Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HINDPETRO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, shareholders. I am V. Murali, Company Secretary. I welcome all the shareholders to the 71st Annual General Meeting of the company. I request Pushp Kumar Joshi, Chairman, to preside over the meeting.

Good morning, shareholders, and namaskar. I am Pushp Kumar Joshi, Chairman and Managing Director of the company, attending this meeting on video conferencing from Mumbai. I would like to welcome all the shareholders to 71st AGM of the company. As members are aware, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, for the fourth consecutive year, has allowed companies to conduct their AGM through video conferencing or other audio/visual means. In line with the provisions of MCA circular, we are holding this AGM through VC. A live streaming of this meeting is also being webcast on NSDL's website. Since the meeting is held through VC, I request Company Secretary to spare a few minutes to inform the process of VC meeting.

Thank you, Chairman. So by now, most of you would have a firsthand experience of joining and participating in AGM through VC. However, I would like to spare a few minutes to take you through certain procedural and technical points. The facility of joining the AGM through VC is being made available to members on a first come, first served basis. All members who have joined this meeting, are by default placed on mute mode by the host to avoid any disturbance arising from background noise and to ensure smooth and seamless conduct of the meeting. Once the question-and-answer session starts, the names of the members, who have registered as speaker member, will be announced one by one. Only the audio of the speaker member will thereafter be unmuted by the host. To start speaking, the member is requested to click the Video On button only once and wait until the video is on. If the member is not able to join through video for any reason, the member can speak through the audio mode. While speaking, we would request the speaker to use their earphones, so that they are clearly audible, minimize any noise in the background, ensure that WiFi is not connected to any other devices, no other background applications are running and there is proper lighting to have a good video experience. If there is any connectivity problem at the speaker member's and, we would invite the next speaker member to join. Once the connectivity improves, the speaker member may be called again to speak after the other members who have registered complete their turn. We would request the members to be slow and loud while asking the questions so as to capture them correctly. We would request the members to limit their speech to 3 minutes. During the AGM, if a member faces any technical issues, they may contact the helpline number mentioned in the notice of AGM. I now request the Chairman to take forward the proceedings of the meeting. Thank you. Over to you, Chairman.

The Company Secretary has confirmed the presence of quorum, and the meeting can commence. Before we commence the proceeding, I would like to introduce my colleagues on the dais. To my immediate right is Sri. Rajneesh Narang, Director of Finance; then Sri Amit Garg, Director Marketing. To my immediate left is Sri S. Bharathan, Director Refineries; and then Sri K. S. Shetty Director HR. To my extreme right is Sri V. Murali, Company Secretary. Now I call on my fellow Board members, who are on video conferencing, to introduce themselves. Srimati Sujata Sharma, Government Nominee Director of the company, could not join the AGM due to urgent official exigencies. Sri Pankaj Kumar, Nominee Director of the company representing ONGC, could not join the AGM due to urgent official exigencies. Now I request Srimati Vimla Pradhan, Independent Director of the company, to introduce herself.

Good morning. I am Vimla Pradhan, Independent Director of the company. I am the Chairperson of Nomination and Information committee of HPCL. I'm joining the AGM meeting by VC from [indiscernible] Jharkhand.

Thank you, Madam. Thank you. Now I request Sri Bechan Lal, Independent Director of the company, to introduce himself. Sri Bechan Lal?

Mr. Bechan Lal has not joined due to urgent personal exigencies.

Now I request Sri Vivekananda Biswal, Independent Director of the company, to introduce himself.

Namaskar. I'm Sri Vivekananda Biswal, Independent Director of the company. And I'm the Chairman of Investment Committee. I'm attending this meeting -- AGM through VC from New Delhi.

Thank you, sir. Now I request Ramdarshan Singh Pal, Independent Director of the company, to introduce himself.

Namaskar, sir. [Technical Difficulty].

Now I request Dr. Nagaraja Bhalki, Independent Director of the company, to introduce himself.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Dr. Nagaraja Bhalki, I'm Independent Director, joining the meeting from [ Rampur ], Karnataka.

Thank you, sir. Now I request Sri K. S. Narendiran, Independent Director of the company, to introduce himself.

My name is Narendiran, K. S. I'm Independent Director of the company. I'm joining meeting through video conference from my hometown [indiscernible], which is in Tamil Nadu.

Thanks to all the members of the Board. The representatives of statutory auditors, the secretarial auditors and scrutinizers for remote e-voting process are attending the AGM through VC. The representatives of major financial institutions, foreign portfolio investors, mutual funds are also attending the meeting through VC. The company has taken requisite steps to enable members to participate and vote on the items being considered at this AGM. Since there is no physical attendance of the members and in compliance with the circulars issued by MCA and CB, the requirement of appointing proxies is not applicable. The registers, as required under the Companies Act to be made available for inspection by members during the continuance of the meeting, are placed on the website of the company. Since the notice along with Director's report, auditor's report are already circulated to members. With your permission, I take the notice convening the meeting, Director's report, auditor's report as received and read. I request the Company Secretary to read out the comments of CAG under Section 143(6) of Companies Act on the financial statements of the company and also the qualifications contained in the Secretarial Audit Report for the financial year '22-'23 and the response of the company to the same. Over to the Company Secretary.

Thank you, sir. Comments of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India under Section 143(6B) of the Companies Act 2013 on the financial statements of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited for the year ended 31st March 2023. The preparation of financial statements of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited for the year ended 31 March 2023, in accordance with the financial reporting framework prescribed under the Companies Act 2013, is the responsibility of the management of the company. The statutory auditor appointed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, under Section 135, is responsible for expressing opinion on the financial statements under Section 143 of the act, based on independent audit in accordance with the standards on auditing prescribed under Section 143(10) of the act. This is stated to have been done by them vide their audit report dated 12 May 2023. I, on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, have conducted a supplementary audit of the financial statements of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited for the year ended 31 March 2023 under Section 143(6A) of the act. This supplementary audit has been carried out independently without access to the working papers of the statutory auditors and is limited primarily to inquiries of the statutory auditors and company personnel and a selective examination of some of the accounting records. On the basis of my supplementary audit, nothing significant has come to my knowledge which would give rise to any comment upon or supplement to statutory auditor's report under Section 143(6B) of the act for and on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, C. M. Sane, Director General of Commercial Audit, Mumbai, signed, issued in Mumbai on 14 July 2023. Now I'll read out the qualifications contained in the Secretarial Audit Report. The Secretarial Audit Report does not contain qualification, reservation or adverse remarks except the following: The company could not comply with the provisions of Regulation 17(1) of SEBI LODR 2015 for having requisite number of Independent Directors on its Board with effect from 27/12/2022 up to 14/3/2023. The company's response, which is contained in Page 56 of the annual report: In this regard, your company confirms that being a government company, which is under the administrative control of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the power to appoint Directors, including Independent Directors, and finalizing the terms and conditions of appointment vest with the Government of India. The matter regarding appointment of required number of independent directors has been taken up with MoPNG from time to time, and the government is [ ceased ] of the matter. It may be noted that the company has complied with the requirements as on March 31, 2023, with the appointment of 1 more Independent Director on March 15, 2023. Thank you. I now request our Chairman to address the members.

