Nestlé India Limited (500790) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Dear members of Nestlé parivar, good morning, and welcome to the 65th Annual General Meeting of Nestlé India Limited, through videoconferencing or other audiovisual facility. For the smooth conduct of the meeting, members will be in the mute mode. For members who have preregistered to speak at the AGM, the audio and video will be switched on when the Chairman requests them to speak. Please note, as per the requirements, the proceedings of the AGM will be recorded and available on the company's website later. Webcast facility is also available for nonmembers. Without any delay, I hand it over to Mr. Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director.

Thank you, Inba. Namaste dear members. It gives me immense pleasure to extend a warm welcome to each one of you from India and overseas for attending the 65th Annual General Meeting. This is my 9th AGM with you, and I'm truly honored to be addressing you. I would like to inform you that all the executive directors, Company Secretary and other company officials, including myself, are participating from our office in Gurugram. On the other hand, all the independent directors are participating virtually from their respective locations. I would now like to take a moment to introduce the Board members who are present on the screen. Mr. P.R. Ramesh, Independent Non-Executive Director, Chairman of the Audit Committee and member of the NRC and Risk Management and Sustainability Initiatives Committee. He is participating from the United States. Ms. Anjali Bansal, Independent Non-Executive Director, Chairperson of the NRC and member of the CSR Committee, Audit Committee and Risk Management and Sustainability Initiatives Committee. She is participating from Mumbai. Ms. Alpana Parida, Independent Non-Executive Director, Chairperson of the SRC and member of the Audit Committee and the NRC. She is participating from Mumbai. Ms. Svetlana Boldina, Executive Director, Finance & Control and CFO, member of the CSR Committee, SRC and Risk Management and Sustainability Initiatives Committee. Mr. Satish Srinivasan, Executive Director, Technical and permanent invitee to the CSR Committee and Risk Management and Sustainability Initiatives Committee. This is his first AGM after his appointment from 1st July 2023. Mr. Satish is an Indian National and holds an engineering degree and has over 35 years of experience. He joined Nestlé India in the year 1993. He worked on various assignments across Nestlé factories, in Switzerland, India, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Equatorial Africa region and Indo China region with increasing responsibilities. His expertise lies in the area of technical operations, strategy, capital expenditure optimization, quality and he has made significant contributions to the Nestlé group. Ms. Suneeta Reddy, Independent Non-Executive Director. She is participating from Chennai. This is her first AGM after her appointment from 1st April 2024. She has also been appointed as a Chairperson of the CSR Committee and member of the Risk Management and Sustainability Initiatives Committee. Ms. Reddy is an Indian National and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations, Economics and Marketing from Stella Maris College in Chennai. She also holds a Diploma in Financial Management from the Institute of Financial Management and Research Chennai, and has completed the Owner/ President Management Program at Harvard Business School, Boston, United States. She has also been conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. Ms. Reddy is the Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited. Ms. Reddy is very well recognized and was featured among the top 10 in Fortune India List of Most Powerful Women. She also received the best CEO award from Business Today as recently as 2024, she was recognized amongst 50 Global Women Changemakers by CNBC for being among women who are impacting society, challenging established business practices and driving industry-wide change. Her expertise lies in specific functional areas such as strategy, hospital operations, corporate services, finance and accounts, HR, legal, enterprise risk management, et cetera. Mr. Sidharth Birla, Independent Non-Executive Director. He is participating from Delhi. This is his first AGM and his appointment by the shareholders is proposed in this AGM effective from 12th June 2024. He has also been appointed as a member of the Audit Committee, NRC and SRC with effect from that date. Mr. Birla is an Indian national and holds an MBA from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland and a Bachelor of Science in Honors in Physics from University of Calcutta. He is an entrepreneur, founded the business of Xpro India Limited and has been Executive Chairman of Xpro since March 2000. His expertise lies in specific functional areas of corporate governance, strategic issues, acquisitions and divestments, company law, corporate and financial structuring and understanding of industrial and business operations. Further details of Mr. Birla are provided in the AGM Notice. Mr. Pramod Kumar Rai, the Company Secretary and Compliance Officer of the company. The company secretary has advised me that the quorum as required under law is fulfilled and I declare the meeting as validly convened. I also acknowledge participation of the statutory auditors, cost auditors and secretarial auditors. As required, the statutory registers are available for inspection on the NSDL website. The Board's report for company's performance for the 15-month financial year ending 31st March 2024, is already available with you as part of the annual report sent to you. Today at the AGM, I would like to focus on our path to progress and dwell upon 5 themes. The first, performance: consistently balancing growth and profitability; second, planet: strengthening the sustainability journey; third, purpose: enabling strong impact on communities; fourth, people: focusing on diversity, talent and generational shift; and finally, partnerships: investing in long-term partnerships. Dear members, I believe that an organization is more than just the number it manifests. It is anchored in the principles of purpose, people, planet, partnerships and performance, all of which are integral to driving corporate performance. Swami Vivekananda had once said "arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached." Arise and awake suggests a constant state of progress, continuous improvement, striving for excellence and being resilient in the face of stop. Dear members 2023 was a year of paradox. The world continued to grapple with widespread socioeconomic consequences of post-pandemic recovery, fluctuating commodity prices, geopolitical tension simmered in various regions. The exasperated climate emergency pursued its relentless march, demanding urgent action. In contrast, India exhibited resilience, seamlessly blending elements of robust economic growth and dynamic consumption landscape. We witnessed the rise of a new India. Robust infrastructure advancements, including 10,000 kilometers of new highways built, annually, that improve access and distribution, ensuring economic growth, creating exciting opportunities for brands that have had tangible impact on the RURBAN plans for your company. India has the second largest online market globally and has one of the cheapest data rates in the world, making Internet more accessible for consumers. The UPI processed a record breaking 13.44 billion transactions in March 2024. The vast online ecosystem offered access to a wider range of products and brands for both urban and rural consumers. I remember once traveling to a village near Patna. When I asked a retailer how much of his payments were made in cash? He told me, surprisingly that only 20% of his payments were made in cash while 80% were made using UPI. He mentioned that the biggest advantage for him was that he no longer had to handle cash. India today offers a rich demographic dividend. We are home to the world's largest Gen Z population known for their digital fluency and brand awareness. They are discerning consumers, seeking purpose-driven brands. Over 10% of India's aging population is investing in themselves and in their personal well-being to lead better lives. We are also home to some of the most brilliant minds, the most creative entrepreneurs and the most advanced technology and innovation. What beholds us today are the opportunities to shape the future as we marshal new ideas and set a solid agenda with a resolve for a resilient and better tomorrow by carving out our paths to progress. Dear members, let me take you through our first theme, performance: consistently balancing growth and profitability. Nestlé India story continues to be strengthened as we consistently make strides in our growth journey through right investments and responsible choices. Your company is poised to invest approximately INR 7,500 crores between 2020 and 2025 to develop new capabilities and expand existing ones with a sharp focus on sustained growth and innovation. This not only reflects the strong demand for our products, but also our dedication to the 'Make in India' initiative, which we have supported from the beginning. Our dream and ambition is to make the Odisha factory, a digital powerhouse with state-of-the-art AI-powered technologies. In addition to the physical factory, it will have a digital twin, a first of its kind, a virtual replica of the physical factory to optimize production in real time. It is poised to be a sustainable factory that is paperless, maximizing renewable energy and being GHG emission free. In this factory too, our commitment to gender diversity remains unwavering, fostering a workforce that reflects the vibrant tapestry of your company. Like all of our other factories, the Odisha factory too, will remain committed to serving the local communities through relevant societal initiatives. Dear members, as some of the investor-friendly measures to make the equity shares of the company more affordable and accessible during the period under review, your company listed its equity shares on the National Stock Exchange and also subdivided its equity shares in the ratio of 10:1. I'm happy to share with you that the Nestlé India parivar has grown to more than 450,000 members and the trading volume has increased manyfold. I'm pleased to inform you that the underlying fundamentals of your company continue to be strong. Thanks to the steadfast dedication of our teams, partners, frontline sales staff and the invaluable support of our consumers, we have reached -- achieved commendable results. During the reporting period, your company delivered double-digit growth with a total sales of over INR 24,200 crores. We witnessed strong growth momentum across our product groups led by a combination of pricing and mix. These results inspire us at Nestlé to strive for continued growth and sustained performance despite the prevailing challenging circumstances. We took several measures to address food inflation, volatile commodity prices and fluctuating purchasing power by accelerating economies of scale, sharpening procurement strategies, focusing on cost reduction and enhancing efficiency and speed of decision making. I'm pleased to inform you that India has become the largest Nestlé market globally for MAGGI and the second largest market for KITKAT. The out-of-home business continued to accelerate rapidly and has become one of the fastest-growing businesses offshore company in India. E-commerce sustained its upward trajectory, contributing to 6.8% of sales. Penetration, premiumization, and innovation, combined with disciplined resource allocation have been key in driving business, making your company one of the fastest-growing markets for Nestlé, globally. Over the past 8 years, your company recalibrated, redirected and rejuvenated its product portfolio by launching over 140 new products. A significant portion of sales in 2023 was attributed to innovative products. This includes science-led nutrition solutions, millet-based products, and plant-based proteins, options that cater to diverse dietary needs. We were conferred with the 'Best Industry - Product Innovation for Mainstreaming Millets' award. Our nationwide campaign on millets awareness was rolled out across print, out-of-home and digital platforms. Amongst others, MAGGI Korean noodles was also launched catering to the diverse consumer preferences. We remain steadfast on our RURBAN journey by creating infrastructure, portfolio, feet on the ground and opportunities for penetrating new geographies. We expanded our direct coverage footprint crossing the milestone of over 200,000 villages. I often speak about Project Swabhimaan that has fostered entrepreneurial skills by upscaling and training women in rural areas has now scaled up to 25 states engaging with over 1,900 women entrepreneurs. We continue to make strides in digitalization and technology. The retailer self-ordering application or NESmitra as we call it, emerged as a game changer in RURBAN markets. This mobile application enables retailers to conveniently place orders, boosting engagement and overcoming challenges associated with difficult to access rural locations. It serves as a valuable complementary route-to-market solution streamlining processes. NESmitra success has been recognized within the Nestlé Global network as a model for driving operational efficiency and speed. I would like to point out that this will not substitute in-shop contact of the salesperson. Our salesperson will still need to get their line calls. They will still need to get their merchandising right. They will need to focus their portfolio-based approach and selling them, all of which is now enabled using our Multi Intelligence Data Analytics System or MIDAS. It turns data into insights. Insights into action. And action into results. It arms the sales force with the insights they need to become in-store superheros. Imagine a salesperson walking into a store knowing exactly what products to sell, what promotions to highlight and even any potential issues a store might have. That's the power of MIDAS. Dear members, I would like to devote some time to discuss our strategies for new vectors of growth. Nestlé Health Science is a significant player, globally. Known for impactful brands such as RESOURCE High Protein, Peptamen and NATURE'S BOUNTY which is a leading global brand in vitamins, minerals and health supplements. I am pleased to inform you that your company and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited, a respected name in the pharmaceutical sector have entered into a definitive agreement to form a joint venture to bring innovative nutraceutical brands to consumers. The JV company will be headquartered in Hyderabad. The partnership will bring together the well-known global range of nutritional health solutions as well as vitamins, minerals, herbals and supplements of Nestlé Health Science with a strong and established commercial strength of Dr. Reddy's in India. In the joint venture company, Dr. Reddy's will hold 51% stake and your company will hold 49% stake. Your company will have a call option to increase shareholding up to 60% after 6 years at a fair market value. Dr. Reddy's shall continue to hold at least 40% of the shareholding after the company exercises its call options. This alliance marks an exciting new chapter for us. We are embarking on this journey with a confidence that together we can effectively address some of the nation's most pressing health challenges. The synergy between our brand portfolios provides a unique convergence of relevance and resonance with consumer needs, thereby positioning us to accelerate our impact with these categories. Additionally, I am thrilled about enhancing our global footprint in the premium coffee market, NESPRESSO, which is already well established across approximately 90 markets with nearly 800 boutiques. We anticipate opening our first NESPRESSO boutique in Delhi by the end of this year, with further expansions planned across other major cities. This initiative represents a strategic drive towards super premiumization within our portfolio. As Nestlé continues to expand, the Indian market represents and will present substantial growth opportunities, underscored by our ongoing and brand joint ventures and robust capital expenditures. Dear members, I will now dwell on the second theme, which is the planet and take you through the initiatives that strengthen our sustainability journey. As you are all aware, the spectre of climate change is rapidly intensifying. Disasters that befall communities, society and citizens require urgent action. The United Nations Environment program is working towards tackling the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature, and biodiversity loss and pollution and waste. I firmly believe that corporations should not merely be observers, but active participants in addressing these challenges. Companies that have sustainability deeply ingrained in their organizational DNA tend to excel. At Nestlé, we are fortunate to operate within an organization where sustainability has been an integral part from its inception. Our commitment to sustainability is clearly articulated through comprehensive strategies that focus on climate change, sustainable packaging, sustainable sourcing and water. These sustainability streams are woven into the fabric of all our operations. These initiatives are all monitored. These are all resourced, and these are all measured. In India as part of our action plan, I preside over a dedicated committee working closely with team members who are personally championing various aspects of this vital initiative. I am pleased to inform you that we have made strong strides in environment sustainability by following a clear road map to address climate concerns across our value chain by increasing investments and addressing and regularly assessing the progress of environment reports. Let me provide some examples of our initiatives in India. One noteworthy endeavor involves our proprietary technology called ZerEau, Eau is the term used in French for water. The ZerEau technology harnesses the water present in liquid milk for factory maintenance and reduces our reliance on groundwater. Through the successful implementation of ZerEau technology in Moga and Samalkha factories, water extracted from milk is recycled to reduce groundwater consumption every year by approximately 20%, which is not insubstantial. We take sustainable sourcing and emissions reduction seriously. In my address last year, I have spoken to you about our bio-digester project. The installation of bio-digesters at the dairy farms, both large and small, efficiently convert animal waste into clean biogas. Depending on the size of the bio-digester they can be used to power dairy farm operations and for household consumption, thereby reducing carbon footprint of dairy farms. I'm happy to inform you that this project is moving from strength to strength. We have installed approximately 109 large bio-digesters and 3,325 small bio-digesters in 24 districts across Punjab and Haryana. We have expanded our renewable energy projects across all factories, resulting in a 55.9% reduction in emissions over the past 6 years, if you take 2018 as the baseline. Biomass boilers have been installed in Nanjangud in Moga and in Sanand factories for steam generation and GHG emissions reduction. The use of coal has been completely eliminated from 8 factories. Over the last 15 years, your company has on an average reduced energy usage by around 29% per ton of production, water usage by around 46% per ton of production, generation of wastewater by around 60% per ton of production, and specific direct and indirect greenhouse gas emission by 61% per ton of production. One of the things that I am particularly proud of is how we are using stubble briquettes in our Moga factory to build the biomass facility to reduce stubble burning. This would be our small contribution to the perennial problem of pollution in Delhi. Sustainability is an irrevocable part of our journey, and we remain deeply committed to it. I will now briefly touch upon the third theme, purpose and how we are enabling strong impact on communities. Dear members, by strengthening our commitment to being a force for good, your company has touched the lives of approximately 14 million beneficiaries through societal interventions in rural development, in education, nutritional awareness, water and sanitation, environment and livelihood. For instance, through the Nestlé Healthy Kids Programme, we are promoting healthy lifestyles among adolescents and parents across India. Launched as a pilot unique program in 2009, it has grown significantly, reaching over 600,000 adolescents and 56,000 parents in 26 states and Union Territories. The program equips adolescents with the knowledge and skills to make informed choices about healthy eating and active living. It demonstrates the significance of physical activity as a key component of a healthy lifestyle, promotes responsible plastic-based management practices, and encourage parents to support their children in adopting healthy habits. Let me give you another example of social intervention whose impact has grown exponentially since we spoke last year. Project Vriddhi was launched in collaboration with the SM Sehgal Foundation in 2019 with the vision of strengthening community-led development in rural areas. The project expanded to include 9 more villages, bringing the total to 14 and impacting around 18,000 beneficiaries. Project Vriddhi has made a significant impact by improving access to clean drinking water, promoting water-saving irrigation practices, raising rural nutrition awareness, enhancing farm productivity, setting up a digital learning center and providing a better learning environment. The transformation journey of these villages has witnessed a multiplier effect on several developmental indicators and has empowered local communities to drive their own progress. I would also like to cite the example of Project Hilldaari. Over the last 5 years, my colleagues, NGO partners, municipal councils and local communities have worked assiduously towards developing resilient models for waste management across several tourist destinations, diverting waste from landfills, professionalizing waste workers, digitalizing systems through streamlined waste management and inspiring behavioral change. Sure, I would like to celebrate the indomitable spirit of one of the participants, Usha Tai. She has been a custodian of cleanliness and hygiene in the hilly terrains of Mahabaleshwar for over 30 years. Motivated by an unyielding desire to provide her daughters with access to education and a better life, she became a waste worker and became a part of Project Hilldaari, transforming her own circumstances and becoming a role model for her children. Through this initiative, she realized the importance of health and hygiene and now actively advocates for menstrual hygiene and proper nutrition within her family. I would like to now dwell upon the fourth theme, our people: diversity, talent and generation shift. Dear members, fostering a positive organizational culture is vital for achieving excellent outcomes. A sense of belonging, where employees are fully seen and heard, necessitates a blend of environment, respect and dignity, which is intrinsic in bolstering diversity and articulating the aspirations and ambitions of our heterogeneous team. Women are growing steadily in leadership and are part of the succession plans. I'm proud to inform you that we have one of the highest representations of women in the FMCG field sales force and have also seen an increase in the number of women in managerial positions. We were recently recognized by The Economic Times Edge as one of the best Organizations for Women. We have also recruited 27 people with disabilities in our pursuit of fostering diversity, equity and inclusion and many of them on the production line in manufacturing. Our diversified team encompasses vibrant streams of thought, fuels innovation and creativity. So be it, Antra Verma, who 2 years ago, joined our Gurgoan office and is part of our foods team or Vivek Pradhan from our sales team has been with Nestlé for over 28 years or Onkar Sharma, who works as an operator in our Samalkha factory in Haryana or Narayanan Ramamurthy from our Corporate Affairs team in our Chennai branch who has been with us for over 27 years. From the most remote corners of the country to the youngest Gen Z employee, people with different skills have all collaborated to create a symphony of Unison in bringing to the fore, purpose and values in action. A sensitive, empathetic, compassionate, coherent organization delivers consistently better performance than a fiercely competitive but a less compassionate organization, and that is my firm belief. Lastly, I would like to spend a few moments on the fifth theme. This is an essential part of our business and entails investing in longterm partnerships. Longterm partnerships are fundamental to how we do business. We recognize the importance of collaboration and have built a strong network of partners. This includes over 280,000 farmers; 4,600 suppliers; 10,000 distributors and redistributors and 5.2 million retail outlets. This network along with 9 factories and 22 co-manufacturers and co-packers produces high-quality products, while delivering exceptional value to our consumers. For instance, Shobha Verma, who is a 47-year-old Swabhimaan entrepreneur has a grocery store in Balakram Purwa, a village constituting 250 residents in the Bahraich District of Uttar Pradesh. Prior to this, she was a stay-at-home mother often helping her husband a sugarcane farmer. Her grocery store has Nestlé products such as KITKAT, Munch, Nescafé, Maggi Masala Magic and Everyday, from the store, Shobha manages to sell products worth INR 12,000 to INR 15,000 each month. When continuity, sustainability and trustworthiness of relationships are established over time it creates a strong ecosystem of partners. Before I close, I would like to reiterate that by combining the power of our brands, meticulous planning, astute implementation and outstanding execution by a diverse team of employees, partners, suppliers, distributors and retailers, your company has delivered performance with pride. With incredible opportunities and brand strength before us, I firmly believe that we must seize the moment and exceed our own expectations. The potential lies ahead and together, we will navigate this journey with integrity and purpose. You've all been very patient in listening to me, dear members. And I would like to close with some good news that would be on your ticker, if not already, but very soon. I'm happy to share that the company has declared an interim dividend of INR 2.75 per equity share this morning. This will be paid along with the final dividend of INR 8.50, which means INR 11.25 per share will be declared at the AGM. The total dividend paid will be INR 11.25 per equity share. I hope this is in the spirit of [Foreign Language] as far as this AGM is concerned. I would like to conclude with the timeless words of Mahatma Gandhi, "the future depends on what we do in the present." I can assure you, ladies and gentlemen, at Nestlé, we are committed to these words, committed to the cause and committed to ensuring that consumers, each day, each time are fully satisfied with whatever they consume of Nestlé. Thank you very much for your time and for your attention. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to especially thank you, the shareholders for the support and confidence in the company over the years. Thank you very much. I will now take up the notice of the 65th Annual General Meeting dated 12th June 2024, together with the audited accounts and Board's report for the 15 months financial year ended 31st March 2024, which has been duly sent to the members by e-mail and public notice published in newspapers as stipulated. The auditor's report for the period in review does not have any qualifications, observations or comments on financial transactions or matters which have any adverse effect on the functioning of the company. In view of the same, there is no requirement to read the auditor's reports. Your company provided members with the remote e-voting facility on the AGM agenda items from 5th July 2024, starting 9 a.m. to 7th July 2024, concluding 5 p.m. E-voting facility is available during the meeting. And as mentioned in the notice, at the end of the discussion, on the resolutions on which voting is to be held which will be electronic voting using the e-voting platform of NSDL for all those members who are participating in the meeting but have not casted votes by availing the remote e-voting facility. The icon for e-voting is available on the top of your screen, which will redirect you to the e-voting portal of NSDL. The e-voting facility is active and will be closed during the closure of the meeting. I will now proceed with the agenda as per notice of the 65th AGM with 3 ordinary business items listed as agenda items 1 to 3 and 4 special business items listed as agenda items 4 to 7. Agenda item 1, for the adoption of audited financial statements of the company for 15-month financial year ended 31st March 2024, including the balance sheet as at 31st March 2024, the statement of profit and loss and cash flow statement for the 15 months period ended on that date and the reports of the Board of Directors and auditors thereon. Agenda Item #2 for the confirmation of payment of 3 interim dividends and declaration of the final dividend for the 15 months financial year ended 31st March 2024. And Item #3, for the appointment of a director in place of Ms. Svetlana Boldina the DIN number 10044338, who retires by rotation and being eligible offers herself for reappointment. Agenda Item #4, ordinary resolution for the ratification of remuneration of M/s. Ramanath Iyer & Co, Cost Auditors, Firm Registration Number: 000019 appointed as the Cost Auditors by the Board of Directors of the company for the financial year 2024, 2025. And agenda item #5, special resolution for increasing the borrowing limit up to INR 2,000 crores over and above the aggregate of the paid up equity share capital, securities premium and free reserves of the company. And agenda item #6, special resolution for the appointment of Mr. Sidharth Kumar Birla DIN number: 00004213 as an Independent Nonexecutive Director of the company with effect from 12th June 2024 and to hold office for a term of 5 consecutive years that is up to 11th June 2029. And finally, agenda Item #7, ordinary resolution for approval of payment of general license fees by royalty by Nestlé India Limited to licensor at the rate of 4.5% net of taxes of the net sales of the products sold by the company as per the terms and conditions of existing general license agreement, effective from 8th July 2024. This being a virtual AGM, there are 3 ways in which members can ask questions on the AGM agenda item. First, members who have preregistered, I repeat preregistered as a speaker at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting as the designated investor e-mail, address of the company as mentioned in the notice of the AGM. Secondly, members who have submitted their questions 48 hours in advance of this meeting as the designated investor e-mail address of the company as mentioned in the notice of the AGM. And finally, members may during the meeting, post messages on the communication box available on the screen. So members have missed preregistering as a speaker or submitting questions in advance, they can also ask questions by posting messages on the communication box available on the screen. I would request Mr. Pramod Kumar Rai to then collate these questions and share with me after I take up the questions from the speakers and e-mails received by company. I now request Inba to invite the esteemed members who are preregistered in advance as a speaker in the order of their request received by the company for pre-registration. In the interest of time, I would request all speakers, and this is a humble request from me to restrict their question to a maximum of 2 to 3 minutes. We will respond to the questions asked by the speaker and then take up the question from the next speaker.

