Ircon International Limited (IRCON) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Namaskar, dear shareholders. I Yogesh Kumar Misra, Chairman and Managing Director of Ircon International Limited extend a hearty welcome to all of you at this 46th Annual General Meeting. I hope all of you are safe and in good health. I also welcome my colleagues on the Board and the key officials of the company who have joined this meeting from Delhi. May I introduce them to the shareholders. Along with me, the other directors who are attending the meeting from the corporate office at New Delhi are Shri Shyam Lal Gupta Ji, Director Projects, on my left; Smt. Ragini Advani, Director of Finance, on my right. The Government Nominee Director, Shri Shri Dhananjaya Singh, Executive Director Works in the Railway Board is shortly joining us. He has got stuck up to be traffic. He's also the Chairperson of Stakeholder Relationship Committee and a representative of the Government of India. We have independent directors, Shri Ajay Kumar Chauhan, Independent Director, Chairperson of the Audit Committee and Nomination and Remuneration Committee on my left. The other independent directors who are attending this meeting through online mode or Smt. Ranjana Upadhyay, Chairperson of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Committee. Namaskar madam.

Namaskar.

Shri Dipendra Kumar Gupta; Shri Kartik Chandulal Bhadra.

Namaskar. Namaskar to all.

And other than the Board members, we have Shri Mugunthan Boju Gowda, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of Finance in Ircon. And we also have Ms. Ritu Arora, Company Secretary and Compliance Officer. Shri, we are very pleased to have Harbir Singh Gulati from Statutory Auditors-M/S HDSG & Associates; and Shri N K Sinha from Secretarial Auditor, Kumar Naresh Sinha & Associates who are present in this meeting through video conference. Scrutinizer is Sachin Agarwal, Practicing Company Secretary is also present through VC. Now I request the Company Secretary to confirm a quorum of the meeting.

Thank you, sir. So far, we have over 60 members who are attending this Annual General meeting through video conferencing and the requisite quorum is present and proceedings of the meeting can be commenced.

So thank you, Ritu. As the requisite quorum is present, the meeting is properly constituted, and now I call this meeting to order. Once again, I thank all the members for joining this meeting through video conference and physically in the boardroom. The company has taken the requisite steps to enable the members to participate and vote on the items being considered at this Annual General Meeting. Now I request the company secretary to explain the procedure of the meeting and voting.

Thank you, sir. Good afternoon, everyone. I Ritu Arora, Company Secretary, welcome you all at the 46th Annual General Meeting of Ircon International Limited. This 46th Annual General Meeting of the company is being held through video conferencing in compliance with the Companies Act 2013, read with in notifications and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Securities and Exchange Board of India. I would like to inform you regarding the participation process of this meeting. Facility of joining this meeting through video conferencing is being made available on first come first service basis. Since there is no physical attendance of the members, the requirement of appointing the proxy is not applicable. Attendance of members through VC is being counted for the purpose of recording the quorum under the Act. As per the company's act 2013 Register of Directors and KMP and their shareholding and Register of Contracts or Arrangements in which Directors are interested, Memorandum and Articles of Association and other documents referred to in the notice of AGM are available for inspection and can be accessed through the link made available on the website of NSDL during the meeting. As per Section 108 of the Companies Act 2013, read with Rule 20 of Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014 and Regulation 44 of SEBI (LODR) Regulation 2015, Ircon had provided the remote e-voting facility to all the shareholders of the company for all the resolutions set forth in the notice of AGM. The remote e-voting was conducted from 9:00 a.m. 13 September 2022 to 5 p.m. 15 September 2022. Members who have not cast their vote earlier through remote e-voting can cast their vote through e-voting in the meeting as per credential displayed in the website window. Shri Sachin Agarwal, practicing Company Secretary and failing him Ms. Garima, Practicing Company Secretary of M/S Agarwal S. & Associates have been appointed as scrutinizers to conduct the e-voting process in a fair and transparent manner. Shri Sachin Agarwal is attending the meeting as a scrutinizer to contact the e-voting process. The scrutinizers report would be made available within 2 working days from the meeting. All the members who have joined this meeting are by default put on mute mode by the host to avoid any disturbance and ensures smooth and seamless conduct of the meeting. Once the question and answers round start, I will announce the name of the shareholders who have registered as speaker shareholders one by one. The speakers, registered shareholder will thereafter be unmuted by the host. While speaking shareholders are requested to use earphone so that he or she is clearly audible. We would like to request the shareholders to limit the timing to ask questions up to 2 to 3 minutes early. Ensure that WiFi is not connected to any other device, no other background applications are running. There is proper lighting to have a good video and audio experience. If there is connectivity problem at our speaker's end, we will ask next speaker to join. Once the connectivity improves, the earlier speaker shareholder will be called again to speak. During the meeting, if the shareholder faces any issue, he or she may contact the helpline numbers mentioned in the notice of the AGM. The dedicated toll free numbers for investors regarding any queries or issues during the AGM is provided in the notice of the AGM. Thank you very much. Now I request as Chairman to take the proceedings further and address the quorum.