Thank you, Company Secretary. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the Board of Directors to the 71st AGM of HPCL. I express my gratitude to each one of you for sparing your valuable time to be part of this meeting and for your unwavering faith in our company's growth journey. I'm also delighted to share that your company entered into its 50th year of glorious service in the current financial year. The fiscal year '22-'23 was marked by escalated geopolitical tensions and the resultant financial fluctuations, which in turn gave rise to substantial surge in the prices of crude oil and various commodities. Against the backdrop of increased prices in the oil prices, India's petroleum product consumption also hit a new record, while marketing margins were suppressed for certain petroleum products. I'm happy to share that while navigating these challenging environment, your company achieved a gross sales of INR 4.65 lakh crores and reached a new peak. Your company achieved its highest ever annual sales of 43.45 million metric tons during the period, with a growth rate of 11% compared to historical. The highest-ever crude throughput of 19.09 MMT was achieved by our refineries with a capacity utilization of 107%. Our average GRMs for the financial year '23 grew from USD 7.19 per barrel to USD 12.09 per barrel during the financial year, recording an increase of 68.2%. Your company ensures uninterpreted fuel supplies across the length and breadth of the country and continue to meet the energy needs of the nation. Before I share the details of performance and future plans of your company, I would like to outline the major developments that have taken place in Indian economy and oil sector, in particular, during the financial year to set the context. Indian economy consolidated its post-pandemic recovery in '22-'23 with a growth rate of about 7.2%. Government's policy support and CapEx push propelled investment activities and supported economic growth. India was the fastest-growing major economy in financial year '23 despite the shocks of COVID-19, geopolitical challenges and synchronized policy rate hikes to curb inflation. The oil market remained turbulent with high prices amid geopolitical tension during the financial year. Petroleum consumption in the country saw a robust growth of 10.2%, reaching a level of 222 MMT. The national policy on biofuels was amended during the year, and the deadline to reach the blending target of 20% ethanol in petrol was advanced from 2030 to '25-'26. National Green Hydrogen mission was approved in January '23 with an outlay of INR 19,744 crores. Now, I present the details of physical and financial performance of your company for the financial year '23. Your company's gross sales registered a growth of 24.7%, rising from INR 3.73 lakh crores in '21-'22 to INR 4.65 lakh crores. Exceptionally high international oil prices with suppressed marketing margins on select transport fuels affected profitability, resulting in net loss of INR 8,974 crores during the year. I am pleased to share that your company started the new financial year on a very positive and healthy note. Your company recorded profit after tax of INR 6,204 crores during April to June '23, registering an increase of 192% over INR 3,223 crores PAT reported during the Q4 of FY '23. The results of the first quarter of 24 have made us confident of continuing performance momentum, and it resonates well with the envisioned growth trajectory of your company. Credit ratings of your company by various reputed international and national rating agencies continue to be at par with the rating of the country. The credit rating of your company from Moody's Investor Service is Baa3. And from Fitch Ratings, it is BBB-. All the physical indicators of your company show a very, very strong performance. The financial year '23 saw the refineries of your company registered sound physical performance and continue the thrust on workplace safety, operational excellence and energy conservation measures. During the year, your company achieved a combined refining throughput of 19.09 MMT, with a capacity utilization of 107%. As a part of the VRMP, a new 9 million tonne capacity CDU-4 has been commissioned, enhancing the refining capacity of your company. Your company continued to demonstrate its excellence in marketing of petroleum products. I'm proud to say that your company achieved the highest ever market sales of 43.45 metric million tons in '22-'23, with a growth of 11% over the previous year, with petrol, diesel and LPG sales increasing by 16.2%, 16.5% and 4.9%, respectively. You company recorded the highest ever sales for all major products. Your company continued its position as the second largest LPG marketer in India. Your company also entered in petrochemical marketing in FY '23 with the launch of HP Durapol brand. The brand will cover various grades of HDPE, LLDPE and polypropylene. HPCL has commenced marketing polypropylene and polyethylene during the year. Your company continues to focus on network expansion to enhance market reach. HPCL is the second largest retail network owner in the country with 21,186 outlets as of 31st March 2023. To ensure wider fuel choices for the customer, electric vehicle charging facilities and CNG facilities were enhanced to 2,037 and 1,387 retail outlets, respectively, during the year. The distribution network of your company achieved the highest throughput of 57.3 metric million tonnes during the year. Highest ever pipeline throughput of 23.25 million metric tonnes was achieved during the year, which helped in optimizing the logistic cost. Your company continued to expand its footprint in overseas market by leveraging HPCL Middle East FZCO, a wholly owned subsidiary of HPCL that markets lubricants and other petroleum products across various markets in Middle East and Africa. Your company exported about 1.26 MMT of petroleum products to 21 countries. Your company is continuously expanding the infrastructure capabilities and customer touch points across various segments of energy value chain. To cater to the increasing fuel demand and expand market reach with a capital expenditure of INR 14,043 crores, a number of projects were completed during the year, and others are in progress. VRMP project for increasing the crude refining capacity from 8.3 to 15 MMT has attained a critical milestone with the commissioning of highly energy-efficient 9 million tonnes CDU. I'm happy to state that HPCL increased its pipeline network to 5,132 kilometers in FY '23, with the commissioning of 697 kilometers long Vijayawada-Dharmapuri pipeline and 650 kilometers long Hassan-Cherlapalli LPG pipeline. Your company has the second largest product pipeline network in the country. The 5 million tonnes LPG terminal at Chhara in Gujarat, being constructed through our subsidiary company, HPCL LNG Limited, achieved mechanical completion in March '23. 3 new LPG plants with combined capacity of 360 [ TMTPA ] were commissioned during the year at [ Barhi ] in Jharkhand, [ Patalganga ] in Maharashtra and Sitarganj in Uttarakhand. A new POL depot at Sitarganj in Uttarakhand was commissioned during the year, and the existing POL depot at Kozhikode in the state of Kerala was revamped. Your company has completed the construction of a compressed biogas plant with 100 TPD biomass processing capacity at Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, which is another step towards expanding avenues in biofuels. Your company is investing in infrastructure across various segments to meet demand growth in its existing business and position itself strategically to take advantage of opportunities in the energy transition. I'm pleased to state that some of the major projects are fast approaching completion to realize their intended benefit. HPCL's VRMP is at an advanced stage of completion along with the residue upgradation facility. As I speak, 3 critical units of VRMP, hydrocracker, HGU and SRU are on the verge of commissioning. The construction activities are in full swing at 9 MMTPA grassroot refinery cum petrochemical complex being set up by HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited, a joint venture company between HPCL and Government of Rajasthan at Pachpadra in Rajasthan. Your company is constructing a second-generation ethanol biorefinery at Bhatinda in Punjab, with a production capacity of 100 kl per day of ethanol from biomass. The 370 TPA capacity green hydrogen plant at [ Visakh ] refinery is in advanced stage of completion. Your company continues to place a strong emphasis on innovation and R&D to enhance its competitive strength. HPCL's Corporate R&D center in Bengaluru has developed and demonstrated 55 innovative technologies and products, which have led to significant cost advantage and efficiency improvement in the organization. During FY '23, 36 patents were granted, taking the cumulative number of patents granted to 160 as of 31st March '23 and 177 patents as of date. The maiden [ BRLS ] report of your company for the year '23 has also been published along with the annual report of '22-'23. Detailed responses have been provided to all essentials and leadership indicators in line with the national guideline for responsible business conduct covering 9 principles. Your company has been reporting its performance on ESG aspects through the publication of Annual Sustainability Report for over 10 years. The Annual Sustainability Report is based on GRI standards and duly assured on the AA1000 Assurance Standards. HPCL is actively harnessing renewable energy sources not only to reduce carbon footprint, but also to cut electricity cost for its operation. Your company has already solarized about 49% of the retail outlets as of financial year '23. Towards reducing the carbon intensity in the transport sector, your company is effectively participating in the ethanol blending program and has recorded an overall ethanol blending percentage of 11.76% during the sugar year. For the promotion of advanced biofuels in transportation, your company is supporting Government of India's Satark Program. As of 31st March 23, your company has issued 476 LOIs with a capacity of 943 TMTPA of CBG. Your company is actively participating in the Mission LiFE movement to bring individual behaviors to the forefront of global climate action narrative and to meet the objectives of the country's sustainable development agenda. Your company continues to work responsibly for the development of underprivileged communities and the empowerment of marginalized section of the society towards inclusive growth and augmenting the social capital of the nation. Your company has undertaken various CSR initiatives, touching the lives of underprivileged people through programs related to child care, education, health, skill development, environment and community development and sports. The overall CSR spend was INR 155 crores during the financial year '22-'23. Your company has a comprehensive and a well-defined risk management framework. With robust internal control processes for smooth conduction of business, risks including crude supply disruption, crude prices, foreign exchange exposure, intensity of competition and climate change concerns are regularly reviewed for risk mitigation plans, and interventions are taken accordingly. Robust cybersecurity measures have been implemented to ensure the safety and security of our systems and data. The Risk Management Committee continues to provide direction and guidance in risk management. Your company remains committed to operating with the highest standards of corporate governance. All business activities are conducted with strict adherence to the regulatory framework and under the core values of ethics, accountability, transparency, integrity and professionalism. Your company believes in nurturing interest and confidence and ensuring sustained value creation for all the stakeholders. All the mandatory provisions stipulated in SEBI listing regulations relating to corporate governance requirements have been complied with. Three full-time directors were appointed to the Board post last AGM. Sri [ S. Vardhan ] was appointed as Director Refineries effective first of October 2022. Sri Amit Garg was appointed as Director Marketing effective 27th December 2022. Sri K. S. Shetty was appointed as Director HR effective first of May 2023. Ms. Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary, Marketing and Oil Refinery, MoPNG, joined the Board as Government Nominee Director effective 27th December 2022. Sri K. S. Narendiran joined the Board as Independent Director effective 15th of March 2023. The strength of your company continues to be its employees, who are skilled, competent and dedicated. It is your company's continuing endeavor to create an environment where employees strive to deliver excellence. Your company has taken a number of initiatives to enhance employee engagement, capability building and leadership development. The competencies of the workforce are constantly upgraded to equip them with -- to meet future challenges. Your company's excellent performance across various dimensions has been validated by rewards and recognitions received at a number of forums. HPCL's commitment to sustainability, innovation and fostering an inclusive workplace culture has been recognized through multiple accolades in FIPI Oil and Gas Awards 2022. The performance of your company in financial year '23 is evidence of the customers' trust and loyalty as well as the strong support of all the stakeholders. The plans of your company are centered on creating value and delivering growth responsibly, with due importance being given to sustainable development. Your company is focused on strengthening the core business of refining and marketing through expansion of refining capabilities, supply chain capabilities and customer reach. The thrust is also on diversification into petrochemicals and scaling up footprints in the natural gas business, which are identified as growth areas. The strategy is also focused on participating in emerging business areas such as biofuels, renewables and solar and wind power, along with expanding its presence in nonfuel retailing. Your company is actively utilizing technological solutions to improve processes, increase productivity and enhance customer value and convenience. Our digital strategy is in place, helping in application of latest digital technologies in business transformation. The existing ERP system has been modernized to achieve greater business flexibility, digital agility and enhanced efficiencies. Your company continues to explore new business models to stay competitive, respond to changing market dynamics, drive innovation and maximize growth opportunities. A road map has been developed for unlocking value in the lubricant business. In-principle approvals were being accorded for exploring options, including carving out the lube business to unlock value, subject to approvals from competent authorities. Your company is committed to conducting its business with the objective of preserving the environment and contributing to sustainable development. I'm pleased to state that your company has developed an integrated transitional road map to achieve net zero for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040, which is under implementation. To accelerate the energy transformation journey, your company has established a new energy transition cell, dedicated to achieving the company's net zero goals. The incorporation of a wholly owned subsidiary, subject to approvals from the competent authorities, for consolidation of all the green and emerging business opportunity under one umbrella is being planned. The capital expenditure of INR 75,000 crores is envisaged over next 5 years for various projects. The team of Nayi Urja Naya HPCL demonstrates our unwavering commitment to explore alternatives, energy sources and transform your company into unwavering champion of sustainability. Before concluding, I, on behalf of Board of Directors, would like to thank the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, other ministries, departments of Government of India, various state governments, local authorities for their valuable guidance and counsel, and look forward to their continued support. My fellow Directors and I am thankful to [ Msrs ] Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited for all the -- and all the stakeholders for their support and confidence reposed in us. I thank you for taking the time to be with us today. I thank all our customers, dealers, distributors and business associates, who are integral parts of our business. I sincerely thank all of our employees for their unwavering commitment and tireless effort. I also thank our employee unions and associations for their continued involvement and support for the growth of the company. I wish to acknowledge the contributions made by Sri Vinod S. Shenoy, previous Director Refineries, who has superannuated. I also wish to thank Sri Sunil Kumar, the Government Nominee Director, for his contribution. He ceased to be the Director of the company in December 2022. I also take this opportunity to thank my colleagues on the Board for their matured counsel. I look forward to the continued involvement and collaborative working with all our stakeholders to keep alive our legacy of touching lives and be a company that delivers happiness. Thank you very much. I now request the Company Secretary to inform the process followed by the company for remote e-voting and the resolutions proposed for approval of the members of the company.