Thank you, Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now begin the question-and-answer session. I now invite our first speaker member, Mr. Raju from Delhi. Having client ID-10079634 to unmute your microphone and speak.

Hello.

Yes, your audible, sir. Please go ahead.

[Foreign Language]

Thank you, Mr. Raju. Thank you very much for your kind words. [Foreign Language].

We now invite our speaker #2, Pramod Kumar Jain from Delhi, having client ID-10082531. We've unmuted your audio connection. Mr. Jain, please go ahead with your question.

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language]

We invite our next speaker member, Mr. Rajesh Keval Ramchanani from Maharashtra having client ID-62620907. Sir, you may please unmute your connection and ask your question.

Hello am I audible, sir?

You're audible Mr. Chanani, go ahead.

Respected Chairman, Suresh Narayanan ji, Mr. Satish Srinivasan ji and a very highly distinguished Board of Directors, my fellow shareholders, my name is Rajesh Chanani and I'm speaking from Vile Parle, Mumbai. Sir, first of all, thanks to our, company secretary Mr. Pramod Kumar Rai ji for sending me the e-mail notice very well on time, sir. And he has done a very good secretarial job, sir because secretarial department is a link between the shareholders and the management. So that has been done very nicely, sir. And I thank you for the dividend, sir, today, it was declared at INR 2.75, I suppose is the final dividend. Sir, my query is that the promoter holding is 62.76%. So SEBI has permitted us for 75%. So are there any plans for the buyback to increase the shareholder -- the promoter holding to 75% because now the face value of the share is INR 51, so I can't ask anything more than that, except that my previous shareholder has said. So I would be repeating that, if possible in future, you can come out with the bonus, sir. And sir, Ms. Suneeta Reddy is very lucky, sir. The Reddy's are very lucky. She is the head at Apollo Hospital. So I could never meet her because she is in Chennai. So last year, I got the opportunity to meet her at L&T AGM and Mr. AM Naik has retired. So very happy to see her at the Board also. And sir with the hard work and dedication, your presentation was excellent, sir. All the questions are replied in your speech only. And just for the discount coupon, my previous shareholder has said that Apollo Hospital, sir, they give out 20% on the pharmacy, on the medicine. So you can also come out with some innovation. And I have few words, sir. For the future because the coming month is of the festival. So for you and also I'd like to say [Foreign Language]. With this, I have supported all the resolutions. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak sir.

Thank you, Mr. Chanani. In your poetic mood, let me also give you back Kabir Dohe [Foreign Language] but let me answer it very quickly. I think the majority holding that is held by Nestlé, which is at 63%, there are no intentions at the moment of any kind of increase in that. I think there's an active participation that is sought by the group also in local shareholding. We do realize we have a responsibility. To the shareholder, we are a much sought after share. We are a much valued share, and we would like to keep it that way. So at the moment, there are no plans at all. On the other question of yours, dealing with the bonus, et cetera, if you don't mind Mr. Chanani, I will answer it along collectively, since I presume there might be more such questions coming up as well. But thank you very much for the respect and for the honor that you have given me. Thank you.

We now invite our next speaker member, Mr. Manas Banerjee from West Bengal with client ID-10357629. Sir could you please unmute your video and audio and ask your question.

I am audible, sir?

Yes, you're audible Mr. Banerjee.

Good morning, everybody. Honorable Chairman, sir, present Board members and my online co-shareholders. I am Manas Banerjee joining from Kolkata. Chairman, sir, I wanted to express my heartfelt appreciation for your speech at this AGM. Your vision, leadership are truly admirable. I would like to commend our management team for their exceptional financial performance, which has resulted in a robust cash flow and impressive financial returns. I really appreciate the management in terms of consistent dividend policy and our company's CSR policy was excellent. Now I have some queries, sir. Number one, sir, I would like to know about our pet care division. How are you thinking about ramping up that with a long-term view. My second query, sir. What would be the share of digital space for us as a percentage of total? And my final question, sir, as we know, that is a significant inflation in some of our input cost. Do you feel that you are at the end of those pricing actions now at the portfolio level? or you still feel there are certain areas where you will have to take significant pricing to mitigate some of the margin pressure. Before I conclude, I convey my gratitude to our respective Company Secretary and his full team for rendering a very good investor service. That's all from my side. Thank you for patient hearing. Over to you, sir, for next proceeds.

