Ashok, and [Foreign Language]

Thank you, ma'am. You request [indiscernible] to kindly unmute your audios and switch on your videos with your question.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'm a proud shareholder of the Hinduja Group of companies, a company which is always giving back to society. and always rewarding the shareholders. So Mr. Ashok Ashoka Hinduja, thank you. Thank you very much. And I should not forget Mr.Vynsley Wilson Fernandes also. He has been there since ever since I have become a shareholder, and I think he is one of the main anchor who sort of made the company grow from strength to strength. And I mean, there have been many -- there are 25 shareholders before me, and they have asked certain questions, so I'll avoid all this. I will not waste your time. Only I request the company second to please arrange to send me a hard copy of the notice and the annual report as soon as possible. I'm not -- say, we are now becoming older. I mean, we are not that young age where we could, I mean, see the small print, which will spoil our eyes, if you use our brains and all, so if we could please stand up. I've got 6 folios, I mean 6 demat accounts basically. So you could have send me one report. I don't want 6. The other thing what I want to know is -- so Hinduja [indiscernible] will help me in, I have received dividend. Okay, I have not received dividend for '21, '22 -- okay, in '20, '21, I only received dividend 3 times. In '21, '22, I have not received any dividend and '23, '24, only once I have received and '24, '25, I have not received anything so far. So who's is the person who will help me, okay, fintech, people are useless. They are the worst people. They don't respond. They don't give us their mobile number. The -- I mean, if you go to the office and fountain, it's worth than a fish market worse than the railway station. I mean [indiscernible] propose Mr. [indiscernible] at the end of the meeting, we will not be listening to us. And that is it Hinduja always giving back to society. That is the main thing. I was there when one of your older brothers were no longer there at attend the meeting. And there is some -- pardon?

Any question to [indiscernible] question asked, please.

Mr. Hirani, there are many other shareholders who would like to...

I request our next speaker, Prakashini [indiscernible] to kindly unmute your you proceed with your question.

I'm [ Prakashini Ganesha Shenoy ] from Bombay. Respected honorable Chairman, are the dignitaries on the Board and my fellow shareholders, good evening to all of you. I received the AGM report well in time which is colorful, informative, transparent and contains all the informations as per the corporate government. I thank Mr. Singh and his team for the same. The Chairman of the -- the Chairman, Mr. Partha and Fernandes have given a beautiful picture regarding the company and it's working in all parameters. I'm glad to note that the company has a robust performance during the year. I'm also glad to note that the company has done outstanding work in the field of CSR. at outset, I can vote for recommending dividend for the Finance year '23, '24. [Foreign Language] I don't have any questions to ask, and I'm proud to be a shareholder of Hinduja Group. Chairman sir, [Foreign Language] Please continue with VC that people all over will have an opportunity to express their views. I wish the company good luck for a bright future and pray God that the profit of the company shall reach the peak in due course. Sir, I strongly and wholeheartedly support all the resolutions put forth in today's meeting. Thank you, Chairman, sir.

Thank you, mam. I request our next speaker, Ms. H.S. Patel to kindly unmute your audio, switch on your video and proceed with your question.

Respected Chairman, Ashok Hinduja; our CEO, Mr. Partha, our most favorite, Mr. Anil Harish, your smile is enough to do of good things. And this is -- I'm thankful to our Company Secretary, Narendraji and our CFO, Palakodeti. I support resolution #4 of Ashok Hinduja. Your presence is definitely very valuable on the board and my whole heart support for this resolution. This is the 29th AGM of the company. You are paying a dividend of INR 7, and the share price to be coated is 8 to 7. Sir, we not know how this time my number has gone so very down. I think -- I'm sure that this is the last speaker, I'm a last speaker, I don't know. Everything is spoken, but there's nothing left for me to speak, only to say that I don't know how people are praising how much the balance sheet shows that the cash balance has decreased. EPS is down, profit is down, income is down. Those are bank balance is a little up. What use will the company be making of this bank balance in what way? Yet in spite of the low balance sheet, you have given us a dividend of INR 7, it's really worth. Sir, instead of giving the dividend, you could have utilized this the amount of dividend on the -- for the good of the company only. [Foreign Language] Instead for the amount how we will expedite this could have been utilized for the good of company only. Anyway, I have my congratulate the Board of Directors, the management team and specialist employees of receiving the rewards, and accolades. The [indiscernible] done by the company will be very good. I'm not taking much of your time. I really pray God for the progress of our company. Thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to speak.

I request our next speaker, Mr. Arun Kumar Bopana to kindly unmute your audio, switch on the video and proceed with your question.

