Triveni Engineering & Industries Limited (TRIVENI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Dhruv Sawhney, Chairman and Managing Director of your company, Triveni Engineering & Industries Limited, joining from Noida. Welcome to all of you to the 88th Annual General Meeting of your company, Triveni Engineering & Industries Limited, being held through the virtual mode via video conference in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Companies Act 2013 read with various circulars issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Securities and Exchange Board of India. I hope all of you and your family members are safe and in good health. The company has taken all feasible steps to enable members to participate in the 88th AGM through the video conferencing facility provided by KFin Technologies Limited, KFintech, registrars and share transfer agent. The proceedings of this meeting are being recorded for compliance purposes. The deemed venue of the meeting for statutory purposes shall be the registered office of the company. Let me now introduce you to the members of the Board and senior management present with us today. I will introduce them one by one. The first is Mr. Tarun Sawhney, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, who is joining us from Noida; we now have Mr. Sudipto Sarkar, Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee and is joining us from Kolkata; there is Mr. Nikhil Sawhney, non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Stakeholders Relationship Committee, who is joining us from Noida; Mr. Jitendra Kumar Dadoo, Independent Director and Chairman of the Nominations and Remuneration Committee is joining us from New Delhi; Mr. Siraj Chaudhry, Independent Director, is joining us from Gurugram; Dr. Rajender Pal Singh, Independent Director and Chairman of the CSR Committee is joining us from Lucknow; Mr. Manoj Kohli, Independent Director is joining us from Gurugram; Dr. Meena Hemchandra, Independent Director, is joining us from Bengaluru; Mr. Vijay Gupta, partner, S.S Kothari Mehta & Co. Statutory Auditors is joining us from New Delhi. I'll come to our management. Mr. Suresh Taneja, Group CFO, is joining us from Noida; Ms. Geeta Bhalla, Group Vice President and Company Secretary, is also joining us from Noida; Mr. Suresh Gupta, Practicing Company Secretary and who is also the secretarial auditor and scrutineer is joining up from Noida; and finally, Mr. Surabhi Chandna, General Manager, Investor Relations and Value Creation is joining us from Noida. The company secretary has informed that the requisite quorum of members participating through videoconferencing is present in accordance with Section 103 of the Companies Act 2013, read with the Articles of Association of the company. Accordingly, the meeting is properly constituted, and I call the meeting to order. The register of directors and key management personnel and their shareholding and the register of contracts or arrangements in which the directors are interested are available electronically for inspection on request by members. I would like to share with you a brief summary of the performance of the company for the financial year 2023 and '24 and the future for the current year. This is covered in more detail in the annual report. The performance during financial year '24 was satisfactory despite the immense challenges, adverse climatic conditions and the spread of red rot disease impacted sugarcane yields in the state of Uttar Pradesh, presenting tough times for the sugar industry. To ensure sufficient sugar availability, the government's limited sugar, which would have been sacrificed through B-heavy being processed into -- B-heavy molasses being processed into ethanol and also restricted sugar exports. This, along with the stoppage of surplus rice being supplied by FCI impacted the feedstock availability for our ethanol and alcohol business. While we swiftly shifted to the maize feedstock, it led to lower operating capacities and subsequent margins. The Water business witnessed a muted period due to some project delays, but the Power Transmission business was a silver lining, yet again, delivering a stellar performance with a growth of 29.5% in revenue and 40.1% in segment profit. The order booking in our PTB division went up by 42.3%, and that augurs very well for the next year. Overall, our net revenue from operations declined by 7% to INR 5,218 crores for financial year '24. And the EBITDA was lower by much less by about [ 3.1% ] to INR 675 crores on a stand-alone basis. Profit after tax was at INR 371.5 crores as against INR 1,800 crores in the last year. Last year's profit, of course, included the exceptional income net of tax of INR 1,370 crores from the sale of TTL shares. The revenue contribution of the non-sugar businesses increased