Dear shareholders, I am delighted to share with you the 46th Annual Report of your company for FY '21, '22, which has been yet another year of impressive performance. It is a matter of great pride that your company has displayed a good overall performance despite the pandemic-led adverse market scenario placed at the beginning of the year. On a stand-alone basis, your company has clocked an all-time high total turnover of INR 7,181 crores. In the last year, it was INR 5,200.31 crores, registering an increase of 38.9% Also, on a consolidated basis, the total turnover has restored a record increase of 37.76% which is the highest in the history of Ircon and stands at INR 7,585.71 crores. The previous year was INR 5,506.45 crores. So it is noteworthy to mention that your company, which started exclusively as a railway construction company as acquired diversified infrastructure sectors have moved into them over the past 46 years and has built its reputation globally. The company has to its credit 128 completed projects in 25 countries across the globe and 390 projects in India. Despite the adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic across the construction industry worldwide and the consequent weakening of global economic prospects during FY '21, '22, your company has been successful in securing one foreign project for construction of road from Paletwa to Zorinpuri under Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project in Myanmar. This has -- this project is to be done on EPC mode and the total cost is INR 1,780 crores. Your company has also secured new domestic orders of approximately INR 14,400 crores during FY '21 '22 through competitive bidding. With the new orders secured both in domestic and international segment, the order book as on 31st March 22, stood at INR 43,758 crores as compared to INR 34,689 crores in the previous financial year. The major new work secured by your company are in various sectors like railway electrification, highway projects, metro track work, workshops, airports and renewable energy. The company has also secured civil and track work packages in the prestigious high-speed railway project being implemented for the first time in India. In the backdrop of change in the policy of Ministry of Railways eliminating award of contracts on nomination basis, the range and value of new business secured by the company is commendable and the value of order as on June 30, 22, stands at now INR 42,066 crores. Your company has more than 50 projects in its portfolio, including 5 international projects in Bangladesh, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar. We continue to actively participate in new projects across industry segments in the domestic front to capture healthy profit margins. The company has folded into the renewable power sector to establish a 500-megawatt solar plant to a joint venture with its endeavor to enhance its portfolio international market, the company is aggressively pursuing foreign projects funded through the Indian lines of credit and other project exports through multilateral funding and through funding of [ Axiom ] Bank of India and projects funded through the multilateral funding agencies. Coming to the financial performance. Apart from recording the highest ever total turnover, we have also recorded highest ever operating turnover of INR 6,910 crores in '21/'22 as against INR 4,956 crores in the previous year, registering an increase of 39.43%. The PBT for '21/'22 stands at INR 610 crores, thereby showing an increase of 6.27% as compared to INR 574 crores in the previous financial year. The profit after tax stands at INR 544 crores in '21/'22, registering a growth of 34.32% as against INR 405 crores in the previous financial year. The net worth of your company has increased by 4.88% to INR 4,621 crores in FY '21/'22 as against INR 4,400 crores at the end of last year. During FY '21/'22, the railway sector contributed around 92% to our total revenue. Our primary focus has consistently remained deeply rooted in the railway sector, which is our core strength. We have also increased our share of highway business, and this year, its share in the total revenue is approximately 7.19%. And share of other works is 0.37%. On a consolidated basis also, an impressive -- the impressive financial performance of the company is evident from a quantum jump of 37.94% in the operating turnover during FY '21/'22. We taxed INR 7,380 crores, previous year was INR 5,350 crores. We have achieved a consolidated net profit of INR 592 crores for 21/'22 as against INR 391 crores in the previous year. Furthermore, I would like to mention that the statutory auditors have not given any qualification or remarks in the auditor's report and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, CAG has given nil comments in FY '21/'22. Coming to the present year. The financial results for the quarter ending [ 3,622 ]. It gives me pleasure to announce that the turnover and profitability for Q1 FY '23 stand-alone have improved substantially in comparison with Q1 FY '22. The total turnover of this quarter has increased by 77.34% to INR 1,956.95 crores from INR 1,103.49 crores. The operating turnover stood at INR 1,897.20 crores, showing an increase of 80.15% against INR 1,053.10 crores last year. In the corresponding period. And the PAT has increased by 45.37% to INR 123.13 crore from INR 84.70 crores. Regarding the dividend, in addition to the 3 interim dividends of 92.50% on the paid up share capital of INR 188.10 crores of the company, amounting to INR 174 crore approximately. Your company has proposed a final dividend of 32.50% of the paid up share capital amounting to INR 61.13 crores. With this, the total dividend payout for FY '21, '22 would stand at 125% on the paid up equity share capital aggregating to INR 235.13 crores approximately, which is 43.2% of the post-tax profits of '21/'22 and 5.09% of net worth to the company as on March 31, 2022. After declaration and payment to the proposed final dividend, the cumulative dividend paid to shareholders up to FY '21/'22 would stand at INR 2,374.47 crores. The share capital during the FY '21, '22, the paid-up share capital doubled to INR 188.10 crore by issue of new fully paid bonus shares in the ratio of one-each-to-one in May 21. As on March 31, 2022, the shareholding of the promoter, that is the President of India stood at 73.8% of the paid up equity share capital. Your company is in compliance of minimum public shareholding requirement in terms