Thank you. Mr. Banerjee. Firstly, my deep gratitude to you for conveying your complements and your congratulations to my secretarial team. I think they do a fine job. And typically, as always happens, if they get things right, it is attributed to accident. If they get things wrong, it is attributed to their incompetence. I'm very happy that you are giving acknowledgment for the competent services that they are providing. Your questions are very specific. So let me very quickly deal with them. Pet Care, you're absolutely right, Mr. Banerjee, it is a large opportunity. We are looking at -- we've got a small presence at the moment. A sub-5% market share. But with the market itself being quite active and robust with more than 30 million pets, which are also growing your company has got clear advantages in terms of portfolio and in terms of competence to be in this market being one of the world's largest pet care companies. So there are -- there is at the moment a project that is on to really look at how we can ramp up this business. You will hear more about this, but clearly, it's an area of promise as far as the company is concerned. Coming to digital spends, while it's very difficult for me to give you an overall number on digital spend because it varies by category and by brands. In some categories, it would be at about 20% of total spends, in certain other categories, it might be closer to 50% of all spends. This is really on the consumer journey that we follow. But you're absolutely right in asking this question because digital today is, number one, I mean there was a time when digital was a last vector as far as the marketing mix was concerned. Today, it is one of the first things that we do, and it is an area of considerable expertise of the company as well. Coming to inflation, I must tell you, Mr. Banerjee that food inflation continues to be high in this country, if the overall headline inflation is at 4% to 5%, food inflation is at least twice that, in our own mix of commodities, the two commodities that give us the most sleepless nights are really coffee. The coffee prices, bean prices are up by almost 60% in the last two years that leaves cause for concern and also cocoa prices are also going up significantly across the world. These are the two commodities where there is concern, but I'm really, the strategy of the company has been consistent for the last nine years at penetration-led volume growth, we believe in getting to more number of households with more number of brands and increasing their frequency of purchase. So we will try and mitigate as best as we can. Any price increases additional that might come up. So at the moment, that is the effort. But if things become unrelenting, we'll have to revisit our strategy. But at the moment, other commodities are fairly stable. So thank you for your question, Mr. Banerjee and appreciate your interest in the company. Thank you.

We invite our next speaker member, Mr. Kaushik Narendra Sahukar from Maharashtra, having client ID#18690797 to speak. Mr. Sahukar, you may unmute your audio and video connection and ask your questions now.

Respected sir and distinguished guest, it is an honor to stand before this esteemed gathering today. I extend my heartfelt gratitude for the Board for granting me opportunity to be part of the important event. Today, I raise up three questions that are essentials in understanding our company's position. Our involvement in competitive landscape, how does Nestlé maintain its competitive edge in such a dynamic environment, both innovative product Nestlé introduced or plan to introduce in this increasingly competitive world. I believe that more the company invests in R&D, the stronger it's domain becomes positioning it as a leader in industry. Can we continue to trust the resellers of massive business model? And how can the company ensure that shareholder's value remains intact. Additionally, what is the demand for our product compared to previous year, what is our current market share in both rural and urban markets? Is it possible to boost the revenue of our product without incurring additional advertising expense. I believe we can achieve, built by distributing samples of new product to our shareholders who can then recommend this product to others. This massive chain of word of mouth advertising and consumption increases, significantly boosting our revenue while saving on traditional advertising costs by investing a small amount in this initiative, we can potentially gain substantial returns. Before I conclude, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the entire secretary team of connecting me and granting me the opportunity to be part of such a memorable event. Additionally, I request the support of the company associating with me in the area of certification audit including Form 15CB. I believe CSR means helping the needy at crucial time, where they approach the company for help. And I am confident that Nestlé carries this vision and commitment to support those in need. I'm sure that the management might be busy with other important work. And may have missed my earlier request. I urge company to take some time and provide, maybe the opportunity to work with Nestlé, helping me to lead a life with dignity. Finally, I propose utilizing the substantial savings from the virtual mode of this meeting for benefit of shareholders. This could involve arranging the site visits for shareholders or issuing a token like a mug of coffee that you are taking a sip, even that would be okay to shareholders during festival. Furthermore, I would greatly appreciate your assistance.

Mr. Sahukar, sorry to interrupt. Could you please promptly finish your question? Sorry, there are many people waiting.

Just last line. Furthermore, I would greatly appreciate your assistance in facilitating an introduction with the auditor for potential engagement in professional endeavor, given our profession affiliation, I'm confident that such a conversation would be mutually beneficial to both parties involved. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you so much.

Thank you Mr. Sahukar. Thank you for your questions. I think on your personal quest for connecting with the CSR team and with your expertise in audit, kindly get in touch with our company secretary, drop him a mail, and we'll try and see how we can help. I think it's always the endeavor of the organization to try and help as best as we can. If you are not able to immediately Mr. Sahukar, I kindly take it as something that we have tried our best efforts, and we'll keep it in mind. But may not be immediately fructifying, but that's something that we can look at. Coming to the competitive edge of this company, I mean, this is India's largest listed food and beverage company. I think we have brands, we have technologies and we have expertise built over years more than 100 years. In the last eight years, almost 140 new products have been introduced. About 6% of our sales come from innovation. There is a constant upgradation of each part of our portfolio. The RURBAN trust that I talked of in my address is one of the key vectors of growth of the company, and we will look at strengthening this over the years and in fact, have had good response coming in from our Tier 2, Tier 3, Tier 4 towns where Nestlé brands are today present. That itself will give us economies of scale once we are able to penetrate these markets, and that's something that we'll be looking at. In fact, as per your suggestion, we are conducting a lot of activation activities in the smaller markets. As you know, India is home to many hearts for village fairs. We are participating in almost 30,000 to 35,000 of these each year in order to propagate our products through sampling and through active engagement with consumers in these geographies. So I think the portfolio of the company remains strong. The reputation of the company remains strong. The zeal and the enthusiasm and commitment of the company remains strong and the consumer connects that we have has also been robust, and I'm truly grateful for that. So I think the competitive edge of the company would continue to be there. We are cognizant of competition, but we also know how to respond. So it's not that we are going to sleep at the wheel as far as competition is concerned. But thank you very much, Mr. Sahukar I sincerely appreciate the questions and the issues that you have brought to this meeting. Thank you very much.

Our next speaker member, Mr. Prabhjot Singh Saini from Delhi had registered, however, not connected. We will, therefore, move to our speaker #7. That's Mr. Santosh Kumar Saraf from West Bengal with client ID 10080328. Sir, you may please go ahead and ask your question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait a moment to while Mr. Saraf unmutes his connection.

Hello. [Foreign Language].

Mr. Santosh. Sorry to interrupt. [Foreign Language].

[Foreign Language].

[Foreign Language].

Thank you. We invite our next speaker member, Mr. Manoj Kumar Gupta from West Bengal, having client ID 04657156 to speak. In the interest of time, we request you to restrict your question to a maximum of two to three minutes.

Good morning, respective Chairman, Board of Directors fellow shareholders. My name is Manoj Kumar Gupta. I have joined this meeting from my residence in Kolkata. Sir, I feel proud to be a part of Nestlé India and I feel proud to see our Chairman, and I thank the company secretary and the Board. I thank you and your team and the team of management for the excellent results of the company for year '23, '24. This account staged for 15 months, we have changed the accounting year from December to March. So excellent dividend. [Foreign Language]. I feel proud that there is [indiscernible] in our Board from Calcutta. That peoples of Calcutta feel proud that one of our responsible person in the reputed company in the Board of reputed company of the one in India. So sir, [Foreign Language]. Everything is right. Just like [Foreign Language] all companies should give in bold letters about the salt and sugar quantity in their product. [Foreign Language]. So what's your future plan with CapEx and sir, is there any plan for greenfield projects? [Foreign Language]. Now you are #1 in packaged foods, and #2 is ITC. So I wish to god that you should remain #1 in the packaged food category in the country, sir. And I thank the company secretary and his team for helping us join this meeting. [Foreign Language].

[Foreign Language].

Thank you, Chairman. We'll invite our next speaker member, Ms. H.S. Patel from Maharashtra with Client ID 00018446. So please unmute your microphone and ask your question.

Hello. Good morning, sir. My dear Chairman and eminent Board of Directors, I'm Mrs. Patel over here from Mumbai. I would first like to draw your attention. First, I would like to thank -- I'm not thanking your company secretary at all, but I'm definitely thanking the agency that is we see now. They have rang me up and told me that Nestlé [Foreign Language] will you speak. Sir, Chairman, sir, specially and all other directors, please listen. I have not received the annual report. It is absolutely not even once in the whole year, your secretarial department never rings up. It is only at the AGM time that you'll wake up and then you realize that, oh, AGM has come. Now we have to talk to shareholders, [Foreign Language]. We are putting our hard earned money in the company. Analysts people are given value. The investors people are given value, but we are not, small time shareholders are not valued at all by your company. You're supposed to be #2 in the world. This is where -- this is how in India, you'll work. Once in a year, AGM is coming and your company secretary has no time. Okay, I can understand for company's secretary. But there must be other people also in the secretarial department, no, can't he instruct them that now AGM is coming, ring them up, ask them, what it is, how it is. Nothing, no courtesy for shareholders. It is very, very shameful for me to talk this. I would not have talked this, but it is because of this, we see now I'm thankful to Adnan and I'm thankful to Inba for calling me up since yesterday, today and telling me about this. Without your book -- annual report, I'm unable to discuss any financials. And I do not know any status unless I look in the computer, only then I can come to know there are other meetings also. So, it is not possible for me to do that. Anyway, I am really very much a little annoyed also, but I'm very thankful to the company for giving very good products. I do not know if I'm wrong, please do correct me. Is the share price 92.56 today, as what I find from the computer, your products are also very good, coffee products, your curd, A-plus card, Millets, Milo, Milkmaid, your Masala products, all are really very, very good. Sir, I would like to draw our attention Nestlé coffee. Are you'll going to come out with the tea especially the ready-made tea, I'm talking about ready-made tea, like how we have ready-made coffee like that ready-made tea, especially Masala tea has come. Various things have come. Ginger tea, masala tea, then various other flavors. Is Nestlé thinking about coming out. Are the Board of Directors interested in coming out with the various products, please do throw some light on it. And please, I'm also a shareholder because I'm in Bombay, I'm not -- this is the 65th AGM and I do not have your annual report. It is very surprising. I get reports from Calcutta, Calcutta companies, Bangalore companies, why this Chairman -- this company secretary has not taken pain to send me one? Okay. I can understand he is very busy person. Is he only the person working in the secretarial department? No. There is investor department, there is secretarial department, there is corporate communication department who are only eager for the analysts, they are only eager for the investors. And then they forget about small.

Ms. Patel. There seems to be no response coming in from Ms. Patel's connection.

Let me reply. Firstly, thank you very much for joining. You have been a regular at our AGMs, and I do recognize you and do appreciate very much and respect all the views that you have. My unconditional apologies if you have not received the annual report. Over 420,000 shareholders have been communicated the AGM. The annual report electronically. And I think, unfortunately, if it does not to you, my sincere apologies for it. There is also the shareholder contact program. We have now 450,000 shareholders. So Madam, it will be humanly impossible to contact all 450,000 of them because we have to treat shareholders equally, it will not be fair to only deal with some and not deal with the others. However, your grievance is noted, and we will try and see how we are able to resolve this as far as the future is concerned. Your suggestions on the -- and in fact, I've just been confirmed that the physical copy of the annual report by registered parcel has been sent and it has been acknowledged at your end, but maybe you didn't have the time to read it. So I would really like to ensure that next time your given the full opportunity to read the report so that you are able to participate in this meeting board wholesomely. Coming to your questions, I think, thank you for your comments on the quality of Nestlé products. That's what we strive to do. Quality, safety and consumer resonance is really the reason why Nestlé is where it is. And your suggestions on the tea business. This is not a core competence of the company, the tea business. We are more a coffee company, that's where we have dominant -- not dominant, but certainly a strong expertise in terms of technology and in terms of products. But nevertheless, your suggestion is taken on board, and we will try and see how best we are able to provide the tea products. We already have them in our vending solutions, but not really on the retail market. But it's something that we could look at. But once again, my apology to you in case you felt that you are not attended to, but my only humble request to you is that there is -- it is a very difficult task to contact personally 450,000 shareholders even if I have an army of people in the secretarial department. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Chairman. We will now move to our next speaker member, Mr. Yashpal Chopra from Delhi with Client ID 10592847. He would like to speak on audio. So may we request you to please unmute your microphone and ask your question. In the interest of time, you may please restrict your questions to two minutes.

Hello. Can I do my audio also. I don't want to waste my time, I have joined.

Yes, Mr. Chopra, please go on.

It looks like Mr. Chopra would now be coming on...

Myself Yashpal Chopra, shareholder from Delhi. I'm a shareholder for the last more than four decades, I'm a shareholder. And I had bought the shares that when the face value INR 10 per share was available at INR 250, I'm a shareholder of the company since then and I have been a regular, regular speaker on all AGMs and I am proud of our Mr. Suresh Narayananji and the team. I must compliment the management that for the excellent, excellent results we have given this year, there has been an all-round growth in the performance whether it is revenue, PBT, PAT, ROCE and even dividend has been investor-friendly, so I'm very much proud of that. But I before proceed further, I must compliment the outgoing directors [indiscernible].

Mr. Chopra to save your connection bandwidth, I'm making a video.

[indiscernible]. Hello, any problem?

Could you repeat the last few sentences you spoke, please?

