Jyothy Labs Limited (532926) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Jyothy Laboratories Q3 FY '22 Results Conference Call hosted by ICICI Securities. [Operator Instructions]. [Audio Gap] Manoj Menon from ICICI Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Hi, everyone. A warm welcome to the Jyothy Labs 3Q FY '22 Results Conference Call. At I-Sec, it's our absolute pleasure to host the management for the call today. Today from the management, we have Ms. M.R. Jyothy, the Managing Director; and Sanjay Agarwal, CFO. Over to the management for the opening remarks, and we shall open it up for Q&A after that. Thank you.

Thank you, Manoj. Good afternoon, friends, and thank you so much for taking time to be with us on this call today. Hope all of you and your families are safe. Unfortunately, due to COVID and its variants now, we are witnessing, again, disturbances in our lives and consequently the economic activities are getting impacted. We are, however, hopeful that with the resilience of our portfolio and our team's commitment to be able to face this period, friends, we had a strong start to the year in quarter 1 and quarter 2 with 21% and 16% revenue growth, respectively. And with a similar momentum, happy to report quarter 3 FY '22, we have achieved 13.1% revenue growth, which has a volume growth of 7%. And for the YTD 9 months FY '22, our top line growth is 16.7%. Even we analyzed it on a 2-year CAGR basis. We have been consistently delivering double-digit growth for the last few quarters, which is backed by our relentless focus on execution, or the way we look at it is, focus on everyday execution, to build scale with agility, and which is what has helped us in gaining market share across categories. And this quarter growth of 13% is on top of 15% growth we had in quarter 3 of FY '21. Now obviously, this has been achieved in spite of challenging higher input prices, which is resulting in increase in the retail prices, and it does impact the consumer purchasing power. So overall, with all those macro environment, our portfolio, which is more essential day-to-day household consumption, we are witnessing stable consumer demand. Consumer sentiments, I would say, are mixed, because one, the economy is getting normalized. But at the same time, higher inflation is adversely impacting the monthly household budget of the consumers. Now for this quarter, there was an increased mobility when we look at it from October to December '21. There was a stabilization in all the distribution channels, specifically on modern trade and CSD, which we had seen, were impacted for large part of the last 18 months. However, as we speak again in the month of January, there has been some disruption. The footfalls, we presume, they are coming down in modern trade and CSD channels. From the urban and rural, they both continue to do well. We believe the fundamentals of our consumption story for India is intact. We are focusing on the potential of rural growth with the addition of rural stockists, van operations, adding more sales team on ground, which is giving us a sustainable advantage and growth. We'll continue to focus on distribution, digital expansion on our innovations, and focus on all the channels, and also urban and rural at the same time is giving us a good double-digit growth for the quarter and as well as on a 2-year CAGR basis. Higher raw material prices have impacted the margins, which is a matter of concern. But we have been managing it with calibrated price increases and several inward-looking cost rationalization measures. We continue to focus on technology, which will help us in our distribution, supply chain, and improved productivity, because in this environment, the most important thing is to manage or maintain a good balance between volume growth, market share and margins. As you would have again observed in our results, there has been a pressure on margins, but still we are focused on promotional activities. We have been judicious on our media spend to support our full business potential of our brand and distribution, and which we believe will give us significant benefits, which are giving benefits now and in future to enhance the long-term shareholder value. A quick summary on our financial performance. This quarter, we have grown by double digit. All categories have also witnessed double-digit growth on a 2-year CAGR basis. So that is very, very important for us. Because for the last 6, 7 quarters, we had a double-digit growth, it becomes a habit or a practice for us to work hard and make sure that the business is going from strength to strength. However, as we see, the margins have declined, and that's because of the increase in the unprecedented input prices, and our EBITDA from historical 15%, 16%, is at 11.3% this quarter. Now this is a concern for everyone, and it's an industry-wide issue. We have partly mitigated it through scale leverage, a lot of cost optimization projects and price increases. As we have highlighted in our presentation, the input prices for key raw materials, which we have put down all the prices for the last 18 months for palm oil, LABSA, or HDPE. Everywhere the prices have sharply increased by anywhere