Thank you, Chairman. The Companies Act 2013 and SEBI Listing Regulations requires company to provide the facility of e-voting to enable members to cast their votes electronically on all the items of business to be transacted at the general meeting. Accordingly, the company had engaged the services of NSDL to provide members the facility to cast their votes through the remote electronic voting platform provided by NSDL. The remote e-voting commenced on Monday, August 21, 2023, at 9 a.m. and ended on Thursday, August 24, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. The members holding shares as on the cut-off date of Friday, August 18, 2023 were entitled to vote. Sri Upendra Shukla, Practicing Company Secretary, was appointed as a scrutinizer to conduct the remote e-voting process in a fair and transparent manner. As per the notice of 71st AGM, ordinary and special business proposed for approval of the members of the company for the following business: We have 2 ordinary businesses. One is to receive, consider and adopt the audited financial statements of the company for the financial year ended March 31, 2023 together with the reports of the Board of Directors and auditors thereon; to appoint a director in place of Sri Rajneesh Narang, who [ retains ] the rotation and being eligible offers, himself for reappointment. We have 8 special businesses; out of this, 1 is a special resolution: Appointment of Sri Amit Garg as the Director of the company, appointment of Srimati Sujata Sharma as a Director of the company, appointment of K. S. Narendiran as a Director of the company, appointment of Sri. K. S. Shetty as a Director of the company, payment of remuneration to cost auditors for the financial year 2023-24, approval of material related party transactions with HPCL Mittal Energy Limited to be entered during the financial year 2024-25, approval of material related party transactions with Hindustan Colas Private Limited, to be entered during the financial year 2024-25; approval of material related party transactions with ONGC Petro Additions Limited, to be entered during the financial year 2024-25. Thank you. I now request our Chairman to take forward the proceedings of the meeting.

Thank you, Company Secretary. Since the AGM is being held through VC and the resolutions mentioned in the notice convening this AGM have already been put to vote through remote e-voting, there will be no proposing and seconding of the resolutions. May I now request the members to raise queries on the items of business to be transacted at this AGM? With a view to afford an opportunity to all the members and to provide equal opportunity to speak, the time allotted to each speaker is maximum 3 minutes. Members are requested avoid repetitive queries or observations already raised by other members, so as to enable adequate time to respond and address the queries. We also wish to advise our esteemed shareholders that in order to provide detailed database response to their inquiries, we would also communicate our responses suitably through e-mails. I will now request the host to call one by one those members who have registered to speak.

Thank you, sir. Our first shareholder registered to speak is Manoj Kumar Gupta.

Good morning. Respected Chairman, Board of Directors, fellow shareholders, my name is Manoj Kumar Gupta. I've joined this meeting from my residence, Kolkata. I feel proud to be a shareholder of Hindustan Petroleum under your leadership, and we believe that you will take the company on new heights with the help of entire team of management and the staff to give a maximum return to the -- more return to the employees and investors in coming time. But your balance sheet is so strong, and performance is good, and dividend is good, but there is no reflection in the stock market because our share price is not going up, so we wish to God that when we meet next, our share price will be in 4 digits. And sir, thanks to the Company Secretary, Mr. Murali, and his entire team to help us to join this meeting through VC. And sir, what's your future plan with CapEx? And is there any direct or indirect impact of Russia-Ukraine war on our company? And sir, crude prices are fluctuating. So what impact has come on our company? And how -- what's your policy to reward to the investors? How you will reward to the investors? And disputed cases are several with the government with various platforms in the tax matters. So how you will resolve that cases? And LPG, there is a tough competition because several household peoples are surrendering their cylinders because due to Adani house gas pipeline has reached in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab. So how you face that challenge because several domestic consumers are surrendering their consumer numbers to your distributors. So how you face that challenge. And is there any plan for greenfield or brownfield project in any part of the country. You have a lot of fund and the government is supporting you. So is there any plan to come in the Northeast part for a greenfield project because after we become the NDA power. NDA government in Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Arunachal. So have you any plan to -- unclaim dividend before send that dividend to the central government take a poll to the shareholders that they can claim their dividend from the company. And sir, what's the status of HPCL and Mittal Energy, when that project will complete and whether that project will give return to the HPCL sir. With this, I conclude my speech and wish to hope that you will take the company on new heights every day. I hope that you will return -- good return to the investor is advised. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Gupta. Our next shareholder to speak is Santosh Kumar Saraf.

[Foreign Language].

Thank you, Mr. Saraf. Our next shareholder, Gautam Prasad Tiwari has not joined the meeting. So we'll move on to Mr. Tamal Kumar Majumder. Mr. Majumder?

Good morning, Mr. Joshi, Mr. Narang, Mr. Pradhan, Mr. Narendiran; and other directors of the company, myself, Tamal Kumar Majumder, an equity shareholder from Kolkata. And my special thanks to our Company Secretary, Mr. V. Murali for keeping cordial relation with shareholders. He sent the soft copy of the annual report as well as the link well in time so that I may do my homework and attend the meeting. Thank you, Chairman, for keeping such a wonderful person to look after your investor relation. But I will be surprised today. Sir, the directors are not taking the meeting very seriously. Ministries -- nominees are not joining. One independent director, Mr. Bhalki is joining from his car. For a serious meeting, 4 lakhs crores company, and he is joining from his car as if it's a general meeting, nothing to worry. So they are not taking shareholders very seriously. I looks odd, it looks odd. They -- neither they're here -- there. When you see nominee is not present or parent nominee is not present, it looks out. If they are not interested in hearing shareholders. It's a typical government culture. I think you -- the company should come out of this, and you are a very professional man, we request you to look into this issue sir. From next year, this should not happen. Because government as well as our parent as our independent directors. Nobody is taking the meeting seriously. And we have seen what in CSR happened. 1/3 of the amount remained unspent, it shows -- it puts the company in bad light, sir. And thank you, Mr. Chairman, for sharing your thoughts with us. And I have gone through the annual report, have some queries -- for [ those ] matters and seek your indulgence sir. Sir due to volatile crude prices, which reached USD 122.7 per barrel during June '22 and which came down to USD 78.6 per barrel during March '23. The company booked a loss of INR 11,915 crores, and gross after tax of INR 8,974 crores on stand-alone basis. Despite an EPS of minus INR 63.26 per equity sale, company declared a dividend totaling INR 1,985 crores out of retained earnings balance. But this scenario changed during Q1 of financial year '24 with a consolidated profit of INR 6,766 crores in the Q1 on consolidated basis. Sir, what is your expectation from the remaining part of the year? Sir, Union Budget 2023-'24 has allocated 30,000 crores for capital support to oil marketing companies due to loss suffered by them during the first half of 2023, account [indiscernible]. Whether our company received any amount in this respect till date, it is said that both Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum is taking steps for rights issue through which they may get government contribution out of the capital support promised by the government. What is your thinking in this regard? Whether, our company will follow the same line of other OMCs or whether our company will go for preferential allotment or rights issue in the coming months. I want to know your view in this regard. What is the -- what is your program? Sir, during financial year '23. Capacity utilization of Mumbai Refinery and Visakh Refinery was 103.2%, Bombay and Visakh was 111.9%. And [ gas ] refinery for Bombay refinery and Visakh Refinery was USD 14.82 per barrel and USD 9.2 per barrel as long as Visakh is concerned. How the both units are fairing during the current year. And whether our company processed Russian crude during financial year '23. Would you please share your thinking in this regard. Sir, our foreign outgo increased abnormally to INR 89,167 crores during financial year '23 against 2022's figure of INR 34,617 only. Foreign exchange more than doubled, nearly 2.5x of the last year figure, mainly due to abnormal increase in crude prices during the first half of financial year '23. Do we expect the outgo will decrease substantially or increase during financial year '24. Please share your thoughts, sir. Sir, our borrowing stands at 18,114 crores as on 31st March 2023. And our interest cost increased to INR 1, 977 crores during financial year against last year's figure of INR 790 crores. It is in Page 252 of the annual report sir, Note 37, Page 252, on stand-alone basis. What is the reason for such abnormal increase in the interest cost during the current year? And what was the gain due to refinancing of loans and they're getting to USD 500 million during the year. Because the report says there was a refinancing of ECB loan of USD 500 million. And what is the average rate of interest during financial year '23. Sir, as per Page 248, schedule 31, the company received INR 5,617 crores from government to compensate under recoveries on sale of domestic LPG during financial '22. What shapes our -- what was our claim in this regard? What was our claim in this regard? You received INR 5,617 crores and what was our claim. And what about negative buffer of INR 990 crore as of 31st March 2023 not shown in the accounts. And will you please share details in this regard. And sir, I'm a bit surprised noticing that you have a claim of INR 189.12 crores from the government on account of total reimbursement due to your PMUY Ujjwala scheme and others. But you provided nearly INR 160 crore out of claim of INR 189 crores from the government. So you were providing amount against government claim also, whether they rejected your claim or you deliberately provided that amount in order to make your balance sheet strong. And sir, -- it is noted that the target of mixed 10.59% ethanol and petrol achieved by the company. And it is around 11.6% you mentioned in the meeting.

Mr. Majumder. Could you conclude at the earliest, sir?

I already said, yes, I have done my homework. It's a meeting, it's a serious meeting. I want to complete my note. I think it will take another 2, 3 minutes. I want to complete. Because this become a practice of many companies to -- in the name of technical glitch, cut the line. I think this should not happen. Sir, the company's CapEx was INR 14,043 crore. What was the project CapEx for 2024 and what is the status of completion of 5 million metric tonnes capacity Chhara liquified natural gas terminal as on date. And whether work-in-progress amount of INR 22,895 includes that amount. And what will be the total cost as [indiscernible] the project is concerned. And there is a report, the company is looking for partners, partners in the project for more than 10 years. What is the status and whether it will be a money spinner for our company. And sir, despite you talked about the R&D, but what I am noticing, our R&D was 0.07% of the revenue, total revenue. It was less than last year. When oil companies all over the world is increasing [indiscernible]. And you talked about 170 -- 160 patents as of 31st March 2023, what benefit we are deriving from this? Another -- and sir -- we are sorry to know that company has not complied keeping appropriate number of independent directors during the -- during a part of financial year '23 and the violation is continuing from 01/05/2023. What option you have taken sir. Why government is so lenient in this regard. And sir, it is noted from Page 56 that as on 31st March, there are 8 pending paras relating to CAG report related to encashment of earned leave, non-recovery of perquisite tax and others. And sir, whether CAG accepted your reply in this regard, what is the status? And sir, only 2 questions here. Sir, sorry to note that the company failed to use nearly 1/3 of its CFR allocation during the year. Last year also, there was the decrease -- there was less expenditure of INR 9 crores. And these puts independent directors in poor light. Same thing happened during financial '22 also. Want a straight reply from your end with an assurance that it will not happen in future because 1/3 of the [indiscernible]. And lastly, sir, you talked about the consolidation of entire green energy into a new company -- green energy into new company. What is the status in this regard. Sir already Tata Power did that. Tata Power transferred all it's companies into 1, and they get an investment of 4,000 crores for 11% of their stake. That means nearly 38,000 crores valuation in the this regard. So you are -- you will be in a even inefficient to get that. Thank you, sir. Thank you for allowing me to complete my notes.

Thank you very much, Mr. Majumder. Our next speaker shareholder is Ms. Homayun Beruz Pouredehi.