Yes, yes, yes. I said that I welcome Madam Sunitha Reddy, the strong visionary lady from the strong father, Dr. Reddy. She is going to be a very, very big asset for this -- the growth of our company. I'm very much proud of that. Sir, I'm proud of the management as they are having a regard for the women empowerment, And of the eight directors, four are the lady directors. This is a very good thing. It is a matter of prestige. This is complying with the desire of our Prime Minister. Sir, but I would like to find out the gender that -- what you call gender ratio among the employees, that I would like to find out, that you can state as one of the queries, just to proceed further, I would like to congratulate the management for the new factory at Odisha because that will be a broad step to cater the eastern part of our country. So this is a very, very big thing, sir. Sir, you see that I'm proud of the corporate governance over here. I requested for a copy of balance sheet. I received 240 pages of balance sheet. That is an excellent document, containing what you call tables, graphs, and photographs, just going through that balance sheet that gives you a sense of solace. That is a very big thing, and I would rather request the management to send that balance sheet for the competition, so this is a very good thing. Sir, every year I have been coming with one or two food of thought and you have been kind enough to consider to that. If you remember, in 2015 AGM, I said that you dispense the costlier celebrities like Amitabh and Madhuri and all that and you accepted and that was a very, very big saving that our company made by just avoiding those costly celebrities, so this is a big thing. Sir, then I have been requesting for Star Split in almost all AGMs. You have considered to do that thing. So this is a matter of pride for us that you consider our request. So I'm very much say happy over there. But now as it is said, [Foreign Language]. So many people have just requested for bonus. So I'm also a person in that line, you can also add my name also in that line that I will never like that I should be denied from this corporate action. Further, sir, our company is not a small company. It is now not only on the map of India, it is Pan world map. So I would like to find out the share of foreign exchange earnings among our revenues, this is -- that was very soothing, that we're putting in Bhubaneswar. Sir, as regards the future of the company, I can say with a very, very big confidence that this is very bright because now you have entered even the rural area -- even these rural areas because that is the area where now the people purchasing power has been enhanced by our Prime Minister, that is the area where earlier, the people were just thinking these products, and just consuming these products is a matter of big prestige. So now they are also the consumer. So this is a very big thing that you have taken an entry even to the remote areas of the rural and all that. And further, the efforts of our government for creating new highways infrastructure and particularly that the operations through digital payments and all that, that is excellent, that is giving so big facility as far as the consumers because then that will be definitely, a big, I can say, factor to our revenue, to our growth, our company sir. Sir, and regarding e-commerce, you have said that the progress, you have made an excellent progress of 6.8%, but I just want to find out what efforts you are making to enhance that because there is a requirement, because generally, now the people while sitting at home, they just call give a ring to Amazon, they give a ring over there. Now the culture has changed. Now that people don't go for the bargaining. They don't waste their time. Wasting in one market or other markets. So this is -- now the times have changed so we must take full advantage of that. Madam, Please hold. Please hold on. Yes. And sir, I would definitely wish best of luck to you. Your positive thought for implementing all those things which are the need of the hour. And before I sign off, I must compliment our corporate governance but at the same time, I will say, I have spoken to even your those deputies of our corporate department that they must distinguish between an S and horse, there is difference between S and a horse and those should not be treated at par and you should just honor those horses, which spent their time in reading all those 240 pages balance sheet, taking out the time and writing the secret, remembering the points and just representing all that thing. So you must have some consideration, some value for them. And as has been spoken by earlier speaker that at least you can send some discount coupons because that will not only be a investor-friendly gesture that will even otherwise that will just enhance your means -- marketing ability that will enhance your revenue and your sales portfolio and all that. So please. So before I wind up, I pray to God for the positivity for my entire team, for our dedicated visionary, Mr. Suresh Narayananji and the eminent professional team, around him. So I just offer my kudos for all of them and pray God for their long life. And I thank our corporate department for giving me a chance to speak and particularly to that interfering moderator that she just have some patience just to listen to a super senior citizen who can offer only blessing and blessing and blessing, so best of luck to all of you. Thank you.

Thank you, Chopra saab. It's always a pleasure and an honor to listen to you. I truly cherish your good wishes and your blessings. And I do -- I must sometimes, I do feel personally that at your stage of life, if I have the same kind of positiveness to life and to things, I think I'll be much better off and much blessed. Thank you. Thank you very much for your participation always, for your constructive comments always and for your encouragement to everyone in the organization. Yes, indeed, the people who have written the more than 200-page annual report deserve a lot of kudos. It is a collective team effort that makes it happen. And lot of people are involved in it, and I will ensure that your good wishes are conveyed to all of them. Just 2 big answers that I will give. You are very kind to mention about the gender diversity. I would like to add, Mr. Chopra, that the Board of Nestlé India is probably one of the most gender diverse in this country of a listed board. I don't -- I can't think of very many boards, which has 50% of the Board as illustrious women, people who contribute tremendously to the organization. Even the outgoing Director, Dr. Swati Piramal made a huge contribution to this company as did Mr. Kanoria in what they did. So we are -- I'm truly blessed to have an outstanding Board and I'm deeply grateful for their contributions. Two big answers to your question. One is on foreign exchange earnings. For the 15-month ended 31st March 2024, Mr. Chopra, the company earned INR 6.2 billion or INR 622 crores, INR 6,216.9 million to be exact. It is on Page 238 of the annual report. That is the foreign exchange that the company has earned out of its export operations. E-commerce continues to be an area of focus for the company. We have taken it up to 7%. For your information, 5 years ago, 6 years ago, it was 0.7%. So it has multiplied itself quite significantly. And as the journey to quick commerce moves in this country, Nestlé is also in lockstep and will ensure that we are able to meet the requirements of the consumers. On an overall gender balance, because you asked this question, apart from the Board, about 16% of our employees, between 16% and 18% of our employees are women. One of our factories, which is in Sanand is 60% women. The factory that's going to come up in Odisha will also be 60% women. We are also looking at different abilities. So as I mentioned to you, 27 people have been with different abilities, largely hearing impaired and motor impaired have been recruited by the company in manufacturing and in services, and it is my endeavor to enhance this as we go forward because they also deserve a decent life in this country. And I think companies have to step forward to it. So I would leave it at that, but thank you very much, Mr. Chopra. As always a pleasure and privilege hearing from you, and I'm very deeply grateful for your blessings. Thank you.

We request our speaker shareholders to please restrict your questions to a maximum of 2 to 3 minutes. We'll take our next speaker member, Mr. Vinod Motilal Agarwal from Maharashtra with Client ID 10678714.

Respected Chairman, Mr. Suresh Narayananji; our CFO, Svetlana Boldina; our CS, Pramod Kumar Rai. Sir, regards to everyone. We started at 10:30, now it is 1 hour 41 minutes my time has come. So I think so you should take up all the queries together and answer them together, sir. This way, when you are answering each and every speaker one by one, it takes a lot of your time also and the speaker's time also who are at the end of it. And even the directors who are sitting out there, it takes up their extra time also, sir. Please, this is my request, you can follow your system of having one query this thing or if you have them consolidated, you will save a lot of time for all the directors, all the people who are there participating. There will be many more speakers after me also, sir. But I'll be brief, sir. Sir, our revenues of INR 243 billion, our PAT was INR 39.8 million, and our return on net worth was 108%, which is very good, sir. And our retail reach was 5.2 million retailers. I appreciate all that, sir. My 1 or 2 queries, sir. We have got a lot of agronomist helping the coffee planters and the milk producers and millet people also. So I'd like to know, are we planning to help cocoa growers in Kerala for growing cocoa internally, so we don't have to depend to a large extent on Ghanan cocoa or other West African cocoa. This is my one. We can develop -- agronomist can develop some cocoa plantation in Kerala. Sir, I'm glad that India has become the largest market for Maggi in the world, and KITKAT has become the second largest. So now cocoa goes into this KITKAT. And I would like to congratulate you, Mr. Chairman, Suresh Narayananji, for receiving Business Today Award and The Economic Times Award, as mentioned on Page 58 and also Madam Svetlana Boldina for being conferred the best CFO of a large company by Financial Express. These are the personal awards given to you by very prestigious organizations, which is -- I appreciate them for that, sir. Sir, there are also other awards mentioned, but these are the more prestigious ones. On Pages 58 to 61, there are a lot of awards, but these are the more prestigious one which were to be named, sir. The statement in the annual report about the CapEx to be done of 7,500 between 2020 and 2025. I'd like to know how much CapEx has already been done from the 7,500? And how much is spending until '25? That is just about a year next? And it would be better if you give the target for the next 5 years until about 2030, that would have been a better target. Now 2025 is a very near-term target. And we are also opening a 10th factory at Mundaamba, Block in Odisha. I'd like to know what will be the -- it will definitely help our revenue growth. But what are the targets that you are targeting for the revenues from this, INR 1 billion, INR 2 billion, what will be? We already have INR 243 billion of revenue. So what will be the target of revenues from this particular factory? And also, you're also going to launch Nespresso this year. Any targets for this also we like to know? And I am glad that you have to spend more than the obligated amount of INR 597 crores in the CSR, you spent INR 685 crores, which is INR 88 million (sic) [ INR 87 crores ] more than the actual amount that you wanted to be spent -- mandated to spend, it's highly appreciable, sir. And on Mr. Sidharth Birla's side, we meet him in Expo -- I'm a shareholder of Expo, so we attend that meeting also. I congratulate him to become a shareholder of the company also, director in our company, I welcome him sir. Thank you. Signing off. Vinod Agarwal from Mumbai. And on the annual report side, sir, my annual report has been dispatched on 5/7, that is on Friday. And I have not as yet received it. I had to go and read it through my small handset device to find out all these figures. So it becomes a little difficult to go through handset, but then if I have to speak, I have to go through the handset mode also. And I'm sure the annual report is in transit, but it has not been received by me as yet. It could have been dispatched earlier on my request, which was much earlier. Thank you. Signing off. Vinod Agarwal from Mumbai.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Agarwal. I thank you for your suggestion on combining all the questions. It has been my personal style to try and answer as much personally as possible, but I do appreciate that a lot of the questions are repeated. So therefore, in your own questions, if I have your permission on the CapEx amount and on the Odisha plant, these are the 2 main questions that you had. I will defer it to the end in terms of answering the questions. On the cocoa plant, I think we do have -- we don't have activities as yet to promote using agronomists for cocoa because for us, still the economies of scale do matter in this, but it's an area that can be examined and that can be looked at. So this is where I would leave it at. But your question on the CapEx spend and the balance amount, I will leave to it at the end because I -- this question has also come up before. So thank you. Thank you for your questions. And I appreciate your interest in the organization.

Thank you, Chairman. We would now invite our next speaker member, Mr. Prakashini Ganesh Shenoy from Maharashtra, having Client ID 12451107 to speak.

I'm Prakashini Ganesh Shenoy from Bombay. Narayanan sir, [Foreign Language] Respected Honorable Chairman and the dignitaries on the Board and my fellow shareholders, good afternoon to all of you. I received the annual report well in time, which is colorful, transparent, knowledgeable, informative and contains all the informations as per the corporate governance. I thank Mr. Pramod Kumar Rai for the same. The Chairman has given a wonderful picture regarding the company and it's working in all parameters. Thank you, Chairman, sir. I'm glad to note that the company is doing outstanding work in the field of CSR during the year. At the outset, I'm thankful to the Board for recommending the dividend for the financial year '23, '24. Chairman sir, congratulations personally to you for getting many awards for the year. Sir, I have few questions. My first question is, what is our strategy on achieving year-on-year growth in the market penetration? My second question is, how do we adopt digital technology to increase productivity? My next question is any new product in the kitty? If yes, please name. My last question is, how are we planning to increase revenue in the future? Last but not the least, Chairman, sir, my personal request to you is please continue with VC so that people all over will have an opportunity to express their views. Sir, I'm very proud to be a shareholder of Nestlé India Limited. I wish the company good luck for a bright future and pray God that the profit of the company shall reach the peak in due course. Chairman sir, I support all resolutions put forth in today's meeting. Thank you, Chairman, sir.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Prakashini Madam. Thank you very much for the enthusiasm and the trust that you have in the company. I'm deeply grateful for it. You have asked questions on how we plan to continue the revenue growth of the company, how we plan the digital engagement. The new projects, I think we talked about some of them in my speech on the joint venture with Dr. Reddy's and Nespresso, and on Petcare, these will be the 3 major projects apart from the regular core that we are working on. And this will, in fact, cement the revenue. So what I will do if I have your permission is to be able to answer some of these questions as part of the consolidated questions. I thank you very much for congratulating me on awards. My greatest award is -- reward is the trust and the respect of shareholders and of the team, and that is really what I strive for each day. Thank you very much.

We'll invite our next speaker member, Mr. Sarvjit Singh from Delhi, having Client ID 02090517 to speak.

Chairman sir, first of all, good afternoon to you, all the Board of Directors, all the staff of Nestlé India Limited and my co-fellow shareholders. Chairman sir, [Foreign Language] Thank you, Chairman, sir.

Thank you. Thank you, Sarvjit ji. Thank you very much for your involvement, and thank you very much for your comments. [Foreign Language] We respect competitors. [Foreign Language] We have gained market share quite significantly. But we have to focus also. [Foreign Language] Dahi is geographically focused. [Foreign Language] And also, it is enjoying the premium customers, which we are continuing on a consistent basis. [Foreign Language] using advertising and using other means. So that is the thing. [Foreign Language] Thank you.

Our next speaker member, Mr. Hiranand Parshwa Kotwani from Maharashtra, having client ID 18811084.

It's a great pleasure to join you. Namaste to all from Kalyan. Certainly, I had some bad experience from Delhi register company, but our company is good on the compliance issue, let me congratulate. [Technical Difficulty] You see some other company. Let us come to the point. This gentleman has narrated whole theory, little room to us and the company is doing well. But certainly, I will ask that capacity utilization at Haryana and Punjab plant, what are utilizations? And you said that women organization, women [Foreign Language] can you narrate that how many cases are reported, sexual harassment cases in our organization? And how do you dealt with them? Last question, I will not waste time because already so many things have happened and you have narrated so many things. And my question is already answered. Sir, particularly just capital utilization, a new plant with Dr. Reddy. How are our initial investment, capital outlay and what the products and yield will come after a certain year? What time gestation period would it be? Is it coming from internal accrual or other routes, please narrate. Joint venture with Dr. Reddy, how much amount you are initially going to invest from our organization? You said percentage wise, the actual amount you are going to invest and how much time it will take to complete? The fruit will come. As a new innovation, what product will come? Thank you and good luck from Kotwani. Thank you, gentlemen, and to all.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kotwani. Thank you very much for your excellent questions. I will deal with it in a consolidated manner because some of it are on capacity utilization, women's empowerment, POSH related issues and investment in Dr. Reddy's, which will be of interest to many shareholders and the joint venture is something that I will deal with it finally as part of the questions. But thank you very much for the questions that you asked, and I appreciate your interest in the organization. Thank you.

We will now invite our next speaker member, Mr. Manjit Singh from Delhi with Client ID 10907641 to speak.

Nestlé India team, management team, my co-shareholders, [Foreign Language] Thank you for the...

Thank you, Manjit ji. Thank you very much. [Foreign Language] Thank you.

We invite our next speaker member, Mr. Gagan Kumar from Delhi, having client ID 11044542.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Board of Directors and fellow shareholders. Sir, [Foreign Language] Our CS cannot deal with all the shareholders. He has lots of work. So if any gentleman or lady has any query, they just write a mail, and they will get the replies suitably. So I'm very much satisfied with your answer. And not only with CS, our secretarial team, like Mr. Duggal and Madam Priyanshi, they have done an excellent job. So I'm fully satisfied. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gagan Kumar. Thank you in the interest of not making it good evening. I will take your questions, which is on value creation as part of my general response. But thank you very much for your kind words also on the secretarial staff and agreeing with some of the observations that I've made. Thank you very much.

Our next speaker member, Mr. Gaurav Kumar Singh from Delhi having client ID #10099233 would like to speak on audio connection.