between 60% to 100% in the last 18 months. Now in spite of all the challenges, we are trying to ensure that the products are available, and we still maintain the assured quality despite the increase in the input costs. Another data point for your benefit, input prices as a percentage of turnover has increased by 14%. And we're taking more calibrated price increases we had taken till Q2 and Q3. As we see further pressure on margins, we have been taking further price increases and they are in the pipeline. But one important thing is, we've seen good demand for our products. Obviously, most of the growth is coming from the execution, which is helping us gaining strong market share. And we don't want to break that momentum, which has been built with a lot of hard work, with further focus on product mix and SKU rationalization, which can further offset material cost pressure. To continue our sales momentum, our A&P spend for this quarter has increased by 7.4%. As a percentage of sale, it's at 7.4% versus 6% we had it last year, which is an increase of 43% for the 9 months ended December 31. So the key thing is to keep investing behind the brand and focus on distribution, which is helping us gain market share across all categories, which validates our strategy. I'll spend a few minutes just to give you a deeper insight on our quarterly performance of all our categories. First for the Fabric Care, it's done well with 18.8% growth this quarter and a 23% growth for the last 9 months. If we go a little deeper into it, Post Wash, which is Ujala Fabric Whitener, has achieved pre-COVID levels, so it's doing well. Crisp & Shine is still to achieve normal sales, maybe another quarter or 2, once the mobility becomes normal. Ujala IDD, we have extended it to West Bengal and received a good response. Ujala Liquid is also doing well. So from that perspective, I think the Fabric Care portfolio has done well. And the challenges we were earlier seeing because of the CSD and modern trade not operating or the metros having large format stores, since that has come back, overall Fabric Care businesses has done well. On Dishwash category, which has been doing very well for us, both Exo and Pril continue to do well. And we've been having double-digit growth with hygiene focus and our brand positioning. We've been increasing our marketing spend both in Pril and Exo. Last time we spoke about it, we had new brand ambassadors for our Pril, Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh. And you would have observed in the presentation, our market share has been gaining every quarter on Exo, which used to be 11.3% in 2019 on a pan-India basis, now it has inched up to 13.7% as we speak. So this is a significant improvement, and we would really focus on it to keep growing this Dishwash category. In Household Insecticide, again, our automatic liquid vaporizer machine is picking up good growth across different markets. And again, this is the first time when we have hit a double-digit market share on a pan-India basis on liquid vaporizer. So now we are at 10.2% market share versus we used to be at 8%, 8.5% in calendar year '20. So we have been speaking about it that we've been focusing on it. We've been overspending on liquid vaporizer, so that we get our product across to the consumer, which has really worked well. And even on a 2-year CAGR basis, we have delivered a double-digit growth. So we're very happy that liquid vaporizer is doing good. Finally, Personal Care, which is our Margo franchise, a lot of ground activities are underway are to celebrate 100 years of Margo, and it's doing well. It had a flat growth this quarter. However, last time same quarter, we had 48% growth. So overall, on a 2-year CAGR basis, it's grown by 22%. So healthy performance on Personal Care as well. So in summary, we are focusing on a tech-led distribution, focusing on increased media spend in spite of all the challenges. We want to build our volume growth, we want to build scale, and it is evident from the higher revenue growth we have been seeing for the preceding 6 quarters. And I mean this outperformance in our product portfolio, I mean, revenue growth will lead into market share gains and the brand building, investing in the front end, which is strengthening the distribution and adding manpower on the ground to enhance market execution. So those will be our strategy as we move along. So with that, on that optimistic note, I will finish my opening remarks, and we're happy to answer any questions or clarifications you may have. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] We have the first question from the line of Percy Panthaki from IIFL.

I just wanted to understand the pricing action. So I believe in this quarter, we have a Y-o-Y pricing of about 6%, but some of it would be taken during the quarter and would not have fully affected Q3. So if I take that into consideration, what kind of Y-o-Y pricing growth will we have in Q4?

Right. So Percy, I get your question. So as you rightly understand, the pricing, which was taken somewhere in end of Q1, Q2 is what got affected fully in Q3. As we speak on an exit basis, our price increase would have been in the range of around 8%.