Thank you. What a pleasure to attend your AGMs. Do you know, we have been attending year after year your physical AGM. There was a real like air of festivity when we used to attend your AGMs, do you know. As if we are attending some festival, what lovely vibrations and we met all your Chairmans. I don't want to take up more time. I just want to know a few things. This time, you had highest sales you mentioned Chairman, highest revenue you mentioned, highest production. Congratulations. We are very proud of the company. So our company is going global. Just throw more light on that, that makes our India proud. Sir and one more thing I would like to know is you have -- actually many facilities you have in the South. You have mentioned your speech, your annual report speech. Sir, what about the North like because there are floods, have they washed away our facility in the North. Sir, one more thing I just want to know for myself. Do we supply aviation fuel to the aviation companies, sir are they paying you in time because now the aircrafts are full. So you know -- we know very well all about the Kingfisher scam and this and that and they were not able to pay. Sir, now what's the situation? Vistara is going full. So we would like to know, the latest situation. We'll be happy if they are paying you -- our companies in time. Sir and regarding Mahanagar gas, it's come in Andheri, we were told to fill forms and [ with that ] also, sir but I tell you, I will never give up my HPCL cylinder. Those days of shortage of LPG are gone, and we are so happy about it. We are very proud, you have mentioned, you are supplying the energy to everyone to meet the energy demands is once you have 7% capacity. Congratulations, you should be awarded sir because of this. Now I feel, to know -- I just want to know why have you placed your AGM and IndianOil AGM on the same date and around about the same time. What is it? Any special [indiscernible] some spirituality for oil companies to progress or prosper. I would to know that. Sir, and how much you're spending on research and how many scientists are working at our research center because you have just not mentioned, you have got so many this patents so we want to know the patents are a result of the hard work, and we want more and more innovations, make our India proud. Sir, I don't want to say more. Of course, the state of the art, it is [indiscernible] your facilities, even showed us your Bangalore just now. Mr. Chairman, we wish you all the best and all your other Board members all the best. And regarding the share price sir, I think now is the time to buy BPCL shares because the company has done very well and then later on a reflect on our share price. Thank you very much and wish you all the best.

Thank you, Madam.

Thank you, Ms. Pouredehi. Our next shareholder who registered to speak, [ Rajendra Jamnadas Sheikh ] has not joined the meeting. So we shall move on to Mr. Jayesh Vinodrai Valia.

Mr. Valia from Mumbai. Am I audible sir?

Yes sir. Please go ahead sir.

This is regarding 2022 budget speech. Honorable Finance Minister had made an announcement that during the pandemic time whatever risk purchase and liquidated damages were collected from the suppliers, by the public sector undertakings. In that 5% will be retained and 95% will be refunded. According to that GR was issued by them. Most of the companies have implemented that GR except HPCL. So want to know how much -- and even HPCL has not taken claim into consideration in this balance sheet because we don't find anywhere the mention of this refund in the balance sheet. And what steps HPCL has taken to see that whatever the announcement and the notification has been issued by Government of India has been implemented or not. And if not then why it has not been implemented. Because pandemic has affected not only HPCL, but all over the world. And our honorable prime minister and honorable finance minister has been very kind to see that the public at large are being taken care of. But we find that HPCL has still not acted on that -- in between also letters were exchanged. Petroleum Ministry was also informed about it. And they also, I think so sent a letter to you and public sector enterprise, but I think nothing has happened in that regard. So we request you to sir, please look into it because most of the companies, public sector enterprises have given effect to that. If you can look into it, and do justice to the circular issued by the Government of India. Second and the last thing is, Joshi sir, your voice is really good. We hear -- It sounds like a thorough RJ listening to an FM. Congratulations for the lovely voice. Thank you, sir. Good day.

Thank you very much, Mr. Valia. Our next shareholder who registered to speak, Hariram Choudhary has not joined the meeting. So we'll move on to Ms. Lilly Pradhan.

Am I audible?

Yes ma'am. You're audible.

Very good afternoon, all chair persons and all viewers. Myself Lilly Pradhan from Kolkata. First of all, I give my respect to the Board of Directors, respected Chairman, respected secretary -- secretarial team. I am very happy to know the company's performance is developing a lot, which is sustainable growth. But I have put some specific questions in present situation. What is the CapEx plan and aim and object of future development? What is the CSR activity on challenging [ persons ]. Please always send a hard copy of the annual report before meeting. Every person can participate and express their view easily due to continued greeting in future. Please consider the plant visit and rewards for speaker shareholders. Nothing more. Thank you. Thank you so much, all the very best.

Thank you very much, Ms. Pradhan. We move on to our next registered shareholder, Chirag Sunil Uttam.

A very good afternoon to all the members on the dais and my fellow shareholders. I'm Chirag Uttam from Nagpur City. I'm an industrial group distributor with the company, apart from being a shareholder. And I'm proud to say that I'm the fourth generation in my family to be associated in many ways with the company and also sir today, whatever we are, we attribute our growth to the company, and please accept my compliments for the fantastic performance in the last year, and I would like to wish all of you for the upcoming year. Sir, please throw some light on my 3 questions today. . My first question is whether HPCL exports lubricants to other foreign countries? My second question is whether HPCL has any plans to add new lube production capacities in India in the forthcoming year? Sir, also today, there's fierce competition in the lube market, I would like you to throw some light about the performance of the lube business in the year 2022, '23, especially in the value-added lube segment market. Once again, all the very best for the forthcoming year. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. Uttam. Our next shareholder to speak, Piyush Harakchand Shah.

Thank you, sir. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak in the AGM today. First of all, I'd like to congratulate HPCL and the team for the splended marketing sales performance and achieving 43 million metric tonnes of sales volume during the last financial year, sir, under your able leadership. Without taking much of your time, I'll directly come to my question. Sir, as mentioned on Page #126 of the annual report, HPCL has released 14.96 lakh new connections to PMUY beneficiaries during the last financial year '22, '23. So my question is, firstly, how many total number of PMUY connections have been released by HPCL since the inception of the scheme in 2016 till date. Secondly, while a large number of the connections have been released to PMUY beneficiaries, have the customers adopted LPG for regular use. And thirdly, are there any new bottling plants being commissioned by HPCL in the coming years to cater the demand of the increased customer base. Thank you, sir.

Thank you very much, Mr. Shah. Our next shareholder to speak, Mr. Dileep Kumar Jain.

[Foreign Language]

Thank you, Mr. Jain. Our next shareholder to speak, Mr. Praful Chavda.

[Foreign Language].

Thank you very much, Mr. Chavda. Our next shareholders to register -- to speak Hutokshi Sam Patel has not joined the meeting. So we move on to Saket Kapoor.

[Foreign Language].

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language] Why is -- market is not giving the valuation to our company. And now sir, I would also like to thank firstly, sir, our company secretary, Murali, and mostly Mr. Sudipto Basak, the gentleman who is handling, I think so this Chief Manager for PRCC. Mr. Basak has attended to my call and listen to the facts, which I laid out post the press release and also forwarded my request to the secretarial department. So I -- through this platform, I would like to thank Mr. Basak and wish him the best in the organization. And also Mr. Murali for the very cordial understanding of the subject whenever -- when I approach him, I was answered to my fullest [Foreign Language]. Now I come to the point, sir, in very brief. Firstly, sir, [Foreign Language]. What would -- What are the efficiencies that the refinery is going to obtain. How are the GRMs going to get impacted if it get improved due to it, if you could elaborate on the same. Sir, over a period of time, because of the volatility in the crude oil prices, and also because of the "government policies" the company has not been able to post profit on a sustainable basis. So what steps the organization is taking to report sustainable set of numbers. For a year, we are in profit. The other year, we are in losses. Last year, we did not pay any dividend sir. So correct me for 2022-'23, there was no dividend payout. Only the final dividend for '21-'22 was paid during this year. So please clear that part also. And firstly, most important is this part of sustained earnings. And sir, you spoke about this -- the setting up of committee for carving out lube business. And earlier also, a gentleman, Chirag spoke about new business and its potential. So would like to understand from you where are we -- what are we trying to do, where are we contemplating a separate listing for the lube business? And also, similarly, for the pipeline infrastructure that the company holds, how are you going to monetize that part if there is -- is there something in the annual? And also, I think so we invested some money in price petroleum also. I was going through the annual report for '21-'22, '22-'23 is not yet uploaded. So what is the prospect from price petroleum going ahead? You were mentioning about exploration and E&P activities also gaining traction. So what can we expect from this price petroleum venture going ahead? And any further explorative activities that we are going to take ahead. Sir, you please provide me with the net debt numbers as on June. If you have them today right now, otherwise, I'll get it from the team and also what is our cost of funds. And sir, taking into account the high regime -- interest regime that is there currently and very likely to continue for the near future. Why are the company not contemplating bond issuance for retail HNI category at a fixed rate or a floating rate. So that it can take care of the burden on the banking system. You will lend from the bank, the bank will take from us, and there will be an arbitrage, just speaking about the [indiscernible] system. And instead of that, you have such a big shareholder base. You come up with 1,000 crores issue or 500 crores issue for the retail and the HNI category and see how it gets response with a fixed or a floating rate as [indiscernible] by your treasury team. And that could suffice a lot of funding requirements because we have the trust on HPCL and you would be getting good liquidity in that form thereby reducing the pressure on the borrowing from the banks. And Sir...

Mr. Kapur. If you kindly conclude at your earliest.

Yes sir. I will conclude in 50 seconds or 70 seconds. Sir in the CWIP, the figure has remained somewhat same [Foreign Language]. Very thankful to the team for giving me this opportunity and very well-conducted AGM. [Foreign Language]

Thank you Kapurji. Thank you very much, Mr. Kapur. We move on to our next shareholder, Mahesh Kumar Chandna.