of securities contracts regulation rules, 1957. It is noteworthy to mention that Ircon Group is progressively expanding with 5 new subsidiary companies coming into at distance during FY '21/'22. The new companies include 4 wholly owned subsidiary companies incorporated for execution of highway projects of National Highway Authority of India on hybrid annuity more, of which 2 projects are located in the state of Maharashtra, one in Punjab and one in Uttarakhand. In addition, one subsidiary with 76% stake of Ircon has been incorporated in the renewal at sector for setting up a 500-megawatt grid-connected solar photovoltaic power project of Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited. As of now, Ircon Group comprises of 11 subsidiary companies and 7 joint venture companies. The details of which are provided in the Director's report. During the year, the company has infused equity, quasi-equity of INR 212.84 crore in the subsidiary and JV companies, resulting in cumulative investment of INR 1,421.68 crore as on March 31, 2022. In the progressive path towards reducing financial investment of Ircon in subsidiary companies and improving the liquidity position of Ircon during FY '21/'22, the existing loan of Ircon of INR 589.50 crore given to Ircon Vadodara Kim Expressway Limited and this INR 500 crore to Ircon Shivpuri Guna Tollway Limited have been repaid by the wholly-owned subsidiary companies to Ircon after availing the term loan facility from scheduled banks for which Ircon has provided corporate guarantees. . The other details of investments made, loan granted and guarantees extend to Ircon into subsidiary and JV companies during the year '21/'22 forms part of the notes to the stand-alone financial statements provided in the annual report. In terms of the MOU, memorandum of understanding, signed with the Ministry of Railways, Government of India, your company has been rated as excellent for the year 2019, '20, and 2021. The company expects to achieve a very good rating for the year '21/'22. All the parameters have become a little different. Based on the financials of FY '21, as per the USA’s Engineering News-Record, Ircon is the only PSU to make it to the list of top 250 international contractors. We are ranked 229th in the list as per the business standard BS 1000 annual magazine released in March '22. Ircon has also been ranked 190th by the total revenue and ranked 11th in terms of sector performance under the construction and infrastructure sector and at the 254 position in the list of Fortune India 500. Keeping up the trend of winning awards year-after-year during FY '21/'22, Ircon has won Governance Now at PSU award in 2 categories: CSR Commitment and CSR Leadership Award, National Award for Excellence in PSU in 3 categories, in Innovation, Social Media Outreach, increasing the geostrategic reach and exemplary leader, leader, and Green Tech Foundation Safety Award for construction safety. Regarding the corporate governance, we are fully aware that sound principles of corporate governance are absolutely essential for long-term development and sustainability. And we are operating within the ambit of these principles. In realization of its commitment to responsible business, we follow the highest standards of ethical business operations and best practices by adopting a robust corporate governance policy and code of conduct. Your company is adhering to the provisions contained in the SEBI Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements, Regulations, 2015, Companies Act 2013 and DPE Corporate Governance Guidelines 2010, and other applicable regulatory requirements. A certificate on compliance of conditions of corporate governance under SEBI Regulation and DPE guidelines on corporate governance forms part of the Director's report. Your company has secured excellent rating for FY '21/'22 on a self-evaluation basis in compliance with corporate guidelines of DPE. At Ircon, our environmental, social and governance and the framework is integrated across our business operations. Our ESG efforts are reflected in our policies and principles that govern our organization's operations. We consistently strive to make a positive impact on communities in which we operate. We have taken comprehensive initiatives in the areas of health, education, economic welfare and environment protection. Our ESG management is a thoughtful framework that includes critical factors such as transparent governance system, investing in our employees and nurturing diverse workplaces, delivering high-value projects to our customers and empowering the communities in which we operate. Our business strategy is aimed to achieve consistent, sustainable and responsible growth. In realization of our commitment to responsible business, we follow the highest standards of ethical business operations and best practices by adopting a robust corporate governance policy and code of conduct. We consistently strive to make positive impact on the communities in which we operate. As a corporate citizen, we have spent INR 10.52 crore towards corporate focal responsibility as against the allocated budget of INR 10.50 crore, focusing on the annual theme, health and nutrition and COVID-related activities, as announced by DPE, and to give preference to the aspirational districts under the CSR. The CSR and sustainability act to the company comprised of installation of one oxygen-generating plant at Samastipur Railway Hospital to enhance the capacity to face the present COVID-19 crisis, rainwater harvesting system in Delhi area, eye screening camps, artificial limbs distribution, education and skill development programs and other initiatives in the field of sports, health care, rural development, conservation of environment and facilitating directly differently abled persons. We have also contributed INR 1.14 crore to Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation Fund during the year. Growing with the belief that the employees hold the key to success of an organization, the company's policies have been designed in a way to adopt the organization, to adopt the latest methods, to constantly upgrade the knowledge, ability, skills and productivity of the employees. The employees are encouraged to engage with partners with emphasis on their carrier progression, well-being and development to create a healthy and harmonious environment within the organization. The company believes that retention of well-trained, competent and committed employees and also expanding our workforce