Respected Chairman sir, Board of Directors and fellow shareholders, good afternoon to all of you. My name is Gaurav Kumar Singh, joining this AGM from New Delhi. So first of all, I would like to thank our Company Secretary and the entire secretarial team for this excellent arrangement and also for giving me the opportunity to express my views on this platform. Sir, I'm a proud shareholder of this company for more than 25 years and I attended many physical AGMs in Delhi. And it was really wonderful to be a part of this company. Sir, also I'm extremely satisfied with the performance of the company. Sir, most of the questions are already covered. Still I wish to know, first is, what steps have been taken by the company to reduce our legal cases? And second is as we see, there are many products of Nestlé in our CSD canteen and our Maggi is most selling product among them. So are we planning to add some more products to our CSD canteen for defense personnels and their families? Third and last is, do we have or planning to have any diabetic friendly products again? Sir, as far as the agenda of this AGM is concerned, I support all the resolutions along with all my family members. And once again, I wish to thank our CFO, Company Secretary and his entire secretarial team for maintaining high standard of corporate governance. And in the end, I wish a bright future for the company, and great health for all of you. Thank you, sir and Jai Hind.

Thank you. Thank you, Gaurav. Thank you very much for your kind comments, and I think I will take your comments on the portfolio in the concluding remarks. On the CSD canteen, I think this is a consistent process that we follow of registering products there. As you know, there is a fairly elaborate procedure and rightly so, of presence in the civil market before it is registered on CSD. We are taking that and expecting that in full cognizance, but you will see more products of the company being registered with CSD and our armed forces and their families are very, very important and very respected consumers of ours, whom we will strive to serve as best as we can. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Chairman. We'll invite our next speaker member, Mr. Devender Kaur from Delhi having client ID# 01967391 to speak.

Chairman sir, [Foreign Language] Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Thank you, Devender. [Foreign Language] Thank you.

We invite our next speaker member, Mr. Ankur Chanda from Haryana with client ID #10914729 to speak.

Sir, I just want to say that our corporate governance is too good. [Foreign Language]

Thank you, Mr. Chanda. Thank you very much for your question. I think geopolitical issues [Foreign Language] Again, thank you very much for your question, and thank you very much for your confidence. Thank you.

Thank you, Chairman. Our next speaker member, Mr. Sandeep Singh from Delhi. I think he has already spoken along with Mr. Devender Kaur. We will therefore move to speaker #21, Mr. Praful Chavda from Hyderabad. He had registered sir, but he's not connected. So we'll move on to Speaker #22, Mr. Dharav Jamadar from Gujarat having client ID# 63691948.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Dr. Dharav Jamadar, and I'm speaking from Surat, Gujarat. First of all, I would like to congratulate each and every stakeholder of my company on performing tremendously well in this particular fiscal year. It has been a challenging year in various aspects. Our raw material prices have been high in many aspects, and there have been disruption in supply chain also. But our company has performed tremendously well on that aspect also. So some of my questions, which I would request you to answer that. First, industry-wide, there has been various price hikes across many HPC categories and in couple of F&B categories. So do you see necessary price hikes to be taken in because of various volatile macroeconomic factors like high inflation rate, interest rate, et cetera. And if yes, don't you think that the rise in rural demand -- the rise in demand due to rural recovery will get impacted because of it? Second question for FY '2020 and '25, which had a CapEx target of INR 7,500 crores. Can you please enumerate in each project, how much amount has already been spent and how much amount of CapEx is yet to be done? What would be the capital structure in this CapEx and what shall its impact be on our ROE? Third, with respect to JV with Dr. Reddy's lab in innovating and developing nutraceutical brands in India, can you please share what is the contribution of this business segment in our revenue? And how much amount of improvement are we targeting through this JV? How many quarters will it take for it to signify some significant synergy to happen? And in order to have this JV play a robust role in developing a new product line, what amount of CapEx can we expect from our company in this JV? Fourth, in this year, we conducted a slump sale of national business services, which in itself was indulged in a quite unique business supporting activities and services. So what was the rationale behind it and the amount received of almost INR 798 million? Will it be utilized in CapEx for now or will remain in general reserves? Next, with respect to hike in royalty, supposedly, if the hike was passed through, how much impact would it have on our bottom line? And can we expect the same kind of proposals for changes in royalty this year too? If yes, then in order to maintain the same amount of ROE and margins, how much growth would be required in our top line, so that the numbers remain the same? Last question. As we are seeing there's a huge boom in the AI in various industries, how will our company and industry get influenced because of rise in AI worldwide and in India itself? Thank you, sir, for providing this opportunity.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jamadar. Thank you for your questions. I think I will take questions on the CapEx and on the revenue target of JV and on the Nestlé business services, India consideration that has been received as part of the final section, and I will be requesting my CFO to answer it at that stage. The royalty proposal, I think what is there on the table now, which is there for voting is no change in terms of what the proposal was in the past. So therefore, there is unlikely to be any impact as far as the overall margins are concerned because the percentage remains exactly the same as what it was before. And on AI, I think there is a whole section in the report on -- in the annual report on the use of Midas and also in my own speech there have been references to the use of analytics and technology. AI is very much a part of it in both informational and especially on the predictive analytics, it will be used quite extensively, which is part of the digitization plan of the company. So I'll leave it at that, but thank you very much for your question. Thank you.

Chairman, there are 2 speaker shareholders, Mr. K. Sadanand Shastri firm Karnataka and Mr. Jaswinder Marwa from Delhi. They were supposed to speak, however, they're not connected to the meeting. We will move to our speaker #25, Ms. Celestine Elizabeth Mascarenhas.

Respected Chairman, Mr. Suresh Narayanan, other members of the Board, my dear shareholders and VC, I'm Mrs. C.E. Mascarenhas, I'm speaking from Mumbai. First of all, I thank the company's secretary, Pramod Rai and his team for registering me and sending me e-annual report. I have not received yet the physical report. I'm just waiting because this is an 18 months report and registering me at my request. Now I come directly, I have to say many things on annual report as time is the constraint. So dividend INR 32.2 total per share is very good and EPS of INR 40.79 whereas 8 months before, it was INR 24.79, that means a good progress. I'm very happy. I'm very proud to be a shareholder of this company. And now I congratulate for all the awards and applauds received, which are already in our annual report and also CSR work, which has done very good. I really recommend and I really hope more and more companies do like the CSR work. Now my queries, sir. You also said about the ESG, you have stopped using the coal completely, which is -- I am very happy because this spoils the environment, but we have to use because of all, whatever constraints that is going on. Sir, my question here is that ESG, have we done rating? What is our rating score? And whether it is listed on any ESG dedicated platform? Could you just share some thoughts on it? Now second one, we have 8,900 employees. What is the attrition level because these are all young people, that is what I understood in the annual report. Now third one is we have 9 factories. I would like to know what is the average capacity utilization of these factories and the 10th factory will be set up in Odisha, work is going on. So when it will be fully operational? Next year, '25, '26? Now we have many, many products and popular brands. But I would ask -- means not the market share, market share already you spoke out of KITKAT, which is second number. But my question is, what is the margin we enjoy on this? And what about getting liqueurs chocolate, sir? When I go abroad, I see that Edinburgh liqueur in the duty-free shop. So have you got some thoughts on it? Now I come to our coffee. You know, when my coffee, my Nestlé's coffee, which is costing INR 12 is not as strong as strong as the other private coffee, which I get, this is on the railways. I asked them INR 20. This is much strong. We look out for very strong coffee, sir. Because we are all south people, and we like South Indian coffee. I think you are also maybe south, I don't know. But if you take the coffee from Indonesia, Malaysia or even Dubai, you get big those sachet type, so $1, $2 like that in Dubai, in dirhams. So like this, can we look out for something? Now I come to the JV with Dr. Reddy, will enhance the valuation of both the companies. How much it will -- by this JV, how much it will add to our profit? Any more JVs in the pipeline like with Apollo Hospital or anything, could you throw some light or color into it? Rest, there are so many more people after me. So I restrict -- I have lots to ask, but I just cannot because this is a virtual meeting. So I support all the resolutions. I wish Nestlé all the best so that it will grow from strength to strength. And one day, we will become not #2 or 3, will become #1 in the world, not of India, I'm telling of the world. So with this, I end up wishing you all the best and the whole team. And especially as an elder, I wish you very good health because health is supposed to be wealth. So with this, I end up and I give it to Mr. Mascarenhas, he's also registered because doing connection become sometimes difficult. Thank you so much. God bless.

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

Sir, please do.

Respected Chairman, sir, very distinguished members of the Board and my fellow shareholders. Good afternoon to you all. My name is Aloysius Mascarenhas. At the outset, I thank the management for giving me this facility to speak, which I long for. I'm a very senior citizen, 75-plus and a shareholder of 45-plus, 45 years old. I am holding these shares both in physical and in demat form. Now my question is, first, I'll give my personal question, and then I'll go off the report because the report is excellent. Our results are mind boggling. Our dividend is very good, INR 32.20 against INR 22. Our 10-year highlights are very good, shows the financial growth of our company on a year-to-year basis and PBT, PAT, everything is good. CSR is good and working is good. Now my personal question, sir, is that I'm a senior citizen, I'm suffering from many ailments. And my -- I've sent shares for demat, first for KYC with your RTA and it is lying in cold storage for so many months, which is becoming a bit repetitive more than 6 months, I'm not getting any response. And now my shares are blocked. And not only blocked, my dividend is blocked. Imagine, on 500-plus shares, physical shares, I don't get any dividend. I live on dividend, sir. So it's really pitiable I've to undergo total knee operation, I require the funds. So please help me in this regard because the RTA is not sending any response. So I have bought the shares, even the split shares, which I want to demat it. I will send it to your office so that you can direct them. So along with that, again, re-KYC forms and split shares, I'll send it to your office, which you please see that it is demated and my dividend, which is locked up is released. Sir, this is my problem, and I plead with you, sir. And rest everything is very good. We are going in the right path, and I wish -- and on foreign exchange, we are having export with Canada, U.S., Australia, New Zealand, all those countries. So I would like to know what revenue we are getting by export in dollar terms because dollar is rising and rupees is falling. With this, sir, I again pass on the mic to my wife.

Sir, I have 1,000 shares. Please help me to demat. I'm just struggling and struggling because I don't take -- I just look after my health more because I am telling you I sincerely believe health is wealth. I tell my husband also don't get worried and upset, your blood pressure is rising. Sir, you people, management and the secretarial must help us with this outsourcing, which has been done for demating and all that, so they are giving us a lot of problems. Sir, please, you at the industry level or whatever level you take up and don't harass the senior citizens who in their younger age invested in these shares because we had faith in certain companies. Not only this, I have others. Tatas also told me, we'll give you whatever help you want. So I seek your help, your whole management team help in demating my shares, so that I get my dividend. Now the dividend will go in the EPF account. And there, we are -- and we don't know much of online work. This is too much, and that's why I said, I must talk -- he is saying -- he was talking so I said, I have 1,000 shares, I'm stuck like anything. So please you do the necessary thing, and you do at industry level, government level and see that we get our monies in this old age of ours. With this, thank you so much, and I wish you all. May the company go strength to strength. Thank you once again.

Thank you. Thank you, madam and thank you, sir, Mr. Mascarenhas for your very kind words on the company. And also, I was -- I must say that I completely empathize with you on the demating of shares and also on the problem that you're facing. I'm sure my company secretary and his department, which has also heard this will look into it and definitely try and assuage your grievance. It is fair. You have invested in it in your youth. And I think such investments come to fruition only when you're in your senior status, and that's something that we certainly will look into and ensure that there is every attempt made to assuage your problem. You had a few questions on employee attrition and capacity utilization. Employee attrition, the company is blessed with relatively low employee attrition, less than 10% at this stage. I think we try and create a conducive work atmosphere. And despite having almost 80% of our employee strength as Gen Z and millennials, we still managed to keep them going with the company. Capacity utilization, the typical trigger for capital investments in the company is anything above 80% capacity utilization. Some of the investments that you're seeing now are because the current capacity utilizations are more than 80%. The new factories, of course, which are being put up, they will start clocking in the capacity utilization only later. Just one point, Mr. Mascarenhas for the information that we have and you may kindly verify that there is no unpaid dividend in your current demat account. Kindly check it. If this is not the case, then kindly get in touch with Mr. Pramod Rai so that the necessary clarification can be done. But thank you very much. It's always a pleasure hearing from both of you. And kindly, my request to the almighty is to keep you in good health and in good spirits. Thank you.

Thank you, Chairman. We will now invite our next speaker member, Mr. Jasmeet Singh from Delhi with client ID 10148339 to speak. [Operator Instructions]

Please allow me to switch on my video. I appreciate your confirmation on this. A small disclaimer. I am attending this meeting, virtual meeting along with 8, 9 other shareholders. We are a group of shareholders, and we all share the common thoughts and opinion what I'm going to speak here now. We have not registered individually as speakers so as not to choke the meeting lines. Moderator allow us a minute or 2 more in case we don't wrap up our note in 3 suggested minutes. [Foreign Language] Now respected Chairman and decorated Board, I'm glad, we are glad to see another year of double-digit growth. It's a consumption story, and I'm sure our leadership team would be working not only to retain the market share and at the same time, will relentlessly work to increase it. I want to acknowledge the continuous profit sharing quarter-on-quarter. The dividend announcement of INR 10, INR 11 per share today in this meeting itself is highly appreciated. Thank you, Chair. The detailed presentation given by you is highly appreciated. It's privilege to hear you as always. Heartening to note a new venture in collaboration with Dr. Reddy's Labs. We all will be keenly watching the progress in this case, in the coming months and quarters. We welcome on board the directors who have recently joined Nestlé family and attending the meeting for the very first time, especially Madam Reddy and Sidharth Birla-ji. Now our observations and questions. First of all, we would like to acknowledge the splitting of shares, which was a long-time demand of us, shareholders. The share got split when the market price was INR 25,000. I hope to live the day -- we hope to live the day healthy enough when our INR 1 face value share will quote INR 25,000. Please do not consider increasing the share equity capital till the share price reaches INR 25,000. For last several decades, Hindustan Lever (sic) Hindustan Unilever, Colgate, another MNCs have not issued any bonus shares and so do we -- and so do we should not till our price reaches a milestone. Secondly, based on your assurance and words given by you, Suresh Narayanan-ji. In the previous AGMs, we collectively as shareholders wanted to meet you in November, December last year 2023 and reached out to the secretarial team, but could not progress for our meeting. This was least expected. Now we all request you in this AGM itself to spare some time for our meeting at your convenience time anytime soon. Now a couple of quick questions on R&D. What is the percentage of our revenue is allocated to R&D? And how does it compares to the industry standards? Also, can you share any significant advancements or breakthroughs from our R&D efforts in -- especially in the pet care. On CSR, I appreciate our contribution to various projects. A couple of years back, I requested in my note that our NGO is regularly conducting free food camps, we call it Langar. And I requested to contribute you all, whichever way possible as we also aspire to put up Maggie Ka Langar in collaboration with Nestlé. Now just to wrap up, it's on record when you stated last -- during the last AGMs that we will consider to conduct the physical AGMs in the coming years. To conduct the physical meetings or by virtual mode is an open advice by MCA. It is not a directive to conduct the meeting virtually only. Since year 2020, when the first meeting was conducted by our company virtually, you said on record and in every meeting subsequently in '21, '22, '23 that you wish to interact continuously with the shareholders in physical meetings. And this is very ironical. Scores of investor analyst meetings, 5 meetings in this year itself in 2024 and many more to come have already taken place physically. So today, as we have technology, which can support a hybrid meeting where we can assimilate physically and at the same time, shareholders connect across the globe. We are the leaders in every which way, and we should -- and we would like to take the leadership role in this as well. Thank you, everyone allowing us to interact with you all. Thank you for the patient hearing and yes, so this is to end my note, thank you once again. [Foreign Language]