Moderator, can you request the balance speakers because most of...

We have left with...

So we will just call his name only, so only one shareholder is left, sir.

Okay. Okay.

So I request Mr. [ Tushar Soda ] kindly unmute your audio and proceed with your question, please.

Moderator, it looks that he is not there so.

Mr. Tushar, we request you to kindly proceed with your question and request you to kindly wrap up your question fast. Mr. Tushar, you are on mute, we request you to kindly unmute and proceed with your question.

Yes. I would take more than one minute of your time, respect to Chairman sir and esteem Board of Directors, Chairman, AP Hinduja, I take this AGM as an opportunity to congratulate you to steer and use global solutions as the Chairman. I'm sure under your HGS will achieve greater rights. Company has made infrastructure, which is driving retail broadband, enterprise class solutions, commercial broadband and being a very important part of the future pro of India. I request you to kindly share with us the details of transformation journey to be an all-digital services player. How our company plans to enhance the business to the same levels as it was before the sale of health care business. Congratulations for making our footprint in cybersecurity solutions, such as secure artificial intelligence, security testing and digital forensics. In delighted that Hinduja Global has entered into strategic partnership with Maharashtra State Cooperative Credit Societies to offer services to 40,000 plus branches with potential to expand to 1 lakh branches nationwide. We see from a very sustainable financial future, I extend my continued support to our company. Thank you for giving this opportunity to speak. Thank you so very much, sir. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir. With this, I would like to confirm that we have given the opportunity to early speakers members. Now I request you to please continue with the further proceedings of the. Over to you, Chairman, sir. Thank you.

Thank you, shareholders. You are concerned. Most of the concerns were about the future, how the CapEx, what are the future plans? I could only tell you that go back to a few years back, when your company market cap was not more than INR 1,400 crores, INR 1,500 crores. And when the opportunity came, the real value was visible when the Board decided to divest 53% of the business, which is the health insurance business, and you saw you got INR 9,000 crores in the company. So that shows the value against the market care. Similarly, to wait for a few years, this company now is again on the verge of creating value. And this value will be visible after a few years because we are now moving more towards AI and digitization programs. And naturally, when you do this, you go for some acquisitions, you create development internally, it takes a little time. So bear with us, and you will see the value in few years. As far as various shareholders gave a lot of blessings, [ shayaris in the form of shayaris ] to the board, to the management to the company, I'm thankful and grateful to all of them who have supported to the company. And given this, if there are any other questions, which are required in details. You can write to the Company Secretary, you can write to the CFO. They will provide you all the information. I hope you have, in general, got the responses to your questions as well as from the presentations and the balance sheet. Narender, would you like to proceed with the next.

Thank you, Chairman, sir. Members may please go to e-voting page of [indiscernible] and cast their vote. Please note that those members who have already exercised their board through remote e-voting are not eligible to vote again. The Board of Directors has appointed Mr. Birendra Bhatt, practicing [indiscernible] as a scrutinizer to scrutinize the voting at the Asian, including the remote e-voting process in a fair and transparent manner. Facility for voting at the AGM is also being provided electronically to those members who have joined the meeting through VC, but not yet voted. Further, there would not be any voting on the resolution by [indiscernible]. As per the applicable provisions of the company's act and tools made thereunder, the company has provided removed the voting facility to all the members took us their vote on the items of AGM notice from September 23, 2024, 9 a.m. IST onward till 5 p.m. IST on September 26, 2024. Members present at the meeting, but who have not cast their vote by availing the remote e-voting facility, can cast vote using e-voting platform of KFin Tech which would be closed after 15 minutes of the closure of the meeting. After completion of the e-voting at the AGM, the scrutinizer will submit consolidated scrutinizer report. The result of the today's AGM will be announced within 2 working days from the conclusion of the age. And same would be disseminated to the stock exchanges and would be available on the company's notice board and on the platform of KFintech. The resolution, as set forth in the notice, shall be deemed to have been passed today, subject to the receipt of retreat number of boards in favor of each item. I now request the Chairman for his closing statement, please. Over to you, Chairman.

Thank you, shareholders. I, on behalf of all the Board members, thank each of the shareholders for attending the AGM. Mr. Narender Singh, Company Secretary is authorized to declare the voting result. Mr. Birender Bhatt is now requested to supervise the e-voting I also thank the directors for joining the meeting. With your consent, I and the other Board members would like to leave the meeting and advise the company secretary to ensure e-voting continues for next 15 minutes. All participants who have completed their voting may log off. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for taking out time to join this meeting today, and good day to all. And we will try to fix one of the next meetings rather than virtual and presence of all the shareholders. Thank you very much.