Respected Chairman sir, Directors on the Board, Mr. Company Secretary, distinguish brothers and sisters shareholders a cheerful afternoon to all of you. Sir, my name is Mahesh Chandna and I'm speaking from a home in Pune. There could be little disturbance because my neighbor, some residence work is going on. So kindly pardon me if some noise comes from the background. Chairman, it is indeed -- it's incredible honor and pride for me to speak as a shareholder even through videoconferencing, but it is -- I would have expected it is Golden Jubilee year you will conduct physical AGM and we will have a pleasure of meeting all of you. But in any case, my congrats to you, Chairman, sir, your Board, your 8,504 employees during this Golden Jubilee year. [Foreign Language] I was going through -- I mean, I had to see from Google, who was your first Chairman of the company when it was formed in 1974, right from the day Shri. S. Krishnaswamy, then Mr. Shri Venkataramani to Mr. Bhandari, and the last one being Mr. Shri Mukesh Kumar Surana, like my previous speaker, Saket Ji, also said, he left a legacy of expansions in your company. [Foreign Language], because you are the 13th Chairman of Hindustan Petroleum during the Golden Jubilee. [Foreign Language] fantastic as ED Aviation, sustainability, [Foreign Language]. So it's really illustrious sport. [Foreign Language]. Other than that, Mr. Company Secretary, you are superb Company Secretary, a great professional, kind hearted and helping fellow, you will know. And nowhere in the company act or company law -- you will give me 3 minutes. Sir, I'll be taking [ 9 ] minutes Chairman Sir. I'd like to have your attention. It's a golden jubilee year. I'll be taking 9 minutes like Mr. Tapas and Mr. Kapoor has taken. Chairman sir, it is indeed. [Foreign Language]. My triple-A for you, my adoration, appreciation and admiration for you. You are inspiring and you are building, Chairman Sir a very great company with [ HR ] at your heart. [Foreign Language] [ HR ] is your heart and purpose at the core. [Foreign Language]. Now let me come on your annual report, Mr. Chairman, 3 or 4 small questions will be here. I will not repeat the question asked by Mr. [ Tapas ] and Mr. Kapoor and all. [Foreign Language] I also kept on reducing my share. I will give you a suggestion in the later part of my words. So now Mr. Chairman, [Foreign Language] [indiscernible] it became a cause of concern for me as a shareholder. Reserve went down from INR 37,258 crores to INR 26,294 crores. Borrowings had to go up. Borrowings went up from INR 46,590 crore to INR 68,005 crore. Foreign exchange, [ FII ] if I may say, so -- and bank, foreign bank reduced their stake Chairman sir, from 19.9% to [ 14.2% ]. These are your published data in the annual report. I'm not talking out of context Mr. Chairman. They have sold 78,627,000 shares. Reason when I see you have given the reasoning, [Foreign Language] you have not given a dividend Chairman Sir. One of my very learner speakers said you did but you have not given dividend. Obviously, [Foreign Language] when the profit does not take place, you on your employee don't get. [Foreign Language], you have given that the crude oil was peaking at $123.7 per barrel in June '22 and which touched the low of $78. During this turbulent time of crude oil pricing, and your hands were tightened, not to increase the price of petrol and diesel during fairly large part of last year and obviously the loss came. Then as the owner of the company Chairman Sir, I must repeat, some of our employees may not be liking me when I say I am the owner of the company. [Foreign Language] shareholder is equal partner and the owner. [Foreign Language]. Your operating numbers, Mr. Chairman. They were the best. Your refining crude went up from 13.97 MMT to 19.09. Pipeline pumping, 19.91 MMT to 23.35 MMT. And Market Sale whopping 39.14 to 14.16 (sic) [43.45]. So Chairman Sir, your operating number last year published in annual report are reflection, there are rather -- I will use the word shining reflection of your visionary leadership, great planning, unwavering commitment and impactful execution. [Foreign Language] Commitment is the foundation of a great accomplishment. You are committed Mr. Chairman. Your honesty, your nobility are the touchstones of your visionary leadership. [Foreign Language]. Now Chairman Sir [Foreign Language].

Mr. Chandna, if you'll [indiscernible] sir.

I will take 3 minutes more. If you permit, I will take 3 minutes more. I have told this is golden jubilee and Mr. Chairman nowhere is written you will restrict me to 3 minutes.

Please go ahead, Mr. Chandna. Please go ahead, and please try and finish fast.

[Foreign Language]. But your number was coming engage, and you called me back. My wife was sitting with me [Foreign Language] you accepted my congratulations, and that shows how kind hearted you are Mr. Chairman. Now Chairman sir, let me ask quickly 3 questions. [Foreign Language] you have invested last year's [Foreign Language] from Page #234 of your annual report. This year, your investment has gone up to INR 7,226.14 crores. [Foreign Language]. I am sure Rajasthan refinery [Foreign Language] Sir, this is a election year, state governments have precarious financial condition. So kindly enlighten me that [Foreign Language]. Chairman Sir, I don't want to ask you how many dollars you paid and how much money, how much profit you got. But during this Ukraine-Russia war, I am sure you have also imported crude oil from Russia. Kindly give me -- how much crude oil quantity you have taken. Kindly don't give me any profit or dollars, et cetera, because that may be your confidential information, but quantum of crude oil, kindly give me. My last question, sir, on Page #47 is a compliment cum question [Foreign Language] one of the worst and mean hydrocarbon industry. [Foreign Language]. I know -- may I know from you Mr. Chairman sir, [Foreign Language], by when you will be doing 100% digitization of your [indiscernible]. [Foreign Language] solarization you have done for 4,066. [Foreign Language]. He has a focused execution approach, extreme ownership mindset towards the green energy, is perfectly aligned with the National Board. Chairman Sir, kindly pass on my appreciations to your ED retail. [Foreign Language]. And now this year, it's at least, 8,504. [Foreign Language]. This is my last question as how much recruitment you are planning this year, supplemented to that, sir. [Foreign Language] do you have any plan to open another training institute in the country? [Foreign Language]. If you do not increase the manpower and train them, recruitment is one part, training. So do you have any plan for that? [Foreign Language]. That risk you have written in the social category. You have given the detail. I'm not reading Mr. Chairman. The training capacity, RCA, you have given all the details. Sir, if you publish, Chairman Sir, I'll repeat, if you publish road safety data and TT crew training data in annual report, [Foreign Language] because there we'll see, HPC is a wonderful corporate citizen. [Foreign Language] do you have your annual report with you, hard copy Chairman, sir? Do you have hard copy? [Foreign Language] Chairman Sir my salutations to you and your Board and your employees and thank you very, very much.

Thank you, Mr. Chandna. Dear shareholders, please note the only reason we request you to limit your speaking time to 3 minutes, is to show consideration to other speakers awaiting their turn to speak. Our next shareholders speak is Atul Ashok Desai. Mr. Desai if you could unmute your microphone.

Yes. Am I audible now?

Yes, sir. Please go ahead.

Yes. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to speak in the AGM. Let me congratulate the management for strongly bouncing back and achieving more than INR 6,000 crores of profit in quarter 1, and that is almost 192% growth related to the last quarter. And you really deserve a very big applause on this. Sir, very simple. My 3 questions are related to the LPG business and the customer service. I'll make it very short. Question number #1, LPG adoption in domestic, commercial and industrial sector is important for sustainability as LPG business of HPCL grown during 2023. Point number #2. What is the effect of PNG expansion on LPG business and related stakeholders, their staff, the dealers and their entire community there -- stakeholders at large. And question #3 is, what are the digital initiatives of HPCL for the convenience of LPG consumers. Thank you very much, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Desai. We now move on to our next shareholder, Mr. Sameer Ganeriwala. Mr. [ Ganeriwala ], kindly unmute you microphone sir. Sir, can you kindly unmute your microphone and speak. We do appear to have an audio problem, although we seem to have solved that out. Sir, we can see you. Please unmute your microphone and speak, sir. There appears to be an issue with his audio connectivity. So we'll move on to our next speaker shareholder, Mr. Vikram Sharad Sheth. Mr. Sheth has not joined the meeting, neither have the next 3 speakers. Paresh Pujara has joined the meeting. Mr. Pujara?

Good afternoon. Respected Chairman and Management, Joshi Sir and other Board of Directors and the shareholders. I have a few questions to ask, what are the HPCL initiative for achieving net 0 target at retail outlet? And how is HPCL leveraging vacant space to earn more revenue? Thank you.

Our next shareholder speak, Mr. Bharat Moolchand Shah.

Hello?

Ms. Smita Shah, we can hear you, please go ahead.

[Foreign Language]

Our next speaker shareholder, Mr. [ Krish Sumit Arora ].

Good morning, good afternoon to you, to the entire Board of Directors and to the HPCL family. So sir, firstly, I would like to congratulate you on building a company, which is today clearly world-class. It's one of the best companies globally, which today is there in the oil and gas sector. But sir today, I will touch upon a couple of points, which I think is quite relevant. So the reason he said it's Krish for me to arise also because I have made a small investment in my son's name because I clearly believe in you, your leadership and this glorious country, which we live in today. So that is the reason he said it's Krish Sumit Arora, because that's my son's same and I clearly believe that this company is going to go places in the years to come. So sir, firstly, since it's an Annual General Meeting, which is for shareholders, I would like to touch upon the very critical aspect of market cap. Okay. Today, sir, our market cap is at about INR 37,500 crores. Okay, which, of course, I mean, by every means it's clearly unjustified. Now that I'm sure all of us agree. Now if you can, so I'll just start with the first thing, sir, is that if you take our lubricant business, right? I mean today, for example, we are 1.5x our listed competitor today. And effectively, just on the basis of that, sir, our market cap -- our lubricant is worth about INR 18,000 crores today. Now if I just take out the INR 18,000 crores, are we saying, okay, that entire HPCL, which is marketing, pipeline, LPG, refining is worth INR 20,000 crores? Of course, not, right? I mean so there is clearly a disconnect between what you are doing on ground level in terms of building a physical company and in terms of what the market is perceiving you. Now sir, it will be -- it is very disheartening to inform, but I would still go ahead and do it because I'm the biggest well wisher of this company and of India because these are all Indian companies and ultimately, the value perceived is the value which should be fair and the Government of India should benefit from this company which is being built. Today, sir in the PSU space, there are about 75 listed PSUs. And 3 PSUs, okay, in the last 5 years have lost 50% of value and they are all in the oil sector. Okay? So clearly, one thing is absolutely evident that there is no confidence among the investor community that companies are going to consistently deliver performance or whatever the reason is, there is clearly a disconnect between what is happening and what the market is perceiving it to be, right? So among 75 companies, 3 oil and gas names, which are the best companies in the world have lost 50% of value. So it's really definitely something that you should be taking note of that our Prime Minister actually in the Parliament said this, [Foreign Language], which clearly means that he believes in the intrinsic value of public sector undertaking. Okay? When our Prime Minister believes that these companies are extremely valuable as PSUs, then they should reflect in market cap. Now there's a few things which I really think you should consider and if you should look at on a very priority basis is one, is that, sir, a detailed presentation should be given, right? Giving the valuation of each vertical, I mean, today, in refining, okay, after Visakh refinery has been commissioned. We are nearly 35 million metric tons, okay. Even if you take INR 2,000 crores per metric ton, the value of refinery is INR 70,000 crores. Even if you take INR 1.5 crores or INR 2 crores per marketing outlet, we have 21,000 outlet. Our marketing is worth INR 42,000 crores. If you take INR 3 crores, INR 4 crores per pipeline, our pipeline is about INR 20,000 crores. Our lubricant is INR 18,000 crores. So if you just see, clearly, the value proposition works out to more than INR 100,000 crores. okay. Now the reason I'm not talking about debt is because obviously, you have inventory and you have working capital. So I'm not including that part. But sir, the value of this company is nothing on the INR 100,000 crores market cap today. But the actual reality is the market is worth INR 37,000 crores, right? So there is absolutely a big mismatch between what should be the value and what is the value today. So also one concern which I noticed among global investors also is that when it's about the Barmer refinery, right? But now for actually, can you help me understand this. So when the Barmer refinery was actually conceived in 2014, '15, '17, whenever you started this project, that time the crates of diesel okay, were not more than $10, $12. So was petrol, right? So today, the crates are actually at around $20 [ MS ] and about $25 in [indiscernible]. So, Barmer refinery is going to be a very profitable company for HPCL. There is no reason to believe that Barmer refinery is going to destroy that. In fact, Barmer refinery will add more value to this company only, right? So now you know there are very conceptual things which are backlogging people's mind about HPCL and HPCL's fair value. And I clearly believe in your institution, in the government, as a matter of fact that government has allowed you to make back -- whatever problem happened last year. It's absolutely fair on the government's part as well, so it is absolutely clearly reminiscent of the fact that there is miscommunication between investors on what the actual companies worth, right? So sir, that only, I mean, you -- our Director Finance and the entire top brass of HPCL can only address, right? Because I mean, ultimately, you had this company, this broadest institution along with Mr. Narang. So these are just few perception issues if you clear on a big public forum and you call all the top global foreign institutions and you address this, I am telling you it is a matter of days when things will change. So sir, I really humbly request you because you are doing a fantastic job, this company is definitely worth in than the top 50 companies of India. I will help you to recall, sir in 2017, HPCL was ranked #35 in market cap. Today, HPCL is not even in the top 150. It's gone down to 160. Now is the physical performance of this company gone back, no, it has got much better than what it was 5 years ago. right? Sir, if you recall, ONGC worth's to HPCL is at 3x today. Today, our book value is [indiscernible].