who can assure in new ideas, strategies and process will ultimately help in improving the efficiency of the company. The total strength of our human resources as of March 31, 2022, stood at 1,278 with 181 newly employed personnel. In the process of improving the levels of transparency and efficiency through technology advancement, your company is adopting latest upgradation of S/4HANA system to cover end-to-end business process. During the year, employee self-service portal, finance and HCM module are under rollout for entire organization, and 5 pilot locations are -- have gone live with full functionalities. The other initiatives of the company in the direction of paperless office includes e-office system from National Informatics Centre for approval and movement of official documents within the organization, government e-procurement system of NIC, GePNIC, offering full transparency in public procurement and dedicated videoconferencing facility on Cisco VC and Google Meet from official e-mail ID, which enables seamless meeting for review of the projects, meetings of the Board, its committees and also the other general meeting. Regarding the future outlook. In future, Ircon's business growth, we'll be principally focused on its core business, that is the railway and highways in domestic as well as the international markets with focus on strategic alliance to pursue potential opportunities in railways, highways, building projects, ports, harbors, bridges, tunnels and metro rails. There are various economic and industry initiatives undertaken by the government to enhance economic growth, coupled with the revival of interest in the development of the infrastructure sector. In Union budget '22/'23, the government has given a massive push to the infrastructure sector by allocating INR 10 lakh crore equivalent USD 130.57 billion to enhance the infrastructure sector. The government expanded the national infrastructure pipeline to 9,335 projects. As a part of AatmaNirbhar Bharat, 2,000 kilometer of network will be brought under Kavach, the indigenous world-class technology for safety and capacity augmentation in 2022/'23. In '22/'23, the national highway network will be increased by 25,000 kilometers with a funding outlay of INR 20,000 crores. These initiatives of government will be helpful in laying blueprint for the expansion of opportunities and order book of your company. We shall be systematically targeting to improve our business share in the domestic market by improving our participation in 4 business sectors like railways, highways, tunnels and bridges. These include construction of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor on [indiscernible], EPC tenders for tunnels, bridges and EPC contracts for rural railways, PMC works for Indian Railway projects, projects of high speed railway, National Capital Regional Transport Corporation, National Highway Authority and other such entities. Your company has its presence in many states in India and intend to further expand the domestic footprint across the nation as part of its business growth model. We also aim to aggressively increase our international business share by venturing into new geographies and new business sectors to capture better profit margins recorded by these projects as compared to domestic projects. I'm incredibly thankful to all the predecessors and present Board members, our shareholders and all other stakeholders for their cooperation and trust in Ircon. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I take this opportunity to record our gratitude and appreciation for the untiring efforts of all the past and present employees of the company. The company is grateful for the valuable support received from the Government of India, particularly the Ministry of Railways and other ministries and departments of Government of India, banks, comptroller and Auditor General of India, statutory auditors, cost auditors, internal auditor and secretarial auditors. Above all, I am extremely thankful to our esteemed clients, both in India and abroad, for their continued trust and confidence in Ircon. I am confident that Ircon will further consolidate its position and presence by keeping itself abreast of and tuned to the ever-changing global scenario. The notice of AGM and the annual report of the company for the year '21/'22 containing the Directors' report, audited financial statements, scrutinizer's report and CAG comments thereon have already been sent to the members at the registered e-mail ID. Since this meeting is held through videoconferencing, the items and resolutions mentioned in the notice convening the AGM have been already put to work through remote e-voting. There will be no proposing and seconding of the resolutions. As per the notice of AGM, the items and resolutions, those have been put to work through e-voting are: under the ordinary business, the first is to receive, consider and adopt the audited stand-alone financial statements of the company for the financial year ending on 31st March '22, along with Board's report, auditor's report and the comments of the CAG thereon. The second is to receive, consider and adopt the audited consolidated financial statement of the company for FY '21/'22, along with the auditor's report and the comments of CAG thereon. Third is to confirm the payment of the, first, interim dividend of INR 0.45; second, interim dividend of INR 0.70; third, interim dividend of INR 0.70 aggregating to INR 1.85 per equity share on the face value of INR 2 and to declare a final dividend at INR 0.65 per share on face value of INR 2 to each, which is 32.50% on paid-up capital of INR 188,10,31,480, amounting to INR 61.13 crore for the financial year '21/'22. To appoint -- report is to appoint a director in place of Shri Shyam Lal Gupta, Director of Projects, who retires by rotation and being eligible, offers himself for reappointment. The fifth item is to appoint a director in place of Shri Dhananjaya Singh, part-time Official Director, who retires by rotation and being eligible, offers himself for reappointment. The sixth is to authorize the Board of Directors to fix the remuneration of statutory auditors for the financial year '22/'23 appointed by CAG. And under the special business, we have one item to ratify remuneration and cost auditor of the company for the financial year '22/'23. Now I request the Company Secretary to read out the observations, if any, of statutory auditors and secretarial auditors and the management replies thereto.