Okay. So around 8% is what we will see fully in Q4.

That's right.

Okay. And that would still not be enough to really counter the cost inflation, that is clear. But what I wanted to understand is that the incremental 2% pricing that you will get from Q3 to Q4, will it at least offset any incremental cost inflation from Q3 to Q4? So what I was just trying to understand is that as we go further into the future, like not too much into the future, only talking about Q4 now, should we see the EBITDA margin adjusted for, of course, seasonality improve versus what we have seen this quarter?

Yes, yes. So there will be margin improvement, Percy, and we are all focusing on improving our margin profile. And internally, we want to go back to 15% EBITDA margin as early as possible. So as what you rightly said, yes, we have already taken some measures of price increase and other measures, which will obviously get translated in Q4. And as and when, if other prices keep increasing, we'll take further price increases and other measures which we need to do.

Secondly, just wanted to look at your Fabric Care segment. You have given YTD 2-year CAGR of, I think, 4.6%, if I'm not mistaken, which is relatively the slowest growing segment in your business. So just wanted to understand what is holding back the growth there. Because the market leader is really doing fairly aggressive growth in the Fabric Care segment.

Yes. So Percy, Jyothy here. This Fabric Care segment, if you remember, it has been hit last year, especially in the Post Wash segment, and some of which we are recovering this year in Ujala Fabric Whitener. While Crisp & Shine, which is again a Post Wash, continues to be -- I mean, it has improved, but it is yet to see its full glory, mainly because the schools are shut; the offices are partly open, partly work-from-home. So this specifically caters to workwear and school wear and things like that. So once those things start fully, that should come back. And we also had seen some institutional growth not happening last year. And hence, it has affected the thing. But once things open up, all of this will be coming back in its full glory.

And if I look at only the detergent segment of your fabric wash, I'm not asking for any exact numbers, but could you give some color or sort of some brief idea on how better the performance is there versus the overall Fabric Care?

Yes. So we are growing in double digits in detergent segment. We have also launched our liquid last quarter under Ujala. And we have just about yesterday launched our liquid detergent in the Henko segment as well in the South. So going forward, we'll be getting growth where we are seeing a shift from powders to liquids. We'll be capturing on that growth as well.

And my last question is on the overall demand environment. There are certain companies which have flagged off slowdown in the general FMCG growth. Of course, last 3 quarters, you have performed exceedingly well. But is there any risk that the top line growth really falters in Q4 because of whatever reason? Either because of any pipeline adjustment or because of end consumer demand? Because right now, what is really growing for you is the top line growth. Margins have been very badly affected, probably the worst among the entire FMCG pack. And if the top line growth also falters then, I mean, that will be a little premature before the margins have sort of recovered. So just wanted your view on that.

Yes. So Percy, we are actually -- frankly, we don't want to be bothered by what's happening, and we want to focus on our activities like increasing stockists. And for us, there's a lot of miles to go. So in that sense, we would want to focus on increasing outlets and getting channel partners on board. And our focus is on distribution. While, this inflation, yes, to an extent, maybe from a long term, if it continues, could come in the way. But we have seen growth in urban this quarter, especially because of the festive activities, all the pending demand coming up. And maybe it could affect, but our work and our focus on growing in double digits will continue.

Right. But as of now, there is no sort of early warning signs or any sort of reason to believe that Q4 is going to be an affected quarter in terms of top line trajectory?

No, as of now, not much.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question from the line of Kaustubh Pawaskar from Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

My question is, again, on the Fabric Care and more towards the revenue growth. So this quarter, we have seen double-digit growth. And you alluded to the point that because there was an improvement in footfall and mobility and home consumption also improved, so that led to the improvement in the Fabric Care category growth. But now because of the Omicron, there is restriction on mobility in most of the sales. So considering that, should we expect the Fabric Care growth to moderate, and overall it will have impact on the revenue growth?

No, nothing like that because we haven't seen, other than institutional, which could happen, some slowdown there. But largely, there has not been any, other than the schools and offices, affecting 1 category for us, as in 1 brand for us there specifically, otherwise, we don't see that much of an issue there.