Mr. Arora, if you can kindly expedite.

And maybe at the end of this financial year, we'll be close to 310, 320. So is this company worth being at such a sharp discount to book value, answer is clearly not. So there are just a few things if I humbly would request that you just step into this that you can really do a world of change because if you address concerns on this lubricant demerger which is happening, shareholders get shares, Barmer Refinery, you give a presentation. Secondly, sir, if you just talk about the detailed valuation of each verticals, which comes to more than INR 100,000 crore, the perception about this company will change 360 degree. Sir, I humbly request you because you have done a great job. And I clearly tell you, God bless you, God bless this company and each and every employee of this company is truly done a wonderful job, but they should all get their fair recognition and so does the government of India because they've also helped you partner in this long journey, but the value should not be INR 260 a share sir. That is my only humble suggestion. This company is worth four figure like [indiscernible]. This company is worth INR 100,000 crores and it actually is about INR 700, INR 800 a share. The fair value should be recognized. It is [indiscernible] for all the shareholders families. And you can get us there.

We move on to our next shareholder, Mr. Mukesh Shah.

Sir, I am your shareholder, I stay in Navi Mumbai Vashi. And our whole family is HPCL consumer since last 30 years. We buy all HPCL products, including fuel, lubricant oil, gas for our daily requirements. I have 3 questions to put in today's AGM, sir. If you grant me the permission, I'd just like to put forward. What is the progress achieved by HPCL in implementation of EV charging stations across the country sir. Secondly, what efforts are being put by HPCL in promoting solar at HPCL retail outlets across cities and rural? Is HPCL making any progress in international business in retail segment? Sir, these questions, they just arise because HPCL is a growing company, and we look forward for all these new inventions through HPCL. I really thank Murali sir for giving this opportunity to join in today's AGM. I have been regularly attending AGM in physical and through WC's also sir. I wish HPCL and the entire team a very fruitful and progressive years ahead. Thank you very much.

We move on to our next speaker shareholder, Mr. Ajit Panday.

Sir, this is Ajit Pandey from Mumbai. [Foreign Language] the tag line and the theme of the annual report is bold, exciting, and we love itself. And the green leaves on the cover are right for the corporation, which is headed by a person named Pushp. So congratulations on continuing the legacy of delivering happiness, which featured in one of our annual report during Surana sir's time, and it now features in all our communication. So congratulations on that. I would like to also highlight the renewable and sustainable, these words on Page 1 of the annual report of a [indiscernible], which has achieved its highest ever annual sales in FY '22, '23, mind blowing. I congratulate the corporation for its preparedness to contribute to net 0 and the target and the verified action plan that you have created. We would like to know more in detail about this action plan, but I'm sure the worlds best mind must have prepared this, and during the COVID era, the kind of stride that the corporation has taken, the retail investors are really proud of it. Our confidence is grown, and we are proud to have this Maharatna in our portfolio. Sir, I have been observing and following the corporation's activities for a long time. So my keen interest given size to 3 questions, sir. So my question #1 is the agriculture and allied sector today is hovering around 4% to 5% of growth rates. Sometimes it's down, sometimes it's up. So does HPCL have plans to promote non-fuel business in the rural sector, sir? Given the distribution network, it has Pan India, especially the rural geography. Sir, my question number 2 is regarding net zero target of 2070 and 2040. So what are the plans of HPCL for CNG expense in the cut because that will help us reduce emissions and the availability of CNG would make more and more people buy CNG vehicle. So one more thing was mentioned that you have changed the ERP system in place. So does HPCL have any plan to leverage artificial intelligence on the petrol pump. So it is a key word currently. And I think the consumer connect would improve by artificial intelligence and there a number of possibilities that can happen. So a lot of focus on the renewed focus on lubricants is mentioned on the annual report. So just I was curious to know that -- do we have some ideas regarding green lubricant -- because the -- I read some articles in some talks happening in green lubricant. In fact, I read that there is a company called Castrol, which is called as the one Bio Range. So are we thinking on those lines? And what are the ideas that you have. Sir, I request you to enlighten us on the above questions.

Our next two speaker shareholders who registered, Mr. Umesh Pawar and Meena and Vinod Agarwal have now joined the meeting. So we'll move on to our next speaker shareholder, Ashit Kumar Pathak.

Good afternoon, respected Chairman, Government Nominee, Board of the Directors, Company Secretary, fellow members joining at 71st AGM of HPCL Limited. My name is Ashit Kumar Pathak joining from DumDum, Kolkata. At first, my extreme gratitude to our company secretary, Mr. V. Murali for allowing me to speak. But I'm requesting our company secretary to sending the hard copy of annual report, because every company is sending the annual report to attending speakers that is very convenient for me. This is my humble request for you. The excellent opening remarks of our respected Chairman, very valid point, I have noted. Sir I have read some views. Our CapEx program next 2, 3 years for green fuel, renewable energy and Bio-fuel and chemical business, if possible for some highlights. And government also decision for reducing the oil imports by 50% points by 2030. So our -- to some highlights our exploration and production and we are ready to prospect it, if possible throw some highlights. Though financial year '23 is not up to date in March but production and all parameters are very appreciable. But last year, we have very faced the volatility of crude oil and geopolitical issue and other suppressed marketing margin on select component and really other challenges. My view is that how the company is ready to come out this challenge in coming 3 quarters, if possible throw some highlights. Also, our -- sir, what we have taken the optimization of our finance cost because finance cost is higher than previous year and also fuel loss because Mumbai refinery and Visakh refinery achieved higher fuel loss than preceding financial year. So this is my view to minimize this fuel loss, that is a very prospective to my company, and also our debt reduction policy. Also debt equity ratio is 1.80 which is double than preceding digit. So our debt reduction policy, that is a very vital situation. This is why we would like to share. And at present, our emission rate, because the oil companies are facing various challenges, number one, cost and performance of environmental footprints and fleet management, also rapid expansion to green take and aging workforce and large-scale events and steel contracts, equipments realizability, and inspection. So how are we come out all these challenges. If possible, sir, throw some highlights. And also we are going women empowerment. Many companies are going to implement women workforce in the production units. So how are my company's decision to enhance the women workforce or empowerment of women. Also, nothing to say more. I think our respected Chairman is very prospective in views in -- for prosperity of my company. And I pray to God for his good health and everybody associated to my company for good health.

Our next 2 speaker shareholders, Bharti Saraf and Gaurav [indiscernible] have not joined the meeting. So we move on to our next speaker shareholder who is present, Bimal Kumar Agarwal.

First of all, I thank the company secretary, his team and the host also as I know him very well. And you got a remote control in your hand. You should give maximum 3 minutes. They are going on for 10 minutes and it's become irritating for other shareholders to speak. I've got nothing to ask because already previous shareholders asked my question. That's all from me. Thank you very much.

We move on to our next speaker shareholder, Mr. Meet Parikh.

Thank you for the opportunity. Congratulations on the great physical performance, Chairman sir. I have a few questions, so I'll just get straight to them. Government in its budgetary provision has allocated money for you.

Please continue.

[indiscernible] about the level of dilution that could potentially happen. HPCL has not diluted equity in the past 20 years to the best of my knowledge, and the only PSU to have done an open market buyback to enhance shareholder value. I would very humbly propose the rights issue and GOI can take ONGC shares in the issue, all of the shareholders can also participate. If GOI wants to take preferential allotment, then the valuation is already established at the time of its sale of shares to ONGC, which is approximately INR 274. Since then, in the 5 years, there has only been one year where HPCL has made a loss. So I would say that value has only improved from there or at worse, stayed static. So my humble suggestion would be that preferential allotment should not happen at throw away prices for the detriment of minority shareholders. Secondly, I wanted to ask about the current status of the Visakh Refinery project. As it has been indicated earlier that [ bottom ] upgradation project will lead to significant improvement in margins for Visakh refinery. So I would like an update on the same. And also when could we see a full impact of the refinery. Thirdly, sir has mentioned that Chhara LNG terminals has now reached mechanical completion in March. So when would we see the operations -- does that mean the operation will be starting? And what would be the capacity utilization in the initial years and the IRR envisaged for the same? Fourthly, I had a question about HRRL. It has seen significant cost escalation, which was earlier at INR 43,000 crores, and now it stands at INR 73,000 crores. Obviously, some of the escalation is due to the petrochemical capacity. So for this HRRL plant, what would be the IRR envisaged by management for this project? And what would be the maximum equity contribution just [indiscernible]? Coming to the first question, which is about the HPCL Lubricant Business. So -- and sixth, I wanted to ask about the retail stores that the company is running in its petrol pumps called Happy store. So what is the business model for the same? If you could give us some clarity on that. That is all from my side.