Thank you, sir. Statutory auditors have not given any qualification or remarks in the auditor's report. CAG has also issued nil comments. The observations of the secretarial auditors and management replies are mentioned at page number 128 of the annual report, which I am reading out for the shareholders. Observations are the company did not have a requisite number of nonexecutive directors. That is not less than 50% of the Board of Directors as required under regulation 17 up to November 10, 2021, and women independent director up to November 15, 2021, as required under section 149 of the Companies Act, read with Rule 3 of the companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Rules, 2014 and regulation 17 of SEBI LODR Regulation 2015. Second observation is requisite number of the independent directors. That is at least half of the Board of Directors as on this Board up to March 31, 2022, as required under SEBI LODR regulations, DPE guidelines on corporate governance regarding composition of the Board of Directors. Management reply thereto are Ircon International Limited is a government company as per provisions of the Section 245 of the Companies Act 2013. As the provisions of this act and articles of the association of Ircon, the President of India is vested with the power to appoint directors, including independent directors on the Board of the company. All directors in Ircon are appointed by the government of India through its administrative ministry, that is Ministry of Railways, and Ircon has no role to play in appointment of any director, including independent or woman director, unless it is nominated by the government. Company has, on various occasions, requested Ministry of Railways for appointment of requisite number of independent director, including women director and government nominee director on behalf of Ircon to ensure the compliances. One government nominee director was nominated on behalf of the Board by the Ministry of Railways by its order dated May 11, 2021, and appointed on the Board of the company with effect from 13 May 2021, thereby making the total number of government nominee director on the Board of Director company to 2. Further, as nominated by the Ministry of Railways, one independent director has been appointed on the Board with effect from 11 November 2021 and 2 independent directors, including women director, are appointed with effect on 16 November 2021. Subsequently, by another order, dated November 29, 2021, one more independent director has been appointed with the effect from 31 December 2021. After the appointment of the directors, as mentioned, above the requirement of the requisite number of the nonexecutive directors have been complied with the effect from the November 11, 2021, women and women independent director have been complied with effect from November 16, 2021. Requisite number of the directors have been complied with effect from November 16, 2021. Also, the request -- requirement of the presence of at least one independent director in the meetings of the Board performing the requisite quorum for the Board meeting have been complied. This is with respect to the observation related to not having the quorum in the Board meetings held up to November 12, 2021. However, even after appointment of 4 independent directors on the Board of the company, the requirement of requisite number of independent directors, that is at least half of the Board of Directors, has not been complied during financial year '21/'22 for which the requests for nomination have already been made to the Ministry of Railways. Other observations are appropriate composition of the Audit Committee as required under Regulation 18 up to November 17, 2021, the requisite quorum units meetings held up to November 12, 2021, as per SEBI regulations, appropriate composition of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee as required under Regulation 90 up to November 17, 2021, and requests quorum in its meeting held on June 29,2021. Next observation is appropriate composition of the Stakeholder Relationship Committee as required under regulation 20 2A and Risk Management Committee as required under regulation 2 21 of the SEBI regulation. The last observation is appropriate composition of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee as required under Section 135 of the company's act up to November 17, 2021. The management replies to these observations are the composition of Audit Committee, Nomination and Remuneration Committee, Stakeholders Relationship Committee, Risk Management Committee and Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Committee, but not in compliance with the legal requirement up to November 17, 2021, due to not having any independent director on the Board of the company. After the appointment of Independent Director on the Board of the company, these committees of the Board have been reconstituted in compliance with the legal requirements, that is with effect from November 18, 2021. After the appointment of independent directors on the Board of the company, the requisite quorum for the Audit Committee, Nomination and the Remuneration Committee meetings have also been complied. Now I request the Chairman to continue with the proceedings.