Thank you, Jasmeet Singh-ji. Thank you very much and not only you, but also the shareholders that you represent. I thank you very much for the cordiality, for the respect and for the confidence that you have in the company. I think as regards to holding of the AGM is concerned, it is still in active consideration. If there is a possibility for us to have the physical and the virtual both combined because there is a lot of demand for virtual as well because of the extent of participation because people from outside Delhi typically do not come physically for these meetings. So we will definitely examine it. And I can assure you Jasmeet Singh-ji that if there is a possibility, we will definitely hold in joint form. I too like to interact with shareholders as best as I can. And similarly, your own request for a meeting. If there is a specific agenda that you have got, which entails my involvement, I'll be happy to meet and you can be in touch with the Company Secretary on this particular aspect. On R&D expenses, as you know, R&D is not a single expense of Nestlé India. There is an R&D center, which has been set up by Nestlé S.A globally, which is based here in India. Part of whose mandate is to develop products for the -- for our company. It develops for other parts of the world as well because it's a central facility. So if you look at our P&L and balance sheet, there will be no R&D expense as such because we are not conducting R&D as Nestlé India. But taking the benefit of it globally, which is why we also have part of the royalty consideration coming out of the R&D facility. But I must add that some of the benefits of the R&D clearly has been felt both in the category of foods and in the category of nutrition. Some of our premium, value-added nutrition products are R&D based, are nutrition science based. We don't have the capability to develop them internally in our organization, which is why we have to depend on the R&D support. The total R&D expense of the company globally is about CHF 1.7 billion or close to $2 billion. And we get the inputs from the global R&D as far as our categories are concerned. So this is a robust relationship that you can count on for the future as well. On the CSR expenses, indeed during COVID times, we had spent almost 1/4 of our CSR expense on outreaching to people on the food programs. If there is something interesting, I know the nobility of the Sikh religion in terms of contributing to people during stress times. Please do send in whatever details you have and we will try and see and I give you my assurance we will try our best to see how it can be incorporated as part of the programs of the company. But thank you very much for your kind attention, and thank you very much for your cordiality and for your respect. I thank you very much.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we request you to please remain connected. Chairman, I would like to just pause the meeting for a moment. We'll be right back. In the meantime, we request you to watch the videos. [Break]

Welcome back shareholders. The company secretary has confirmed that the quorum of the AGM is present. We request Chairman to proceed with the meeting. Chairman, we will now move to our speaker #28. It is from Sushil Arora. [Operator Instructions] Mr. Sushil Arora from Haryana with Client ID 03553370. [Operator Instructions]

Respected Chairman, sir, and all the Board of Directors and all the Secretary team and all my shareholders. [Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language]

We invite our next speaker member, Mr. Karam Singh Arora from Haryana with Client ID 03785696. [Operator Instructions]

Respected Chairman sir, Board of Directors, secretaries and all the team concerned with the AGMs and all the fellow shareholders [Foreign Language] Sir, please take this in your notice at the time of festivals [Foreign Language] And once again, very, very congratulations on the 65th Annual General Meeting. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Karam Singh-ji. [Foreign Language]

Thank you. We move to our next speaker, member, Mr. Kamal Kishore Jhawar from Andhra Pradesh having Client ID #13472606. [Operator Instructions]

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language] Thank you very much for also endorsing so strongly our esteemed Director Mrs. Suneeta Reddy. I think it's very important that the Board of Nestlé India has people of the highest caliber, and you can be assured of it. And I thank you very much for your comments. And yes, my apologies for making you wait this long. But if you have to attend to people and if you have to give them the respect that you deserve, unfortunately, it will take a bit of time. My apologies, thank you.

Thank you. We now invite our next speaker member. Mrs. Subhash Kar from West Bengal with client ID 12462717. [Operator Instructions] We'll move to our next speaker member, speaker #32 Mr. Rakesh Kumar from Delhi, client ID #00010225 to speak. I request the speaker shareholders to restrict their questions to a maximum of 2 to 3 minutes. [Operator Instructions]

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language] Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker member is Mr. Jaydeep Bakshi from West Bengal. His client ID is 36203908. [Operator Instructions]

Very good afternoon, Chairman, MD, Board of Directors through this video conference. Myself Jaydeep Bakshi connecting from the city of Kolkata. Initially, thanks to our Company Secretary, Mr. Pramod-ji, for giving me an opportunity and to the entire secretarial department and to our moderator for conducting this video conference in a smooth manner and also maintaining good investor service from the secretarial department. Sir, your initial presentation was very much informative and descriptive one. Congrats, once again for the good performance and also thanks for the total dividend you passed on of INR 11.25. Congrats for having the largest market globally through the Nescafé and the Maggi and also the launching 140 new products and sales touching double digits. Sir, what is the steps for new innovative products for enhancing quality of life for all and new offerings to tailor to evolving market? And what is the progress regarding our 10th launch of our factory at Orissa. And how much has been the contribution to our revenue from the e-commerce section and plans to counter the input cost as food inflation is on the rise and any chance of any price point increase like that or changes like that? Sir, we are having Nestlé kiosks at many locations. Kindly spread this under the CSR activity on the walkways to the different pilgrimage site so that the people who are coming -- going for this pilgrimage, they can enjoy this and have a boost to their energy. And what is our strengthening our distribution network plans for our Tier 2 and 3 cities? And what is our spending on the media exposure? How much is it? Can you share this and application for AI for smooth distribution network and last mile delivery. And congrats once again for the CSR activity and also for the awards which boosts our -- all the employees who are associated with us and kindly highlight with -- though it has been highlighted, the joint venture with Dr. Reddy. And, sir, I'm a regular consumer of our products. I'm really satisfied with it. And thanks to all involved for bringing the products into our doorsteps. And I have supported the resolutions and congrats for once again for the reducing the carbon footprints and also the water management and also the maintaining the sustainable growth. And wish the company grow in the higher parts in the coming years and with its power bands and unlocking healthier and happier lives and delivering good life and good food. Thank you, sir. [Foreign Language]

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bakshi. Thank you very much for your participation, and thank you very much for your very kind words on the -- of the strategy and way forward for the company. Let me -- some of the questions that you've asked are in the nature of common questions on innovation and on the new products of the company and what we seek to do to make a difference. On inflation, you asked right question. As I mentioned earlier, I think coffee and coco are the 2 items which are really causing us concern in terms of the price evolution. The company itself has a very strong and robust cost avoidance program not effectiveness but cost avoidance program so by which we reduce the cost, which gives us almost 1.5% to 2% of net sales each year. And so we are trying to mitigate our cost increases, which are fairly sharp. As you know very well, Mr. Bakshi food inflation is almost twice the normal headline inflation. So we're trying to mitigate as best as we can. We evaluate it very, very judiciously because penetration-led volume growth is the core strategy of the company. If it really breaches the boundaries that we have is when such price increases will be taken, which I do hope will be minimal not to impact the growth engine of the company. But thank you very much for your questions and much appreciate your confidence in the company. Thank you, Mr. Bakshi.

Thank you. We invite our next speaker member, Mr. Vimal Jain from Delhi having client ID #10131690 to speak. [Operator Instructions]

Thanks. Good afternoon, Chairman, sir, the board of Directors and fellow shareholders attending this meeting all over the world. Thank you to the secretarial department for inviting me to this marathon which started in the morning and still is going on in the afternoon. [Foreign Language] Thank you very much and thank you. I would like to say thanks to the management for splitting the shares so that our liquidity has been increased drastically. And thank you very much to the management also for giving us good profit which stands around INR 393 billion in this financial year which is, I think, if we compare with the 12 months, it is almost more than 30% in this year. All this happens due to the hard work of the management and also of the marketing team. [Foreign Language] So thank you very much to the marketing team. [Foreign Language] See how would you reward your shareholders during this financial year? Can we expect a mega dividend during this financial year in '25? Thank you very much for the staff and the whole team of the secretarial team. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Thank you, Vimal-ji. Thank you very much for your patience. My apologies for a fairly long AGM. It's because I want to ensure that you are given your voice and that your questions are answered. And that it's once a year, I owe it to you, I owe it to the shareholders of this company to spend the time and to spend the energy and to spend the diligence and it is my privilege and honor and I do hope you don't mind the time that is taken. I think I thank you for your observations on the company and on the prospects of the company. It continues to be strong. The foundations of the company, the value systems, the ESG and the other aspects that make this a great company continues to be strong. And I hope that with the help and support and the blessings of all of you, it will continue to remain strong. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Chairman. We now invite Ms. Kanika Jain from Delhi with Client ID 67258083. [Operator Instructions]

Good afternoon, Chairman, sir, all the Board of Directors and the shareholders joining this meeting and if they are still connected with the meeting. So sir, first of all, I would like to say there has already been a time for this meeting that it has been 3 hours. So I don't have many queries left. I just want to say that can we shareholders get a good factory visit or plant visit? Can we expect that, sir? We'd love to have one. And also, I would say that I have already supported all the resolutions. And I would like to thank the secretarial department for sending me the link to connect in this AGM and also sending a reminder link this morning as well and also contacting regularly to make sure that I was able to connect through the link. Thank you, sir, for that.

Thank you. Thank you, Kanika. Thank you very much for your goodwill. Your questions, I will take it, if you don't mind, at the end as part of the general question and answers, but I thank you for your commitment, and I thank you for your support for the company. Thank you once again.

We'll take a next question from Mr. Chetan Chadda from Delhi having Client ID #00010073 to speak. [Operator Instructions]

I'm really thankful to the entire secretarial team and moderator for giving me the chance to speak with you. Myself Chetan Chadda. I'm joint shareholder. Also with me Vishwanth-ji. [Foreign Language]

[Operator Instructions]

[Foreign Language]

Mr. Chadda, thank you for your comments. [Foreign Language]

Thank you, Chairman. We will now move to our next speaker member. [Operator Instructions] We invite Mr. Dipankar Purkayastha, who is speaker #37 from Delhi with a Client ID 09417188 to speak.

Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity. I had already sent in a mail containing the question which I have. So I hope you have received those questions.

Yes.

Okay. So as a supplement to that, I just have 2 more questions. First is in this JV with Dr. Reddy's lab. It says that you will have a call option after 6 years which will be exercised at fair market value. So my question is, when you say a fair market value, would it be the market price prevailing on that date? Or will an assessment of the fair market value be done by the valuers? Second question on the JV is that, does Dr. Reddy have a put option in this JV? Just as you have a call option, does Dr. Reddy have a put option? So these are two supplementary questions to the other list of questions which I already sent in my mail. I have two suggestions to make as a consumer cum shareholder. During this last summer, which was a very torrid summer, there was a very good consumption of your iced tea and cold coffee. In cold coffee, you have a very wide range of flavors. In iced tea, you have only one flavor, and that is lemon iced tea. I know that you are primarily a coffee company. But if you see the iced tea product, your competitors have a wide range of flavors and not just lemon. So please think about introducing more flavors in your iced tea product. Second is, with the rising income levels in the country, you have been consistently saying in your AGMs and other communications that you will be introducing more and more premium products as time goes by. So one suggestion is, when would you introduce the After Eight range of peppermint chocolates? That is one suggestion. Third suggestion I have is that, as of now, you don't have any one point where a complete catalog or listing of your products is available for consumers. We have to depend on your distributors, many of whom are not aware of the complete range of products. Your website are scattered across 4 or 5 different product ranges. You have one website for chocolate, one for coffee, one for something else. So could we have one common listing or catalog, as you may say? Because your direct-to-consumer website is only for a curated range of products which you sell in Delhi and Bangalore. So that doesn't give the complete range of products. So if you could do that. And finally, I have one feedback to give on the way the video conference is conducted. I sent in my request as a shareholder on the 24th of June without any questions. Immediately thereafter, very promptly, the organizers or the event managers, Chorus Call, called me up and said, "We want to do a site verification." I said fine, and the site verification was done. I sent in my list of questions on the 30th of June because my initial mail was just a request to register me as a speaker without any question. 30th June, I mailed in my list of questions. After 3 days, I again get a call from Chorus Call saying that we want to do a site certification. I told them, "You have already done a site certification." They kept on arguing. I said, "Please check." Finally, they checked and it transpires that I was registered twice as a speaker shareholder, once when I sent in my request mail and second when I sent in the list of questions. Since obviously, one shareholder can't be registered twice, what they did was to strike off my first registration and put me on the basis of the second registration. This kind of thing, you should avoid. That's all that I have to say. Thank you again for the opportunity, and I'll wait for the specific replies to my questions.

Thank you. Thank you, [Foreign Language]. Thank you very much for your questions and for your interest in the organization. I think -- I thank you for your comments also on the portfolio of the company and for the positive remarks on the cold coffee range and the cold tea range. Certainly, there is an evaluation being done on how much we can do in the Nestea range. We have only one at the moment, but we are also adding a second and a third one in due course. So you will see more action there. On the chocolates area, there is actually a lot of innovation that is being planned in the core brands of the company, which is KitKat, Munch, Classic and Milky bar. Your evaluation on up rate will be carried out. I think one of the issues we have is in terms of the product stability on the shelf in the very hot and temperate climate that we have in India, but that's something for us to resolve. But needless to add, I think it's a premium product, and certainly our efforts will be high there. My apologies for the inconvenience caused to you. I don't think it was intentional. Our company secretary will examine this once again to see that such dual verifications are not carried out, which inconveniences the shareholders. My apologies for it, but we will attend to it. Thank you very much.

Our next speaker member is Ms. Savita Rani from Delhi having client ID number 11044559.