Okay. Thank you very much. Our next shareholder who has registered to speak, [ Deepak M Chadwarkar ] has not joined the meeting. So we will now attempt to reconnect with Mr. Gautam Tiwari.

Yes, am I visible, sir?

Not yet sir, but you're audible.

And sir, can you listen to me now, sir?

[Foreign Language].

[Foreign Language].

[Foreign Language].

So happy sir. So happy to see you. [Foreign Language]. And I've been waiting, my number was free. I was speaking at that time in [indiscernible]. So I could not attend here. But next -- the other meeting I was speaking, I could not attend. [Foreign Language] Sir, I request you, sir, [Foreign Language] we are -- right now, our day 1 [Foreign Language]. Sir, you are listening to me?

Yes, we can hear you sir.

Yes. We are really happy, sir, about you. And thanks to the management for bouncing back and generating profit this time, a whopping amount of INR 6,000-plus crores. [Foreign Language] it is very politely done, very pleasantly or with total hospitality [Foreign Language] associates are very good [Foreign Language]. And we are very happy. [Foreign Language] we really thank the management for suiting such dedicated, devoted service providers in the interest of shareholders. [Foreign Language] we would like to know, sir. [Foreign Language] skilled worker or unskilled worker [Foreign Language] that we would like to know. And how many EV charging stations across the country [Foreign Language] and how many are in the pipeline. [Foreign Language] So what is the status in achieving that target of net zero, our present status. [Foreign Language] we all shareholders are extremely happy with you and with your services. And with all that HPCL is doing for the shareholders, right from beginning till now. [Foreign Language] And once again my [Foreign Language]. And here, we are there with you, our lifetime support is assured with you, sir, because we have our total trust and interest in the management and total [ confidence ]. Thank you very much, sir. God bless you -- even our blessings are there with you.

Thank you, Mr. Tiwari. We move on to our next shareholder who has joined the meeting, Rajendra Jammnadas Sheth. Mr. Sheth, could you kindly unmute your microphone? Mr. Sheth. We do have some connectivity problem here. We will attempt to reconnect with Samir Ganeriwala. We did -- have an audio problem earlier. Mr. Ganeriwala? We do still have a problem that persists there. With that, all shareholders who registered to speak and did log in for AGM, have now been given an opportunity to express themselves, and I shall hand the proceedings back to our Chairman. Over to you, sir.