So now we will begin with the question-and-answer session. The number of registered speakers are 17. Operator, to please call out the name of the registered speakers one-by-one.

[Operator Instructions] Now I invite our first speaker shareholder, Kaushik Narendra Sahukar.

Am I audible?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You are audible.

Yes. Good afternoon, everyone. First off, I would like to thank the Board of Directors for giving me an opportunity to speak in this forum. Many of you remember me from the conversation of the past. So I will keep both my introduction and ask a brief. I hope I'm clear audible.

You are.

Thank you, sir. Myself Kaushik Sahukar, a qualified chartered accountant from Mumbai. I have been suffering from dystonia, which has nearly 55% of body is paralyzed, impacting my right hand, my right leg and left feet. While I have not let it come in my way of becoming a chartered accountant, I do request your support in helping me continue to self reliant. I hope I'm clearly audible until now.

Yes. Please go on.

Thank you, sir. I was optimistic after our conversation we had last year about being working for our organization on certification work, including Form 15CB. However, nothing has progressed. And while I understand, thinks it may have not progressed [indiscernible] situation last year, I do hope that after all the conversation today, our organization will get me this area as soon as possible. Once again, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. And I hope to see a positive movement forward what I ask. I support all the resolution. It will appreciative if our company can support [indiscernible] some kind of [indiscernible] work. Sir, I'm also aware that this is not a forum where I should speak all these things, but how else can I reach you? Please throw some light. Sir, Ircon is well known for its CSR work. You have transformed the life of various persons. I request similar support from Ircon to enable to me to prevent [indiscernible] self dependent and independent. Sir, finally, how is the company concluding to our PM's dream of AatmaNirbhar Bharat? How is government spending in the infrastructure project as compared to last year? [indiscernible] contributes to the generational employment in our country if it has -- is it just contract laborers or even skilled laborers? Also, I [indiscernible] forget to complement Ranjana Upadhyay. She is real [indiscernible]. I was really confused when I first logged in. I was wondering whether I am [indiscernible]. But on -- but I realize that if our director [indiscernible]. Thanks. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much, Mr. Sahukar. We have noted your comments, and we will definitely try to see, there is a CSR policy under which we work. And Madam Upadhyay, you addressed to, as she knows, and she has also probably listened to your comments, and that she will take care of that. Regarding the employment generation through infrastructure creation, I think that is the biggest thing that you can achieve by including -- by expanding the infrastructure of the country, which the government of India and the Prime Minister -- they are after infrastructure development basically for the purpose of creating jobs and creating infrastructure, which is world class, which will support more jobs and more enterprise. Thank you very much.

Now I invite our next speaker shareholder, Mr. Ankur Chanda.

Sir, am I audible?

Yes, sir, you are audible. Go ahead, sir.

Okay, okay. Good afternoon, sir. I just want to say that, sir, our corporate governance is too good. [Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language]

Now I invite our next speaker shareholder, Mr. Abhishek Jay.

[indiscernible] both annually get access to another [indiscernible] If you'd update the instruction of documents, sir, further it'd be helpful for investors. Sir, one more [indiscernible] is Mani Sundaram has joined from the same device, sir. Kindly now include has joined in the same device Thank you very much. Thank you for giving me the opportunity [indiscernible].

Sir, just a second. Sir, allow me to start the video, sir.

[indiscernible]

Sir, my name is Abhishek, shareholder of the company. MY DP ID, IN30163 [indiscernible]

Mr. Abhishek, please. Mr. Abhishek, can you speak -- Mr. Abhishek I think can you speak a little slowly so that we are able to understand you better?

[indiscernible]

Mr. Abhishek, your audio is not connected properly.

Now it should be clear. Now it should be clear. [indiscernible] I have understand, sir. Just a second, sir.

Mr. Abhishek, your audio is not connected properly.

Sir, now it should be clear. Now it should be clear.

Yes, yes, yes. Please go ahead.

[indiscernible] with you and your family. In this challenging situation, our company deserves much more respect than the current market cap after completing more than a decade of successful operations. Profitability even in history and becoming one of the strongest brand in our respective segments. And I would like to know, how the business has been impacted in these past 3 years of this COVID time? The coronavirus, planned and subsequent lockdowns has led unfortunately no industry [indiscernible] of COVID. So whether in you -- employees your sack higher salary cut in the pandemic situation and any salary cut with the management to department situation, sir? I would request the management to kindly take part in con call quarterly presentations and meeting with global investors on a regular basis. This will, in fact, give a bone to the business as well as to the stock price in the market, sir. Sir, and I would request the management to kindly arrange a visit for the factory, a visit for the investors, sir, we hope to see you with the physical AGM. I remember that I attend the year 2019 AGM, sir, physically at Delhi. And after that, we are forced to meet virtually, sir. So hope that the management will fulfill the wish and desire of minority shareholders to come. And we do expect that bonus as well as from the management, sir. Hope that management will reward shareholders, sir. . Nothing much to ask, sir. I wish the company and the Board of Directors a great success and prosperity in the coming future. And I thank the company secretary for sending us a link well in advance and making this another annual general body meeting a grand success. Thank you for giving the opportunity, sir. Hope to see you in the physical AGM next year, sir. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abhishek. I think the performance of the company during the COVID and after that speaks for itself. We have said -- that's what I said in my speech also that despite the problems, we have done very well. We have done reasonably well as compared to, I mean, as compared to any other company in our peer group. So -- and only during the COVID period, there were some -- for the employees, there were some cuts on the -- not on the salaries, but on some of the items where we could save money because that was a requirement of that time, but that happened for a very short while. And now we have all our allowances. Everything we have restored. And now we have no issues because your company is able to pay them also through the profits that we have earned. Thank you.

Now I invite our next speaker shareholder, Mr. Murlidhar Talreja. Sir, is this audible to you, sir?

Moderator, you can call the next speaker if there is an issue.

Now I invite our next speaker shareholder, Mr. K. Bharat Raj.

Good afternoon, sir. I'm Bharat Raj, calling from Hyderabad, sir. Sir, am I audible, sir?

Yes, you are audible.

Your video is not on.