And you just mentioned that distribution is something which you are focusing on. So in last month, can you just let me know what kind of distribution addition you have done on the retail side?

It's mainly -- I've spoken on increasing the outlets right from the beginning of the year, right from April. We were somewhere at 8 lakhs, 8.5 lakhs, and we have crossed 1 million outlets by now. And our focus is to keep increasing the number of outlets from now on. So we have hit the 1 million mark, which we wanted in a long time. That's direct coverage.

So any target as such that after 3 to 4 years, we want to increase your outlets by this much? Any specific target internally you have reached?

See, target is in the mind, I wouldn't want to say. We would want to benchmark the industry leaders there. So it's a journey, and it will be always on an increase, I would say. In the next at least 4, 5 years, we have to be at the market leader level, yes.

[Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Mr. Manoj Menon.

Just when I look at the volume performance, the 7% volumes which you have delivered in the quarter. If you could just help us understand the 5, 6 categories which you have, which has been the ones, let's say, which have grown in double digits and which are the ones which are -- the best 3 and the bottom 3.

So Manoj, your question is, volume growth, in which particular category is it more? Is that your question?

Right. So Sanjay, the basic assumption here is, let's say, the core Ujala really would not have grown in volumes, right? I mean, so apart from that, I'm just trying to understand, of the 7%, is it truly broad-based? Or are there a few categories where you're seriously outperforming and the few ones which you need to improve?

So there is nothing where we are concerned. I mean, just in terms of numbers, Dishwash obviously has done much better, followed by Fabric Care, and then Personal Care and HI.

Just could you just repeat that? Dishwash is the best performer?

And then Fabric Care and then you have HI and Personal Care.

When you say Fabric Care, this is Fabric Care minus the core Ujala, right?

Correct, correct.

Okay, understood, understood. And secondly, we just saw an exchange announcement about Mr. Ullas Kamath not seeking the reappointment or extension. Any comments from management would be helpful.

Yes. So the thing is, it would mean an extension of 5 more years, and he wanted to pursue -- come off from the executive role and to focus on things closer to his passion, while he'll always remain with us as a family and is just a phone call away. He'll also be presently continuing on the JFSL Board and will be taking care of that business.

Understood, understood. If Ullas Sir is there on the call, I just wanted to put it on record, sir, thank you so much. We have truly learned a lot from you and had really enjoyed interactions with you. You have been one of the nicest corporate managements I have interacted with. And the third one, question or a clarification which I wanted was, look, I think there is this big narrative of D2C, digital native, et cetera, et cetera. But from your vantage point of your portfolio, are there these sort of, let's say, "perception of disruption" actually happening in your categories?

So yes, I think it's a very good question, and it's definitely fashionable and everybody wants to look at D2C. And there's nothing for us also not to reevaluate that. we have multiple brands and different brands have different growth plans. But we also have to evaluate whether there is a good value in those D2C brands, or is it only about valuation and the hype. So we will be focused on every new opportunity which are there in the market, whether it is alternate channels, whether it has been e-comm, and whether it is now D2C. So it's there on our horizon. And as and when we think there is a real need for us to go into the market with that, definitely we'll do it.

Understood, Sanjay. Actually, Sanjay, my question was more from the point of view that the D2C, DNB, et cetera, appears to be -- that's something I wanted your view as industry experts out there. It appears that it's more on the personal care side and some on the functional food side, et cetera. I'm not sure it's actually -- is there anything material which is actually happening on D2C, DNB on the home care rather, not just fabric care. Just wanted your views on, is it happening? Or how do you look at that? Let me put it this way. Can I make a statement that, let's say, your portfolio is possibly the least impacted because of D2C, DNB, which is happening in the market. Will it be a correct statement to make?

So Manoj, you're right. Most of these brands, our consumers will pick up on the D2C platform where these are more involved categories. So while you are choosing your body lotion and cosmetics and things like that, definitely, there are a lot of competitors, which you do, while you pick up any of the stuff. And hence, there's been more of those brands in D2C channels. While our portfolio is more focused on Fabric Care, Dishwash and detergents and stuff like that, and HI, there's not much of D2C brands penetrating. So I hope that answers your question. You're right in your assessment.

[Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Selva Muthukumar, an investor.

Congratulation on the excellent set of numbers. So I have 2 questions regarding Margo market share. What is the present market share? What is the growth rate compared year-on-year, flat growth? So do you have any specific plan to increase the market share in Margo segment? And second question regarding how much cash available in book. Any inorganic acquisition possible within 1 year?

Yes. So we don't subscribe to the Margo market share data, but the brand has seen 20%, 22% CAGR growth in the last 2 years. So the brand is doing well. This quarter was flat more so because this brand, especially for this brand, it does well in the other 3 quarters. And the winter season is usually not so great in terms of this thing. Last year, we had a 48% growth in the brand. And this year, because of the early onset of winter, it did suffer a slight setback. But in spite of that, we have delivered some bit of growth. But if you see on an overall basis, 2-year CAGR, we have delivered 22% growth.

Yes. And the second question, what you had is, we continue to be a net debt free company. And acquisitions, yes, it's something we have it on our horizon, but we want to get it at our terms in the sense of pricing and the categories in which we want to be present in. So it's a deep search, which we'll have to do. And at the relevant -- or once we are ready with it, definitely, we'll be able to share more about it.

[Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Aniket Sethi.

So on the rural distribution base. So 1 thing is you mentioned about addition of rural stockists. So if you can kind of quantify how are we increasing it? Or are we kind of going much deeper in terms of our reach. Second, in terms of the van sales, you mentioned briefly in your opening remarks. Is that a meaningful contribution currently? What are the costs of doing business this way? And what are the plans over there?

Yes. So rural stockists, in last 1 year, we would have added another 500 sub-stockists, which really helps us in good line of sight in the products which we are selling deep into the villages, say population up to 5,000. And van operations and mopeds and all is to facilitate those sub-stockists in that market so that we can penetrate a lot of, I mean, LUPs. So obviously, we have to evaluate the cost benefit analysis for us. And we've seen good ROIs for the investments we are doing, both on adding manpower in rural areas and van operations.

Okay. But like, have you been doing the van operations sometime now and the plan is to probably feed the wholesale channel from this?

It's not feeding the wholesale channel. It is feeding more of the areas where the sub-stockists find their challenges in reaching into the 5,000, 10,000 population areas. So we're just helping them in getting there, so that our penetration increases.

Second, on the Dishwash piece, so if, slightly longer timeframe, so 1 year or say 18 months, if you can kind of qualitatively dissect the growth between Exo and Pril. Because on a market share basis, at least the growth of Pril seems to have kind of come off. Pril, we quite some time back did some launches, variant launches and it took off quite well. So anything different or divergent over there since the last year or so?

So both Pril and Exo have been doing well. Pril is more metro product, urban market, e-comm, while Exo is focused on rural areas, INR 5, INR 10. And we're focusing on it because the LUPs help us in accessibility of our products in that market. So both have a very different focus as we speak.

Also, modern trade and e-comm has a larger share in terms of liquid sales. So those would also kind of impact this thing, but we have seen double-digit growth in both the brands.

[Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Gaurav Jogani from Axis Capital.

So my first question is with regards to, it clearly seems that only with an 8% price increase so far, the focus is clearly towards driving the volume growth over the value growth as of now and absorbing some sort of inflation. But sir, any guidance or any help that you can give us in terms of, till what level can this continue and beyond which level in crude you might look to further price increases?

So as I said earlier, Gaurav, the focus is to improve the margins as well, as we have been doing very good on top line market share, increasing our media spend, and it's giving us good return on investments. Now on the margin side of it, as we focus on it to improve it, internally, we want to be back to 15% EBITDA margin as early as possible. And I mean given where we are today and seeing some of the key raw material prices still going up, difficult to give you a timeframe in which we will be there, but all our efforts are there to get back to that margin profile soon.

Sure sir, I understand that. In terms of the HI piece again, it's very heartening to see that you now have reached the double-digit mark in terms of the LV machine now. But could you help how the incense sticks are there now? Have they come back? And how is the market overall growing for the HI segment?