Thank you very much. First of all, on behalf of all the Board members and all the employees of HPCL, I wish to place on record our deep gratitude to all the shareholders who have asked so relevant questions. And especially, what is heartwarming is that their faith in our company's ability and what we have demonstrated in our fiscal results and also the kind of aspiration and hopes, which we are trying to have and the support, which the shareholders have given. So I'm deeply grateful to all the shareholders, speakers who have given and all other shareholders who could not get a chance to speak, but they are always welcome to give their suggestion, to share their feedback and to ask for details, which we would be too happy to provide. Now, I will attempt to answer the questions, which were raised. And as I said earlier, quite a few questions are very good questions. They help us to actually clarify our own vision. So I will go on that. First speaker, Mr. Manoj Kumar Gupta, who had talked about that this is no reflection in the stock market. And so yes, we fully appreciate that. And I mean, in answering the questions, I would also try and see that what other shareholders had suggested. And in fact, one of our shareholder members, Mr. Sumeet had suggested that we should take certain positive measures and all the 3 measures suggested by him that vertical-wise presentation, presentation on HRRL, presentation on our lubes and things like that. I'm sure once we do this, the intrinsic value, which is there in the company would definitely come to fore and our shareholders would be richly rewarded, so we will definitely do that. And we are committed to ensure that our true position, our true strength is demonstrated in the market, so there is a better understanding of the strengths of our company. Second point was that future plans on CapEx, as I had mentioned, that next 5 years, we are planning to invest about INR 75,000 crores in various projects and if I were to look at this, these are in 3 major buckets. One is that expansion and not only capacity enhancement, enhancement of the quality of assets also of our refinery logistics in terms of pipeline, in marketing division, at various facilities. So one portion is a portion for that. Major projects in Mumbai refinery is about our LOBS, our lube oil base stock, upgradation, our SDA. So these kind of things would help. A lot of things were asked about VRMP. I'm very happy to share that VRMP, as we had mentioned, we have been able to commission very successfully the CDU-4, which is having a capacity of 9 metric million tonnes, that was commissioned in March, and that is performing very satisfactorily. As I had mentioned previous year also, in my previous interactions, that Mumbai Refinery, when we expanded from 7.5 to 9.5, in the first year itself, we could derive the total benefit. And in the first year itself, we had crossed the capacity of 9.5, that demonstrates our project management capabilities. Similarly, in VRMP after commissioning of CDU-4, the 3 major units, that is our hydrocracker, HGU and SRU are on the verge of commissioning. And in a month -- maximum in a month, we will be able to derive the benefit out of that also. A question was also asked about our [ RUS ]. That is in a very advanced stage of mechanical completion, and we are hoping that in the near future, and within this financial year, we would be able to derive the mileage out of that also because that would be one of the best distillate yields in the country. So we will do that as that is as regards CapEx is concerned. Now since a lot of questions which were asked which are related, so while answering this, I would attempt to say that other questions also, which were raised on the similar matter are being addressed. A question was on Russia war. Yes, that had impacted the geopolitical situation, impacted the price of crude, but we had taken the measures in ensuring that we are some sort of ring-fenced and we don't lose out on our strengths, so we have also taken the opportunity of utilizing the opportunity crude wherever it made sense for us commercially, since for us to utilize that crude, which is available, we have utilized that. This question was asked by 3, 4 of my esteemed shareholders. And we have about 22%, 23% of our crude basket was Russian crude. So we have taken that advantage. There was a question asked about resolving the court cases with government. We are very actively doing that, and bulk of the cases have been sorted out, and we are constantly doing this because this is an ongoing process. It was asked about LPG growth and CGD, what will happen and people will shift from LPG to PNG. Now let me share you -- share a perspective. Last year, HPCL grew by 4.6% in LPG. HPCL is the second largest LPG player in the country, having about INR 9.3 crore LPG customers. A question was asked about how many of them are PMUY, about INR 2.4 crores are PMUY and their utilization in fact, has gone up to almost 53, 54 kgs per year. And if we convert that into a number of cylinders, it is crossing 3 cylinders -- around 3 cylinders. So PNG is not yet made any dent on the LPG business. Nevertheless, I mean, today, the PNG customers are only about 1 crore against the huge number of LPG customers. But even then we are not sitting back and we have made ambitious plans to get into CGD also. Today, your company is present in 23 geographies across the country. We have participated in all the rounds. Now I understand the 12th round, also the details are coming. We would also be participating in that, depending on the commercial viability. So LPG, we are progressing, but PNG will not impact our business as of now, even if it impacts, we also would become part of that. Details were asked about what are the kind of greenfield and brownfield projects in the Northeast sector. Northeast sector, we -- you would be happy to note that we have got approval, and we are laying a pipeline from Haldia to Panagarh. We are making a POL terminal in Kamardanga. We also are making a LPG plant. We have already commissioned the LPG plant in Goalpara. We are also trying to expand our footprint there. So this is what Mr. Gupta's queries were there, and that is how I've addressed and in the process, some other queries, which were asked by other shareholders. Mr. Santosh Kumar Saraf [Foreign Language]. First quarter itself [Foreign Language] physical performance [Foreign Language] financial performance [Foreign Language]. The number of women employees in our management has steadily increased. In fact, we are one of the first companies where our female colleagues are working in night shift in refinery with all the enabling mechanism, which was given. So we are doing all that. We are doing special programs [Foreign Language]. Your feedback is well appreciated, sir. We will ensure that we have all the proper arrangements for the AGMs. You had asked about CSR amount unspent. In fact, because of the provision, it is being classified as unspent. Otherwise, all this is committed amount. All this is amount which is sanctioned and approved, but we cannot show it like this because there are some projects, which are having long gestation, which go on for 2 or 3 years. So once we approve the project, we give the total money, only whatever construction or whatever work has been done, that money is accounted for and other money is transferred. Like you mentioned, INR 9 crores last year, that was fully expended, that was fully spent. In this year also, out of INR 154 crores, INR 96 crores has already been spent, INR 58 crores is kept in that account. And all these projects which are there, they are sanctioned project, we have not accounted because the work -- the project is on, and we are allowed to carry forward this in our books so that our commitment is made and when the completion is done, basis of the milestones, we spend the money. So there is absolutely no laxity as far as CSR commitment of HPCL is concerned. You had mentioned about and some other shareholders also had mentioned about capital support, which was announced by the honorable Finance Minister in her budget speech. We are working out the best possible model for HPCL. The modalities are under active consideration. And definitely, as soon as they are finalized, we will be moving further on that. But definitely, let me assure you that we are actively working on those modalities. You had asked about our performance in terms of our Mumbai Refinery and Vizag Refinery. Both of our refineries did more than the installed capacity, about 107% of the installed capacity was the performance. And then going forward, Vizag Refinery after the expansion would do much better. In fact, it would also help in reducing our fuel and loss. There was a question asked about fuel and loss. So we have taken measures. These advanced measures, which are taken would ensure that we are able to control our fuel and loss and do much better in terms of our refining, much optimal in terms of our refinery and also able to process various kinds of crudes so that our crude basket is also enlarged and we can take opportunity crudes. A question was asked about Russian crude. And as I've already addressed, that we have utilized opportunities which are available, this is our refinery configuration, this is our capacity to refine, we have taken the best possible options which were available to us. You had mentioned about interest cost, last year interest cost was about 6.2%. And we have also been able to actually refinance some loans and take advantage of wherever better spreads are available and better conditions are available. We are doing that. You had mentioned whether the government had given us INR 5,617 crores towards LPG compensation, that is complete settlement of whatever we had done, whatever we had incurred. There is no negative buffer now. Regarding ethanol blending program you had asked about, we are working quite efficiently on that. Not only blending of ethanol at our retail outlet, we have developed our infrastructure. We were the first company to transport ethanol to railway wagons, so that we can save on logistic costs. And those plans are there. CapEx, you had mentioned future CapEx. Now as I said, the CapEx I was trying to address, first is in strengthening our core assets. Second is in the new areas like petrochemical and natural gas; and third, [indiscernible] , which is there of our CapEx, that is there in biofuels, in renewables, in associated areas like green hydrogen, crude to chemicals, all those things are there. So we have roughly divided our CapEx into these 3 heads and about 20% to 25% of our CapEx would be towards these green initiatives for generating power, solar power and through our 100% subsidiary. You had mentioned about independent director. I agree with you that this is a matter, which is beyond our realm right now, we have been taking up, we will again be taking up off with the appropriate authorities for taking of that matter. You had mentioned about pending CAG paras on compensation and benefit. All those have been replied, and they are under the consideration of our ministry. Madam Homa had asked about ATF payments. Let me assure you that whatever transactions which we do with the private airlines, we do after due diligence, we do with proper bank guarantee. Our only outstanding is with [indiscernible], which is a government of India company. For that also, we are actively pursuing that. Mr. Valia had mentioned about refer to MSME. Let me assure you, Mr. Valia, that we are very actively working on that. We have collated all the data. We have already started processing and there would be no looking back on that aspect, we are very committed to do that. In case there are any individual issues which are pertaining to that, I would request you to kindly bring it to my attention, I would personally look into that and try and resolve that. But let me assure you that we are committed to sorting out all these kind of issues, and we will definitely, in future, in very short time to come, address all this. Mr. Chirag had mentioned about export of lubes, new production capabilities and value-added lubes. Lubes is a very, very value adding kind of a thing to HPCL. That is why we have taken a decision, we have got the approval in our Board to make a separate entity to address our lubes. We are working out on all the models that what would be the best model to unlock the value. We are taking help of renowned consultants on that. We are doing that parallelly. Parallelly, I'm happy to share that we are exporting our lubes to almost 20 countries, and we are going to further expand our footprint in lubricants both in value-added lubes and in new generation lubes. Question was also asked about what will be the production capabilities. As I mentioned, Mumbai Refinery, we are planning for LOBS expansion that would further strengthen our position because your company is the largest lube marketer, most significant lube player in the country, and we will continue that position, and we will strive to grow further internationally also. Mr. Piyush Shah had asked about PMUY, how many PMUY connections have been given right from inception of the scheme, about 2.55 crores -- roughly 2.55 crores PMUY customers are there. And as I mentioned, the utilization is increasing. And we are making all efforts to ensure that we are able to reach those customers through various measures including Ujjwala Didis, including village-level entrepreneurs and taking all those kinds of measures. You had asked about new bottling plants. As I had mentioned in my speech that we commissioned 3 bottling plants last year. Two more bottling plants, our work is going on. One is in Varanasi, second one is in Mount Abu. Both are in very advanced stages of construction and that would add to our portfolio of LPG plants further. Mr. Praful Chavda -- sorry, before that, Jain had asked for a physical copy, some other shareholders have also asked for a physical copy. I would request company secretary to ensure that physical copy of our annual report reaches our esteemed shareholders who have requested for that. Mr. Praful Chavda had asked about EV impact and EV plans of the company. Today, we already have EV charging facility at more than 2,000 retail outlets. We are also in the battery swapping business. We have established some battery swapping points also, and we will be very actively getting into EV charging space also. The thing was mentioned about free air and the puncture shop and all that. We will definitely look into this issue and ensure that free air and all the facilities are available to our esteemed customers at our retail outlet. You had asked about LPG cylinder delivery. In case -- normally, it is required that LPG cylinder has to be delivered to the customer at his premises. In case it is not feasible, then amount of INR 29.26 is actually apportioned towards this delivery charges. You had given us a good feedback that auto drivers and others look for HPCL petrol pump, we would hope that we are able to continue that further. Mr. Saket Kapoor had asked very good questions and [Foreign Language] International Investor Forums [Foreign Language] in terms of our logistics, our refining, our plans for Net Zero, our performance in ethanol blending, our performance in petrochemical, we will actually bring all those to the fore. And I'm very confident that shareholders and the market will see value in this and HPCL's valuation will get it right place what it deserves. You had asked about SAP, ERP, of HANA 4. Definitely, it will provide more agility, it will provide more ease of operation. And definitely, that would benefit in superior financial performance. And we have been able to very successfully roll out 2 SAP systems effective July, and we are working on that, that is stabilizing. You had also mentioned that how -- because of these kind of changes, which happen, how we will give stability to our balance sheet. So we have planned that to provide stability to our balance sheet, we will get into adjacent areas, new areas. We have already made strong forays in petrochemical, in natural gas and in green energy in terms of solar, in terms of biofuels, in terms of wind. And all this, I'm sure, would provide stability to HPCL's balance sheet and would take HPCL further. Lube business, I've already mentioned about it that how we are going to unlock the value. You had mentioned about pipeline structure that is also under review on table because right now, our utilization is very high of pipelines. And so we will have to actually work out how we will go ahead. You had asked about net debt numbers. Right now, our debt is about INR 51,000 crores, and the cost of fund, as I had mentioned, is about 6.2%. You had mentioned about bond issues. We will definitely examine this suggestion and see it on its due merit. You had mentioned about CWIP. We will give further details and try and share all those details with you also. Mr. Chandna, as usual, every year, he had given a lot of good insights. I thank you, Chandna for that and the issues which you had raised about HRRL, the government of Rajasthan has met all its commitment and they are committed. They have confirmed to us that they would be contributing their portion of equity, and we don't see an issue on that count. You had mentioned about when we will be able to have those earthing station digitized. You will be happy to note that our program is on fast track and within the next 12 months, we will be able to complete this program at all our retail outlets. You had mentioned about -- you had asked about Russian crude, which I've already shared that how much Russian crude we had utilized. Atul Ashok Desai had asked about LPG, which I already given about that Ujjwala, that LPG utilization is increasing. He had asked about PNG, which I had mentioned that today, there are 1 crore customers of PNG versus astronomically high number of LPG customers. But nevertheless, as I said, we are getting into digital business -- I mean, we are getting into CGD business also. You asked about digital initiatives. SAP upgradation is part of that. We are also using video analytics at our retail outlets. Question was asked about AI also. We are utilizing AI. We are utilizing machine learning, we are utilizing virtual reality to enhance our agility to ensure that our performance goes further high by utilizing these innovative technologies and methods, which are available. Paresh Pujara had asked about net zero plans, about 49% of our retail outlets as of 31st of March '23 have already been solarized. We have active plans to solarize the remaining retail outlets also. You had asked about retail space for revenue. Happy shop is one such initiative, but that is not the only initiative. We are exploring other options also for giving agri-tech and ports for utilizing our retail outlet space for generating further revenue that is on very active consideration. Mr. Bharat Shah had asked about -- I mean Madam had asked about on behalf of Bharat Shah about dividend, bonus and hybrid mode of AGM. Madam, we will consider all these things in the right earnest. Sumeet had given some good points about market cap, detailed presentation of each vertical, HRRL strength. We have noted all your points, Sumeet and we will definitely be taking action very shortly on all these points. Shah had mentioned about EV charging, as I had mentioned earlier, that today, we have EV charging facility at more than 2,000 retail outlets. Solarization has been done for more than 50% of our outlets and retail business like Happy shopee and various other nonfuel retail business initiative has been taken. Ajeet Mande had asked about net-zero action plan. We have made a very detailed net-zero action plan so that we are able to achieve by 2040, our net-zero target. And this has been done by internationally renowned consultant along with a task force specially created by HPCL. That plan has been developed and action is being taken on that. You had asked about CNG expansion also. At about 1,084 outlets we have CNG facility. You had asked about artificial intelligence. About 3,000 outlets, we are using AI to get the customer feedback and improve our services. You had asked about green lubes also. We are actively working on those products and those products are in our R&D and also some of them have moved to the commercial space. Ashit Kumar Pathak had asked about our CapEx, financial costs, fuel and loss and new challenges, women empowerment. Most of these questions I've already answered, so I would not repeat myself in the interest of your time, but I appreciate your concern. And anything further details which you require, I'll be most happy to give. A question was asked about what is our attrition ratio. It is less than 2%, and I only hope and pray that this continues in near future also because that means the employees have loyalty towards company, and they are contributing very significantly in our company's growth. I've taken feedback of Bimal Kumar Agrawal, regarding the time to be allotted to shareholders. I've taken a note of what Mr. Meet Parikh mentioned about capital support being given by government. Be assured we will be taking the best possible and most suitable optimal modality available in this area. You had mentioned about HP LNG that, as I said, in March 23, we have achieved mechanical completion. The pipeline work is in active stage. Once that is completed, we will be able to look at commissioning of HP LNG terminal at Chhara. Initially, the capacity utilization would be ramped up in a phased manner so that we are able to utilize the full facility and expand if required in future also. You had asked about Happy stores, which I have addressed. You had asked about HP Lubes, which I have addressed. Gautam Tiwari had given the feedback. I've noted that feedback, sir. You had asked about attrition rate. I have mentioned this is less than 2%. You had also about -- asked about our net-zero plan, which -- we have drawn up extensive plans, and we are very sincerely working on that. I, once again, thank all the shareholders for all these questions. If you wish any further information, kindly do communicate to us, we would try and provide all the information to you. Thank you very much. In case any registered speaker could not join or speak due to technical reasons or queries raised by them during this meeting have remained unanswered, they may send their request in writing to the company. On receipt of such e-mail request, the company shall respond suitably. The e-voting facility is now open for members who have not cast their votes earlier. Members who have cast their votes earlier are requested not to vote again. Members may please go through the voting page of NSDL's e-voting website and cast their votes. The e-voting facility will remain open for 15 minutes after the meeting to enable the members to cast their vote. The combined final results of voting will be announced separately and will be communicated to stock exchanges within the prescribed time of the conclusion of AGM. The results will also be placed on the website of the company and on the website of NSDL. I thank the members for attending the meeting and for their continued support. I also thank the directors for joining the meeting in person and also through video conferencing. I now request Director of Finance, Rajneesh Narang, to propose a vote of thanks. Narang?

Thank you, Chairman. Dear members, on behalf of the Board of Directors of the company and myself I wish to express my sincere thanks to all of you for making it convenient to attend the 71st AGM of the company through video conferencing. I also thank our Independent Directors, Smt. Vimla Pradhan, Bechan Lal, Vivekananda Biswal, Ramdarshan Sigh Pal, Dr. Nagaraja Bhalki, and K S Narendiran, who made it convenient to attend this AGM. I thank our secretarial auditors and practicing Company Secretary for attending this AGM. I also wish to express our thanks to the representatives of various financial institutions, mutual funds, et cetera, who have attended the meeting. I thank our Chairman and Managing Director, Pushp Kumar Joshi, for presiding over the meeting. I once again thank all of you, and may I say we look forward for your long and cherished association with the company. Thank you.

With this, I declare the meeting has concluded. Thank you very much. I now authorize V. Murali, Company Secretary, to complete the e-voting process.

Thank you, sir. [Voting]