Now I'm audible, sir. Yes. First of all, sir, I'm happy to see [indiscernible] in this pandemic also, my company has a wonderful performance, sir. I thank the management for the dividend payout, sir. I thank our company's Secretary Department, sir, for arranging wonderful VC, sir. And they're always accessible 24/7, sir. Sir, regarding two questions, sir, what is your road map for building the railway tracks, sir? If you compare in South India, a lot of projects are pending, sir. May I know the reason why the projects are pending, sir? Sir, India needs fourth line and third line, sir. So why the government is not serious about the third line and fourth line? If you compare in India and South India, South Central railway, If you were to go to third line is still it is pending, sir. And from [indiscernible], a third line is pending, sir. India needs the third and fourth line, sir, because China -- if you compare with China, the tracks are fill the -- with the border of India. So when we'll be in the track of that, sir? Sir, please make the efforts to make railway -- build more railway and more speed trains to our country, sir, so that the revenue will be increased and the passenger facility will increase, sir. Sir, the next year, we'll expect the physical AGM, sir, so that we have a very good interaction with you, sir. Entire Board of Director, all the best for the coming years, sir. We always support all the resolution. Secretarial departments, thank you very much. Sir, please look after the hospitality, sir. Thank you very much for giving this opportunity, sir. God bless you all.

Yes. Thank you, Bharat Raj. I think the issues that you have raised, we are not authorized to speak on them because they are the -- the Government of India, Ministry of Railways looks after that. But I'm sure they have a very large expansion program. I think from INR 60,000 crore per year, they are going to spend 250,000 crore, which my government director here present can confirm. Yesterday only, we were talking about that. So there will be ample works done in the entire India, including the South India. And as a company, we are looking at all the opportunities. We have no -- we have done a highway project in the South, and we would be happy to take up railway projects also whenever they come up in the southern part of India. Thank you.

Now I invite our next speaker shareholder, Mr. Yashpal Chopra.

Okay, okay. Hello. Am I audible?

Yes, sir, you're audible.

I'm just trying for my video. Anyhow, no problem.

You can go ahead, sir, without video as well.

Video have a problem. I'm not getting it. But anyhow, no problem. I can speak out. Hello.

Yes. Please go ahead.

Yes, myself Yashpal Chopra calling from Delhi. It's client ID [ 1059284710592558 ] Sir, I'm very much very much proud of the management, which is consisting of the so many eminent people, professionals. So this is a very good thing, sir, that our company has given an excellent results for the year that gone by in spite of the first 3 months, first quarter was wasted because of this corona. And the last quarter was wasted because of the Russia and Ukrainian war. And in both cases, there was disruption in the supply chain and all that. And in spite of all that, virtually we have to meet -- work for only for 6 months. But still, [indiscernible] results were more than rather at the pre-COVID levels in terms of your given. So this is a matter of pride for us where I'm very much proud of the management that they have given fantastic results. So I would also applaud our Ministry of Railways that they have taken a very nice this year of getting most of the railway subsidiaries listed because now all those companies, we are making -- there is a competition between all those railway companies. And every company is definitely giving ground and giving a very, very fantastic results. So this is matter of pride for us. And I know that railway track is the main, I can call it, the veins, veins in -- as the veins are important in your body, similarly railway tracks are important for my country. And now this communication system that [indiscernible]. And with that, we can -- we are very sure that our GDP growth is going to scale new heights in spite of, in spite of a very, very poor global economy. Our economy shall still be at the forefront because of the railways because they are the main strategic carriers of our, of our economy to the highest levels. This is a big thing, sir. Sir, as regarding performance, it has been all round growth, whether it is the turnover, PBT, PAT, EPS, EBITDA, our interim dividend is actually [indiscernible] sir, this is your management is -- appears to be investor-friendly because they have given a dividend of around INR 2.50 on the fifth annual share up just INR 2. The other thing along with that, you have declared bonus as one-for-one. So that shows that you are very, very much concerned with the investor's benefit -- investor's value. So I'm proud of that. I must congratulate, complement our management for that, sir. Sir, my query is, as you are doing a lot of work even in [indiscernible] and neighboring foreign countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar and all other things. Sir, what is the foreign exchange contribution in our revenue? I would just like to know that is -- you can clear my first query. The second query is that I just want to find out among your employees, what is the strength of the women employees over there? Because now in almost all the PSUs, these women are just being treated as an emblem of empowerment. And most of the Chairman, even my Chairman in Indian Oil Corporation, she's woman. And I just want to find out what our company is doing on the part of that. And next point is that very much is in mind is the -- I just that is....

Yashpal, sir, please wind up, sir.

The chairman are [indiscernible] Sir, you have just announced so much help from big loans but now you are just on the recovery part. I just want to find out as regards we've increased among our outstanding, what is our strategy to recover that? So before I close, I must thank our corporate governance under our Madam Ritu Arora Ji and all those persons who have given me a chance to express myself. And before I close, I pray to God to [ indiscernible] positivity [indiscernible] from the top [indiscernible] because that positivity means the strength of the company and the strength of the company, the strength of my investment. Best of luck you and happy, happy festive [indiscernible] other times to come. Thank you, sir.