Myself: Kumar, joint holder with Savita Rani. Almost all questions are covered. I just want to ask one thing, that how much shares of our company is transferred into IEPF fund? And what our company does to relieve those shares to the specific shareholder? Second question is that are we planning to open any exclusive Nestlé store that -- where all the products under the one roof, we can get. These are the only two questions. And I hear from so many people about they haven't received balance sheet and all that, but I have received balance sheet all the time -- at the time, got the call from secretarial team by Mr. Jugal as well as Madam Priyanshi Vajpayee. And they also confirm me about my speaker link and all that. So thank you so much to the CS and entire secretarial team. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, sir, for your question. I just want to quickly answer your question on the transfer to IEPF. As per IEPF rules during the year '23-'24, a total of 8,152 equity shares were transferred in respect of which dividend had not been paid or claimed for 7 consecutive years. And as on 31st March, 2024, 48,261 equity shares were transferred to IEPF in all, in total. So that's the statistic as far as the IEPF is concerned. And on your other suggestions, also, we will -- Mr. Purkayastha has already talked about a composite site which gives the entire listing of products of the company. We will examine that to see how it can be -- how we can enable consumers to come online to get a full idea on the product portfolio of the company. But I think it's a good suggestion that we will take forward and see how we can implement it.

We now invite our next speaker member, Ms. Rama Jain from Delhi with client ID number 10003504.

Am I audible?

Yes.

Good afternoon, Chairman, sir, Board of Directors and all the shareholders attending this meeting. I'm joining from Delhi. Sir all my questions have been raised by previous shareholders. So I have no query. And if I will still have any query, I will send it by e-mail. So I already have casted my vote, and I support all the resolutions of the company. Nothing to say. Thank you so much, sir.

Thank you, madam. Thank you very much for your comments and also for your faith in the company. I thank you.

Thank you. We invite our next speaker member, Mr. Mahinder Bal Gutani from Delhi with client ID 00063771 to speak. We also request our shareholders to please restrict their questions to maximum of 2 to 3 minutes.

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language]

Thank you. Our next speaker member, Mr. Narinder Singh Chouhan from Delhi had registered, however, has not connected. We will therefore move to our next speaker, Mr. Aspi Bamansha Besanya from Maharashtra having client id 10213155 to speak.

Chairman, sir, directors and shareholders. Sir, I am Aspi from Bombay. Chairman, sir, thanks for giving me an opportunity to speak and express myself. I'm a proud shareholder of Nestlé. Sir, please, I request the moderator to mention the speaker number because you have to wait for 3.5 hours to get a number. And in between, even if you log in, you don't know what number is going on. And I've been requesting in every meeting, but the moderator, I don't know for what reason, they don't want to mention the speaker number. So please insist, otherwise, change the moderator next time. So then coming to the chocolates, I like Amul chocolates and not your chocolate because they become very soft during the monsoon and especially in Bombay, where the Amul chocolates don't become so soft. Even 5 Star becomes soft. Display your products in annual report with name of the product, just now some products only displayed, but display the name also. So in Chairman's speech, you mentioned that we are one of the cheapest Internet. After the current increase in price, are we still one of the cheapest? Sir, when you say one of the cheapest, you should also consider the speed. India, the speed is not that fast unless you pay a high amount. Sir, why don't you try to increase the groundwater level? This will reduce the heat in the cities especially. So then 7% from online sales, our sales are coming 7% from online. So how much percentage do you expect in 2 years' time? So how are the prices in online and off-line? Sir, I welcome JV with Dr. Reddy. I have high respect for Dr. Reddy. I am a shareholder for more than 2 decades, although no bonus. So in Chairman speech, you didn't try to justify 4.5% royalty. The 4.5% looks very much on the higher side. Can we get reduction in royalty when there are problems like what happened in Cerelac, Maggi, all those things? Please, I request the moderator not to mute me when you are responding. So if there's any problem, I can always come back. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Besanya. Thank you very much for your suggestion that we should announce the number of the speaker. I think it's important, so that if you join midway, you know at least where you are in the line. My apologies for the time it takes. I think we have a slightly different format in that we try and answer as best as we can to individual queries, giving you the respect as an individual shareholder. But some people tend to go out of track and cover things which are not meant to be part of the agenda for the AGM. But that, I have to leave it to the discretion of the shareholders in the interest of fellow shareholders. I think your suggestions are absolutely valid. I have not checked on whether the rates would still be comparable after the increase -- recent round of increases have taken place. But still, the gap is fairly high. On KitKat, the product, this is a tropicalized product. We are doing as best as we can. But if there is an improvement that can be done to the cold storage conditions, we will certainly take a look at it. And your other suggestions that you've made is taken on board, and we will come back to you with what we think can be implemented. Thank you very much, Mr. Besanya.

Thank you. We will now invite our next speaker member, Mr. Atanu Saha from West Bengal having client ID 12863390, to please unmute your connection and ask your question. Mr. Atanu Saha? Requesting Mr. Atanu Saha to please unmute your connection and ask your question. There seems to be no response from his line. Yes, we'll move to our speaker #44. Mr. Praveen Kumar from Delhi had registered, however, has not connected. We will move to speaker #45. That's Mr. Ashish Shankar Bansal from Maharashtra. His client ID is 00164334. Mr. Bansal, you may please unmute your audio and video and then ask your question. We will wait for a moment while Mr. Bansal unmutes his connection.

[Foreign Language]

Yes, sir.

Respected gentlemen and Board of Directors. I thank the company secretary for conducting this AGM today. We seek a copy of annual report, if you can send a copy I am thankful to you. Next question. If you can arrange masala without onion and garlic, Maggi Masala, many people are Jain families, so we cannot eat it. If you can provide us, I am thankful to you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bansal. I think we will try and see that the annual report reaches you as early as possible. I think some action would have been taken. On your Maggi no onion, no garlic, it is at the moment sold in restricted geographies, primarily around Mumbai and Gujarat. But I do see that there is a larger coterie of people who would be interested in this product. And certainly, the product group, the marketing team, will take a look at it to see how we can extend it in a selective manner in different parts of the country. But thank you, Mr. Bansal. Thank you for taking the interest, and thank you for coming on the call. Thank you.

We now invite our next speaker member, Mr. Yousuf Younus Rangwala from Maharashtra having client ID 00232396 to ask his question.

[Foreign Language] Thank you very much. May God bless our company, sir.

Thank you, thank you. [Foreign Language]

Our speaker #47, Mr. Satish Shah from Maharashtra, had registered, however, has not connected. We'll therefore move to our speaker #48, Ms. Poonam Bala from Delhi having folio number 116065.

[Foreign Language] Thank you. Thank you so much. [Foreign Language]

Thank you, Poonam Ji. Thank you. Thank you very much. [Foreign Language]

Speaker #49, Mr. Mahesh Kumar Bubna from Kolkata had registered, however, has not connected. So we're going to reattempt the other two participants who tried speaking and we weren't able to hear them. I'm going to invite Mr. Subhash Kar to please unmute your connection, and you can then ask your question. Mr. Subhash Kar?

Am I audible?

Yes, sir.

Very good afternoon, everyone, respected Chairman, Board of Directors and my online fellow shareholders. Myself, Subhash Kar joining on Kolkata. Chairman, sir, [Foreign Language]. Sir, our opening remark is very optimistic for the performance of our company, current situation. Sir, I wholeheartedly support all the resolution. Sir, my sincere thanks to you and the Board for excellent performance of the company, current financial year. And I thank the Board for giving healthy dividend, and CSR activities are remarkable. Now coming to my queries. Sir, can you elaborate on our company's plan to expand its product portfolio in the market. Next year, what opportunities and challenges does the company foresee in the market? Last queries. Sir, what is the kind of CapEx that we are looking to do for FY '25 and FY '26? Lastly, my heartfelt thanks to well-experienced company secretary and the entire team for very good investor service process and registering my name as a speaker. Sir, nothing to add more. Thank you very much, and we wish you all the best.

Thank you, Mr. Kar. Thank you very much for your kindness and for your very kind words on the company. I do appreciate it, and I do appreciate your custom as a shareholder of the company.

Thank you. Chairman, we have one more participant, Mr. Atanu Saha. Sir, we've unmuted your connection. Could you go ahead with your question? Sir, it looks like your microphone is muted. Could you please unmute your microphone and ask your question?

Can you hear me?

Yes. Please go ahead.

Yes, yes, yes. Just a moment. Here, the time is noon. It has started from morning 10:30 and it's continuing, sir, give chance to shareholders voice. I'm Atanu Saha, I a shareholder of Nestlé India Limited. My respective Chairman, our Suresh Narayanan Ji, who is his 9th AGM with our -- as Chairmanship, and Ramesh Ji, who is from U.S.; and Anjali Bansal Ji, who is from Mumbai; and Alpana Parida Ji; and Svetlana Ji, who is waiting -- who is rotating as a Chief Financial Officer, and our strategist, Srinivasan Ji; and Suneeta Reddy Ji; and Sidharth Birla Ji...

I'm sorry. Mr. Saha, could you please ask your question as we are a little pressed on time, sir. Thank you.

I'm going to my first question. This is, how our Nestlé India utilize those people of India, those who are lifted from this poverty line. So another question, whatever it is, that is a matter of how our company enjoying our Indian infrastructure? And another one, already it is -- that is a matter of bonus and another factory visit. Sir, I thank our Board of Directors and our company secretary and his total team who are contacting me on time to time. Thank you. And also thanks to our Chorus department who gave me chance, really two time, after I got disconnected. Thank you very much. I, Atanu Saha, now I am providing to our moderator.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Saha. Thank you very much for your kind words and for your support for the company. Thank you.

Thank you, Chairman. That was the last question. I hand it back to you for further proceedings.