So incense sticks, obviously, have been there for a period of time. It had come down because those illegal manufacturers could not produce during the peak of COVID. They are there. I mean as an association, we have been taking lots of measures to bring them down. It's not growing at the same pace what one had seen 2 years back, but they are very much there. It's unfortunate, but so be it. So the growth rates are -- in an India environment, there are very limited players who are there in HI and mosquitoes are not going anywhere. So we believe that a good double-digit growth is possible in this category. And for us, the focus is on liquid side of it, which as you said, and which is what we're doing well, we'll continue to focus on that.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Zaki Abbas Nasser from Nasser Investments.

Sir, my 2 questions are that we have seen growth on the revenue from over December last year. Sir, how much would you attribute this to the inflationary aspect and how much to the volume aspect, sir? That is my question number one. And also, sir, the segment of Dishwasher detergent, are you planning to enter it because that is -- of course, as of now, it remains a premium segment, but it may be a large segment later on. And sir, what is the cash balance on the books, sir? I think you have not given that figure.

So volume growth for this quarter has been around 7%. And I didn't get your second question. Which Dishwash product are you saying that we need to...

That is the dishwasher tablets and dishwasher detergent. I mean what is...

So the dishwasher penetration for India so far has -- I mean, will be very negligible. Once we start seeing a great momentum there, we will also be entering there. Right now, it's not our focus.

Okay, so that is not on the agenda right now?

Not right now.

Okay. And what would the cash balance on books, what would it be as of now?

Yes. As of now it's around 60 crores to 70 crores.

Okay, and I think we became net positive only 2 quarters back, right?

Correct, sir.

And can I just add a small bit, sir? What is your feel on the inflation on the raw material front, sir? How do you see it panning out? Because maybe these things are just not sustainable the way cost rate is going up, the way lab is going up. I mean what feel do you get? Do you think maybe after this quarter, you should see a normalized price?

So all of us who have been in the business, obviously, it surprised everybody. Now we have to be patient and we have to continue the business. And so I mean, crude, as you would be observing, I mean, it's now $88. I mean, Brent crude, the way it's gone up, we don't know. Nobody can guess whether it will come down in the rush or whether it will remain there. So difficult to predict. But I think a lot of it, the prices, we see the index, I mean the input inflation index, what we call it, has flattened at least for a while. And I mean it's anybody's guess here how the prices will move from here on. But we don't think it should sharply go up as what we had seen in the past. But we all can be surprised.

We have the next question from the line of Faisal Hawa from HG Hawa & Company.

So my question is to Jyothy. Why are we not taking up the rural distributors B2B with like Hesa or even Udaan or even Moglix to really ramp up the distribution much faster. And are we doing any steps to revitalize our brand?

As a business house, we work with all of them, whether it is Udaan and all other names which you know. And we work with them on a good parity with general trade distributors, so there's nothing like that we don't work with any 1 particular or we work heavily with one of these alternate distribution channels. So like how we would focus on general trade, we have business partners, which includes all the other alternative channels. And we've been doing normal business with them. And so we're working with all of them.

So I was talking more in terms of a rural-based focus, like Hesa, they are like going to towns which are even less than 5,000 people in a village.

So there is definitely no reason for us not to work if we see a value in that. But having said that, it's always better that we focus on our own. And as Jyothy just mentioned, we have crossed 1 million retail outlets on a direct coverage basis. A lot of focus for us has been done in the rural market, which I just mentioned, again, 500-plus sub-stockists we have added. We've added on a company-wide basis around 300-odd people on the ground. So all this thing is -- unless you are doing it direct, it will not lead into any sustainable growth. So while we work with all of them, we'll have to have both the approaches, which makes sense for us.

So is it that as an organization, we are more adept at doing the distribution in the old way? And...

No sir, we are working with...

You are really not happy with the way that your distributors are doing?

No, no, no. We are -- Sir, e-comm business is about 3% to 4% of our top line.

My question was never towards e-comm. It was more towards -- my question was towards B2B distributors, not towards e-comm.

We are not against any B2B distributors. We are working as normal industry would work. We are working with all of them. And we have good relationship with them as well.

We have the next question from the line of Anurag Jain, an investor.