Yes. Thank you, Yashpal Ji, for the good words that you've said about the company and the economy of the country. I really appreciate that. Regarding the women employees, I think we have a significant number. I don't have the figure right now with me, but you can see on my right, my Director of Finance and company Secretary. Both are here. They are at important key positions. And we have many employees on the -- have women employees on our roles. And regarding the -- I think the financial -- the question. Did you hear that question?

ForEx. Foreign earnings.

So I think my Director of Finance would be able to probably answer that.

So we've had fairly good foreign earnings, though there has been a decline over the previous year. In terms of dollars, we have made some money from our neighboring countries. The exact numbers are given in our segmental reporting already. And I think further details can be shared over a period of detailed questionnaire. Thank you.

Now I invite our next speaker shareholder, Mr. Jasmeet Singh.

Please allow me...

We can't see you, sir, but you are audible, sir.

Okay. Thank you. Honorable Chairman, Board of Directors, Chief of Finance, Company Secretary and everyone attending this video call, very good afternoon. Chairman, while the year under review was another challenging year given the continued COVID pandemic, despite adverse conditions, we have actually done very well with higher revenues, higher EBITDA profit, everything, and a higher dividend also. And of course, you have given the bonus shares also. So I'm thankful to the Board for all these good numbers. I understand that this would not have been possible without hard work and focused approach given by our leadership team while the working shared by you Chairman, sir, about our company has provided us fair amount of information, which is assuring of a very bright future. I have a little concern with regard to the order book, which we have, close to INR 40,000 CR. INR 40,000 CR is, I'm going to say, given the last year top line of close to INR 7,000 CR, how long this order booking can take place to execute? And -- because you see, we have -- again, this year, you will have plenty of orders coming in and next year also. So this -- how we intend to, say, bridge the gap between the order book and the execution part? Is there a shortage of the skilled labors? Or is there a shortage of funding, which we need to execute the projects? Do share your perspective in this regard. Apart from that, we have been doing a lot of stuff with regard to the CSR. And I'm happy to note that, yes, these are very important and good that you have adopted even the -- included sports as a part of a CSR funding. This is a good indication to other corporates to support our sports activities. I also want to request you that given the 75th year of Amrit Mahotsav, the Board may consider declaring a platinum INR 7.5 dividend, a special onetime dividend, not following the precedence in future. I support all the resolutions, and I'm thankful to the Finance, Secretarial, legal team to conduct this virtual meeting successfully. Thank you.

Thank you, Jasmeet Singh Ji. Regarding your question about the order book and turnover, the first step to company's growth is to acquire the order book, acquire orders for the company. And the second is to then develop the execution capabilities to meet that, right? So we have already increased our execution capabilities. And some of the projects that we have secured, like the high speed and all, they are slightly long period contracts. So the expenditure would be spread out over the next 3 to 4 years -- I mean even slightly more than that. Most of our projects that we have in our order book now will be executed in a span of 3 to 4 years. So they will be completed, but we would be acquiring more. And we have already recruited a lot of engineers this year. And based on the requirement for each project, we recruit contract engineers from the local area. So -- because they are the people who provide the -- basically the backup support to everything on the project. So I think there is no problem we can increase our execution capability to match the orders that we have secured. And in future also, we'll be able to do that. Thank you.

Now I invite again Mr. Murlidhar Talreja. Sir, is this audible to you? Okay. Now maybe it's a technical issue. Mr. Chairman, sir, I hand over to you. Now we can conclude the question-and-answer session, and you can do the word of thanks.

I want to thank all the shareholders for taking out time to join the meeting through videoconference and being with us, listening to us patiently. And I thank you all for commending us on the excellent performance of the company. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Chairman, sir. Now I request Shri Shyam Lal Gupta, Director of Projects, to please propose a vote of thanks.

On behalf of the Ircon International Limited, I thank all the shareholders for sparing the valuable time and attending today's AGM. I'm particularly thankful to CMD and other Board members, Shri Dhananjaya Singh, Government Nominee Director; and Independent Directors, Mr. Ajay Kumar Chauhan; Madam Ranjana Upadhyay; Shri Dipendra Kumar Gupta, Dr. Kartik Chandulal Bhadra who have attended this meeting by sparing the valuable time. I'm also thankful to statutory auditors and secretarial auditors for attending the meeting. I would also like to place on recall the best efforts made by all the employees of the company in achieving the current level of performance and all volunteers in organizing this AGM. I declare the meeting as closed and wish the shareholders to be safe and healthy. Thank you all.

Thank you, sir. Now we are concluding this meeting, closing this meeting. The e-voting will remain open for the next 15 minutes after the closure of this meeting to enable those of the members who have not cast their votes earlier and would like to cast their votes now. On the seal of the report from the scrutinizer, results of this voting will be declared on that side of the Ircon, NSDL, BSE and NSE. With this, I and all of the directors would like to leave this meeting and wish the shareholders to be safe and healthy. Thank you so much.

Thank you. .

Thank you.

Thank you.