Okay. With that, we have completed all the speakers. Thanks to all the speakers' participation across the country for their comments and questions. We have tried our very best to answer the questions raised by the speakers. I know this takes time, this takes effort, this takes participation and just tries the patience of the shareholders. My apologies if you have to wait some time. But I think it is always been the tradition that we have followed in these AGMs, that we allow every shareholder to address their questions. And I, as the Chairman, to -- who has the duty to respond to you as best as we can in the manner in which we see appropriate. Next a question sent in advance by e-mail. I would like to thank the esteemed members who have sent their questions in advance. I will take up one by one the questions and quickly answer them. Nestlé has undertaken significant CapEx over the last -- this is a question from Nitin Nedlaker and Mira Nedlaker, client ID number 11351982. Nestlé has undertaken -- the question is, Nestlé has undertaken significant CapEx over the last few years. Just wanted to understand exactly how much of the same is getting earmarked more particularly for the infant nutrition and formula category. Over the last several years, this category has been reporting subdued volumes and incremental growth comes only from price hikes. The short answer is that the trust of the nutrition business continues on innovation and renovation, especially on the premiumization of the category. Our premium growth, in fact, is much faster than the mainstream growth in this business. For example, human milk oligosaccharides, which is a molecule addition in infant formula. And also, over the last 5 years, we have actually reduced the amount of sugar in Cerelac by 30%. This is an endeavor that is made in order to develop our portfolio that is age appropriate, that is nutritionally appropriate and also for infants and toddlers. Towards this, we have also launched brand Gerber, which is also meeting with a fairly good response. The brand has been put into the e-commerce channel with a very significant and high rating. Overall, the toddler segment is delivering strong double-digit growth. This is the extension of the infant formula and baby food range into the toddler segment which is going to be the key driver for growth, which has given us already a double-digit growth which we hope we will consolidate in the coming years. The second question, can you please elaborate more on the Gerber series progression along with current response? And also plans going forward to maintain or develop this category. As I mentioned, the response has been fairly encouraging. There is a lot of innovation, renovation that we are looking at in this category in terms of extension of different types of products. Today, they've got the cereal and the puffs. We're looking at extending it into newer categories which will reinforce the value of nutrition and choice amongst the mothers in this category. I go on to the next question, a question received from Mr. Charu Juneja and Mr. Ashish Shankar Bansal. What steps are you taking to reduce costs as well as debts and improving brand premiums in its pursuit in improving profitability? I think we constantly look at ways to optimize on costs, to save on costs, to avoid on costs, because this is a very keen value chain. And as you know, agricultural commodities have been on an inflationary road for some time now. So therefore, we would rather privilege investing in brands and investing in innovation and renovation over trying to spend too much on the value chain of the category. And also in addition to the protecting of the margins in this category. As I mentioned to you, there are considerable plans and considerable activities in the company that look at cost savings of almost 1.5% to 2% overall as a company, which we put into each year, almost 1,500 projects are being worked on in order to give us the necessary operating heft to be able to invest in the category rather than spend all the money on the value chain. The second question is, what is the status position rank-wise amongst competitors? Pleased to inform you that your company holds a strong #1 or #2 position across major product categories in which it operates. It is the market leader in instant noodles, instant coffee, white wafer chocolates, infant formula and cereal products. And of course, it has got some other strong positions in the other categories as well at #2 or otherwise. Number three question is, when our company will be in a position to reward shareholders on the shape of bonus? I think this is the general bonus question that I would seek to answer. The company privileges paying dividends rather than issuing bonus shares. I think one of the queries is also, I talked about it to enrich the dividend payments as best as possible rather than increasing the equity base of the company. Also, there is no empirical evidence that bonus shares actually leads to value creation for the shareholders as previous such issues have also had mixed results. So we feel that our current shareholders' funds are adequate to meet the capital requirements of the business, and we can benchmark with other companies in terms of capital size and find ourselves to be fairly comfortable. Issue of bonus shares also proportionately reduces earnings and dividends per share, and there is really no real benefit to the shareholders on an ongoing basis. The splitting of shares, we did concede and we did take your advice into account when the Board made that decision. That has considerably enhanced the retail base for the company, and also on a valuation basis, enhanced the value of our share. So that has worked in our favor. But it is not very clear whether bonus will work that much to our favor. What are some of the challenges and opportunities that you see in the road ahead? I think the challenge is really that we are speaking at a time when food inflation is fairly high and food inflation clearly makes essential spend on the core products, which is rice, wheat, oil and other such commodities, and leaves little money for discretionary expenses. So that is a challenge that we have in the context of inflation, in the context of also fairly rampant unemployment. And in fact, there was a question among the shareholder also on unemployment. And of course, also the huge volatility of commodities makes some of the plans of companies change because of the equation between the cost and the revenues that one is able to generate. However, our focus has been on consumer, that penetration-led volume growth, we will and we are getting back to volume growth now as I speak to you. This will be the long-term pillar on the core categories of the company. There will be three other categories which will be of a special focus, the pet care category, the Nespresso category and the joint venture that the company is having with Dr. Reddy's. This will be the new pillars of growth and I'm quite excited by what we can do. In addition, operational improvement and distribution expansion is a key aspect for the company. The RURBAN strategy that has paid off in terms of growth will continue. And thereby, we will get more number of penetration and more number of households into the network as far as the brands of the company are concerned. So this will be really my answer as far as the overall portfolio and where we are headed. Premiumization, incidentally, where the growth of the company has been the highest, premium products are about 10%, 11% of the total portfolio of the company, but the growth rate are almost 2x to 3x what it is in the mainstream. So this will be a continued area of engagement for the company across categories as we move forward. How was -- the next question, the fifth question that these two shareholders have asked is, how has the company strengthened competitiveness related to its presence in industry space margins and the strength of its balance sheet, your steps to increase asset quality and capital improvement in the coming time? I think there has been significant progress that has been made in terms of augmenting capacities. And I think the CapEx investments have been fairly strong across locations. We have announced almost INR 5,000 crores of investments which are all clicking in, in the next couple of years, out of which, almost INR 900 crores is coming out of the new factory in Sanand. So capacity creation, distribution expansion will really -- and also new portfolio expansion that I talked about in these 3 or 4 categories, will be the primary drivers that will drive the asset intensity and also the overall growth and profitability of the company. These are competitive areas. There are also newer areas that are being looked at. For example, the whole -- the fact of the matter is there are almost 30 million to 40 million people in this country who are what you would call the middle and upper-middle class who have purchasing power in their hands, who are looking for products that help them with the aging process. Healthy aging is a huge opportunity for this country, and that is also an area where the R&D of our company is putting its energies. The global R&D facility that we have is putting its energies in order to make these products happen. Company's focus has been on healthy operational cash flow. As you know, we have anywhere between 16% and 17% of NNS as the operational cash flows. Prudent working capital management ensures that we have a strong balance sheet. As you know, the return on equity is in triple digits, and that's something that we pride ourselves in, in being able to not only have a sustainable growth and profit momentum, but also generate adequate cash to be able to take care of at least part of the investments that the company proposes to make. The balance part is what the proposal has been put for judicious loans to be taken. It is not because the company wants to be complicated. It's because the capital investment that is required is fairly significant. And the overall base of equity and surplus comes to a little over INR 3,000 crores. With a INR 5,000 crore plan, there is clearly some room for debt to be taken in a judicious manner over a period of time. What are the uppermost strategic priorities for the company in 2024, '25? There are five key priorities driving growth momentum in the core categories. I think the core still has got more juice left, the penetration levels are anywhere between 10% and 15% on a monthly basis. On an annual basis, it's slightly higher. This will be capitalized through growth initiatives and also through premiumization. Investing in manufacturing and supply ecosystems; going deeper in RURBAN India in terms of expanding distribution; accelerating the digital transformation, the analytics capability and the tech capability of the company; and finally, anchoring business as a force for good through sustainability initiatives, transforming the lives of communities; and also anchor and focus on talent development as one of the key aspects of our growth. I come to the next set of questions that have come from Mr. Dipankar Purkayastha. I would like to take these questions one by one. Regarding the joint venture with Dr. Reddy's. While Nestlé will bring the products, brands and solutions to the table, what exactly is Dr. Reddy's bringing to the table? Why can't Nestlé market and sell nutraceutical solutions on its own? I think, Mr. Purkayastha, one of the key elements is while we have got a Nestlé Health Science range, there is a need for pharmaceutical health and support in the distribution channels. That's something that is going to be a key aspect of getting this across to the target group that we want to. We are a retail-oriented company with some pharmacy presence, but we are not a pharmacy company with a retail business. So therefore, I think this is a marriage of two organizations which are, in terms of perspective and in terms of outlook, are quite similar. And that's what brings us together to leverage Dr. Reddy's credibility with health care providers to further accelerate the commercialization journey. That is what it means by established commercial strengths. In the pharmacy space, we have, as a company, Nestlé India, in the retail space, but not so much in the pharmacy space, which is where the whole range of the company of this joint venture would be put forward. We have not yet announced, and we will be subsequently announcing the value of the transaction. Needless to add, I think one of the questions that you had add as, addendum was at the end of 6 years, what would be the basis for the Fair Market Value. Yes, the Fair Market Value of the business as a JV partner would be what -- will be established. The call option and put option is as per the JV agreement and also has been disclosed in the Annual Report, which you may kindly take a look at. What were the due diligence process followed in selecting Dr. Reddy's? Was it purely in-house exercise or were external consultants, investment bankers used? Was any competitive process followed? Or were there other JV partners also evaluated? Mr. Purkayastha, normally, the company procedure is to do an internal due diligence as well as to seek some feedback from external agencies wherever relevant on the kind of fit between the partnerships that is being sought and the objectives and the capabilities of the organization -- of the partner organization to be able to meet the requirements of the business. I think we have our own internal business and commercial teams who have taken this forward, worked together. The joint venture with Dr. Reddy's is a culmination of such an exercise carried out diligently by the in-house team, advice from external service providers and the Nestlé group because it's -- Nestlé group is very much interested in this, in order to make this -- consummate this joint venture. We are eagerly looking forward to it, and I do hope that this consummates into a very robust revenue stream for the company going forward. In an area, which you would agree Mr. Purkayastha, is one of the areas of concern for the country, which is the metabolic and general nutrition wellness of people in our country. The second question you asked is considering the sizable ongoing CapEx program of INR 7,500 crores scheduled to end in 2025. Do we expect the asset turnover ratio to remain stable when all the new capacities come fully onstream? And number 2 is when will all the new capacities comprising the INR 7,000 crore CapEx program come fully on stream? We expect the asset turnover to remain healthy, impacted by heavy CapEx investments in the short term and stabilize over a period of time when we complete our CapEx investments and reach optimum utilization levels over the next 3 to 4 years. In the last press meet, we had committed CapEx of INR 7,500 crores. And this is to answer the general question on the CapEx. We had committed to INR 7,500 crores from 2020 to 2025, out of which INR 3,963 crores has been spent till 31st March 2024. That leaves a balance of INR 3,537 crores, which is expected to be completed by 30th June 2026. The third question you had was, has the Union of India filed an appeal against the order dated 2nd April 2024 of the NCDRC? To the best of our knowledge, Mr. Purkayastha, nothing has been filed so far. Question number 4 is out of e-commerce sales of 6.8%, how much is quick commerce? Almost 1/3 of the overall sale is in quick commerce, about 2.1% is the e-density of quick commerce at the moment. But this is the fastest-growing segment of the e-commerce business that we've got. So more than traditional players, it is a quick commerce players, which is -- which are the Blinkit's and the Zepto's of the world, which are growing faster than the mainstream e-commerce. The fifth question you have is consequent about Unilever's decision to exit the ice cream business. Will Nestlé consider taking up the ice cream business in India and introduce its brands? At the moment, Mr. Purkayastha, we have no such plans, we already have 3 or 4 key vectors, Nestlé Health Science, Nestlé Purina PetCare, the NESPRESSO business, there are opportunities around healthy aging and also the core portfolio of the company still has got opportunities for growth, and we would not like to -- we'd like to concentrate on this and make that happen rather than spreading ourselves thin into areas, which are relatively new as far as the company is concerned. Question number 6, has Nestlé received an intimation communication from FSSAI on the outcome of the investigation conducted by them in respect of the controversy on addition of sugar to baby foods? At the moment, FSSAI, we understand, is conducting an analysis of all infant cereals and formula brands sold by the companies in the country, we have not yet received any intimation from them on this process. With this, I have answered Mr. Purkayastha's questions. I move on to a question from Mr. [indiscernible] Mehrotra. Since the scheme of arrangement for transferring of entire balance of INR 8,374.3 million standing to the credit of the general results to patent earnings has been passed by NCLT. When will the company declare dividends of this amount? The company always ensures that we try to maximize the long-term value creation for the shareholders and all stakeholders. As you are aware, the company has had a strong dividend payout history in the past years. You have also commended it in today's AGM and is backed by solid financial performance and cash generation. Future dividends we declare, including dividends from the erstwhile general reserve transferred to retained earnings will always keep in mind this principle of maximizing shareholder valuation while keeping in context the cash requirements of the company to meet its ambitious growth plan. Why does the company not have any factory in Uttar Pradesh? We thank you for the suggestion. Consistently, we keep looking at opportunities, which are based on demand pools and also logistic and infrastructure benefits and arbitrages that we take in order to establish the commercial viability of our operations. And we will continue to explore new opportunities and look at this proposal at an opportune time. Now for the messages that have been posted on the communication box, I request Mr. Pramod Rai to share question messages, if any, or as I can go into a wrap-up of some of the questions that have been asked.

Thank you, Chairman, and thank you to all members who have posted questions on the communication box. Members have generally appreciated your leadership and performance of the company. Most of the questions are already answered, except one, which is with regard to Everyday Ghee, the shareholders' question is, the Everyday Ghee is an excellent product, why it is not advertised? And that's only the one question, which has not been answered.

Okay. That's a very good question. Everyday Ghee is relatively new. It's like one of the questions that has been asked earlier by I think by Mr. Daljit Singh on the portfolio of the company, saying that why are you not advertising POLO and why are you not advertising some of the other yogurts and some of the other brands of the company? I think the company has to take a judicious choice in terms of investing its advertising and sales promotion expenditure into areas where there is an economical sense in terms of input output ratios. And this is clearly not an area. I mean, ghee is a -- fat is a corollary of the manufacturing process for dairy whiteners and for nutrition. And therefore, it is more seen as a kind of a surrogate for a branded product, but still not something that we can market in adequate quantities, which is why it is not advertised, but it is made available in the key geographies where the product has got a very good equity. And I must thank you for that question because it's one of the brands, which is a silent ambassador of the company. And in fact, it's a silent ambassador for Moga as well because it's a preferred a lot by people who are familiar with Moga. So with that, let me quickly cover up some of the questions that have been asked -- some of the key questions. There was -- I answered the question on the bonus issue. There was a question on the discount coupons. I think the discount coupons -- the -- the unfortunate part is that it's not really -- firstly, it's not fair to only those who are attending this meeting to be given coupons. And secondly, it is more suitable for companies who got their own retail outlets from where these coupons can be redeemed. And that's not a reality as far as Nestlé is concerned. And also for food products, due to the complexity of having more retailers for operations of such a scheme, we have not looked at the scheme. But nevertheless, my apologies for not being able to consider it, but certainly, it's a suggestion that keeps coming time and time again. The other question that you had was on factory visits, look, we maintain -- the fact is that the factories have a lot on their plate. But what -- my request to you is if you're visiting anywhere closer to the factory, and can give us a couple of days' notice that you are visiting nearer the factory like in Samalkha or in Moga or in any of the other factories. We will try and see our best to see whether the visit can be arranged. But we do not, because of the nature of the number of shareholders that we have, have an open policy on factory visits because that really distracts -- the people in the factory have to focus on the manufacturing and production and the quality management of the factories. They will be regrettably, dear shareholders, distracted if they have 100, 200 people on the factory visiting at the same point in time. However, if you are visiting closer to the factory and you can give us a couple of days' notice, I think you can inform the company secretary, and we'll try and see what best we can do as far as your visits are concerned. A few more questions. I think I would like to leave the question on the MBS. I think there was a question on MBS and the -- a question on the CapEx I have covered, but on the MBS, maybe I'll request our Finance Director, Svetlana, to answer that question.

Thank you, Chairman. I'm audible?

Yes, you are ma'am.

Okay. On the MBS share service centers was carved out from July 1, 2022 [indiscernible] for the amount of INR 798 million. The nature of this transaction and the purpose of this was designed in a way that the shared service center is designed for them -- repeated transactions for the consideration of routine activities and therefore keep -- help us to free up our resources for the decision support and for the strategy. And by having this consolidated with the shared service center, we will be able as a separate center to expand the scope of the service into other Nestlé entities, and therefore, have embedded synergy, better automation and the centralization of activities and give them having more efficiency as to get service at a better rate and outcome.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Svetlana for that answer on the MBS. Since we have answered the questions that have come, any more questions for me? And since the general section on the overall questions that have been asked have also been covered by me in some detail, not only in my own answer but also in answer to shareholder questions. The time comes for the voting on the agenda items. Now for voting on agenda items 1 to 7 as set out in the notice of the AGM. As explained earlier, members present at the AGM, but who have not cast their votes by availing the remote e-voting facility can exercise their vote in proportion to their holding -- to their shareholding through electronic voting platform provided by NSDL, the icon of which is on the -- available on the top of the screen. You will be redirected to the e-voting portal of NSDL. Mr. Abhinav Khosla, partner of M/s SCV & Co. LLP, Chartered Accountants, will scrutinize the votes cast through remote e-voting and votes cast during the AGM on e-voting platform as provided by NSDL. Mr. Khosla will submit the report thereon to me as the Chairman or to the company Secretary duly authorized in the prescribed manner. The voting results on all the resolutions placed before the AGM would be declared not later than around 6:00 p.m. tomorrow and shall be immediately intimated to the stock exchange. The results, along with the reports of the scrutinizers shall be uploaded on the website of the company and NSDL, and shall also be available on the -- at the registered office of the company. I now wish to draw the attention of all the members participating in the AGM with the e-voting platform provided by NSDL remain open for another 30 minutes. I thank you all very much for your comments and for your strong participation at today's AGM. I think it has been a marathon session, but it has been well worth it, since all of you have managed to give your suggestions and your opinions on where the company stands. In the spirit of lightning the moment, as you all depart, may I quote to you a Dohe of Raheem, who talked about friendship. And I think the friendship between the shareholders, the company is the friendship that I'm going to describe. Mathat-Mathat Makhan Rahe, Dahi Mahi Bilgaay [Foreign Language] you get Makhan [Foreign Language]. The [Foreign Language] gets separated, but the butter remains. Rahiman Soi Meet Hai, Bheer Pare Thahraay which is the friendship is like that, that in good times and in bad times, we spend our times together and trust each other. So it is Mathat-Mathat Makhan Rahe, Dahi Mahi Bilgaay Rahiman Soi Meet Hai, Bheer Pare Thahraay. Your relationship with us as a company is an old and trusted relationship. And I hope and pray that it remains exactly in the same way in the months and years to come. I assure you that the suggestions that you have given, will receive the due consideration from all in the management. The proceedings of the meeting will close after the members participating in the meeting have casted their vote through e-voting, which will lapse after 30 minutes. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone, not only the Nestlé employees who have been involved in making this AGM happen. But also, I would like to thank sincerely our Board of Directors for spending time virtually from the morning till late afternoon in helping us to go through the AGM. My sincere gratitude to each one of them. Thank you very much for joining, and good luck to all of you. Thank you very much. [Voting]

Dear members, as instructed by the scrutinizers, request all the members participating in the AGM and who have not cast their vote to cast their vote in the remaining period of 10 minutes. Thank you. [Voting]

Dear members, as advised by the scrutinizers, the time for e-voting has elapsed, and they are of the opinion that all members who are participating in the Annual General Meeting have been given adequate time and opportunity to vote at the AGM. And this concludes the voting process of AGM. I hand it back to the Chairman.

Thank you, Inba. The eligible and willing members have been given adequate time and opportunity to cast their votes. I now formally close the proceedings of the meeting and the Annual General Meeting. Once again, I thank you all for your participation and wish you the very best of good health and happiness always. Thank you, and best of luck.