I have 2 questions. First question is what are the R&D expenses during the quarter and 9-month period? And my second question is, if you can throw some light on the new product launches expected in the next 12 months. You may disclose whatever you are comfortable with.

So R&D is the backbone of our company. We are a homegrown company and all the products which you see are differentiated products. They all come from our research this thing. So we don't put a number to the R&D percentage which we spend. It's a part and parcel of our business that we have to focus on R&D and keep innovating products and be differentiated products, which add value to the consumers. In terms of the innovation pipeline, every quarter we talk about it. Last quarter, we had Ujala liquid detergent. Jyothy just mentioned that yesterday we had the Henko liquid detergent as well. So this is a continuous journey. We will introduce products in the market where we see a long-term growth and which strengthens our overall brand equity. So those will continue to happen, and we have a decent pipeline on innovation, which we'll keep seeing over a period of time.

If I may ask, Henko liquid detergent, it has been launched in which markets?

It's in the south market.

We have the next question from the line of Harsh Shah from InCred.

Are we looking to fill Mr. Kamath's position either by promoting someone internally or by hiring someone from outside?

No. He was more from a strategic contribution from him, and we have been running the business for the last 2 years and you have seen the growth happen quarter-on-quarter, and we don't have any immediate anyone to fill in the position. I'll be running the company and we have a strong leadership team who will be running the company.

[Operator Instructions] We have the next question from the line of Alok, an investor.

Just, first of all, I would like to know, is it possible for us to give me a breakup of what would be the contribution of Henko detergent to our total top line?

It's around INR 200 crore plus VAT and that's where it's been doing well.

I mean, the next thing would be not kind of a question, but as a general observation, like I basically come from the category C towns. Now when we visit modern retail stores here, I literally find it very difficult to spot Henko detergents on the shelf of Big Bazaars and Reliance Retails, which are available in my hometown. So like when we compare it with the other competitors, like their products are fairly nicely available on the shelves. So is it kind of like, do we really need to promote the products or larger visibility, so that it pushes up the sales?

I think there are 2 things. One, we do good business at Big Bazaar and Reliance Retail and others. So definitely, in your hometown, obviously, it will be a good opportunity for us to be present and make sure our products are available. So it's a good input. And at the same time, a good opportunity for us to grow. At which place are you there, sir, if I can ask you?

Basically, I'm from Jharkhand. I reside in Ranchi. I mean, I moved back to Ranchi in 2019. Prior to that I was in Bangalore. So I had the same observation in Bangalore itself. When we used to visit DMarts or Reliance Retails or Hypermarkets, like it was really difficult for me to find out where exactly is the product located, because the product is far good in quality, the output is amazing. But if I go, I'm searching for the product; if it's not available, I can't break it out in a modern retail store, I then move on to a substitute. So which I believe might be affecting our top line for Henko.

Sure, sir. I think, first of all, thank you for complimenting about the product. Yes, definitely, it's one of the best products. And we will -- I mean, I'm sure it will be there in the next trips to Ranchi and areas. Otherwise, it's always available on e-commerce channels. So you should not be deprived or if you ever want to figure it out. And I will be more than happy, my e-mail IDs are there on the website or on this presentation, if you could let us know which specific stores you have been looking at, and the address you can share it with us. We will make sure that next time on your trip, you will find those products there as well.

Surely, surely, I will do that.

We have the next question from the line of Kiran Naik from Modi Fincap.

Ma'am, I joined the call late. I'm not aware, any new products in the pipeline in the next 6 months or 3 months?

There are things in the pipeline, right, like I said, yesterday we had launched Henko liquid in the south market. We had also prior to that launched Ujala liquid detergent prior to this quarter. And you'll see as and when we launch -- we have lot of products in the pipeline. So we would want to focus on rather what we have launched to make it successful.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I would now like to hand the floor back to the management for closing comments. Please go ahead.

All right, thank you, everyone, for all your questions. Very, very interactive. We appreciate it. And I'm more than happy if anybody has any further questions or require clarifications, please feel free to reach out to us or to the I-Sec desk and we're more than happy to provide any explanation for the business. Till the next time we meet, stay safe, and thank you very much.

Thank you, members of the management. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of ICICI Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.