from 34% to 38% in the financial year '24. And this is good as we are diversifying from sugar, which is impacted by external circumstances such as climate change and government policy. This was partly on account of the decline in the sugar business, along with our ongoing efforts to achieve healthy diversification and thereby ensuring predictability in revenue and profits. We have always been inspired to look beyond the challenges and have invested a substantial CapEx this year of INR 357 crores in the financial year '24. This will be a key enabler for our future growth. We have already commissioned a 200-kiloliter per day multi-field distillery at our Rani Nangal Sugar unit, which not only enhances our overall distillation capacity, to 860 kilometers per day, but also provides further feedstock flexibility. Your company has also manufactured -- also ventured into a new business of manufacturing, marketing and selling its own brands in the premium segment of Indian-made foreign liquor IMFL as a forward integration of the distillery operations. I am pleased to inform you that the company has recently launched two IMFL brands in key districts of Uttar Pradesh in the super premium and premium categories. There are certain other projects which are on track for scheduled commissioning and these include an enhancement in the crushing capacity of the Sabitgarh to the unit by 2,000 tonnes cane crushing per day, from 7,000 TCD to 9,000 TCD. Besides the debottling, modernization and efficiency improvements across all the other sugar units. This is besides the cost optimization efforts that your company is continually going through in all its operations, including sugar, distillery and the engineering businesses. A new state-of-the-art bottling plant at Muzaffarnagar facility for high-quality IMFL products has been commissioned. Most importantly, we have enhanced the annual capacity of Power Transmission gear business at Mysuru from INR 250 crores to over INR 500 crores, and this is excluding any manufacturer in the defense sector which would be also taken by the expanded unit. Digital technology is yet another area where we are making good strides. Deployment of advanced technologies like GPS-based farming services, satellite mapping to detect diseases, drones for insecticide spraying and IoT-based supply chain management are revolutionizing sugarcane farming today. Several digital projects are underway, aimed at further empowering our farmer and our other partners. The Power Transmission business is all set to support expanded activities and undertake extensive international customer outreach operations, and is able to and have been demonstrating its enhanced capabilities with various new customers. They are ramping up their R&D expenses and strengthening international expansion operations and of course, innovation possibility in many areas. In addition, in June 2026, the company has acquired majority stake of 61.77% in a listed entity, Sir Shadi Lal Enterprises Limited, SSLEL with a view to expand its business operations in the Sugar and allied businesses. With the said acquisition, [ SSLEL ] has become a subsidiary of this company. Further, the company launched an open offer on the third of August 2024 to the shareholders, in accordance with SEBI (SAST) Regulations 2021, and this was completed on the 20th of August 2024. Consistent with our focus on delivering healthy returns to shareholders as well as balancing financial stability, the Board of Directors approved a total dividend of INR 5.75 per share in FY '24. And this has resulted in an outgo of INR 126 crores. Our contribution to the exchequer remains robust at around INR 1,200 crores, it's about INR 1,187 crores. We remain aligned with various government initiatives, including water management related projects, the Ethanol Blended Petrol, EBP program and to meet the Prime Minister's target of 20% blending by the ethanol supplier 2025, '26. This year, we supplied 182,700 kiloliters of alcohol bearing ethanol to the oil marketing companies. Our ongoing efforts in these areas will be instrumental in addressing the challenges of climate change and water scarcity. We continue to empower our communities with spending INR 11.4 crore on community projects. A booming economy has expectations of favorable policy decisions and the government's commitment to EBP, the ethanol program, its targets and self-reliance in sugar augurs well for sugar and alcohol businesses. With our enhanced capacity, we remain well positioned for improved performances. In sugar, we continue to judiciously invest enhancing sugarcane crush rates, sugar quality and operational efficiencies. The focus on Make in India and industrialization, along with the long-term prospects for water and wastewater management solutions globally provide a positive outlook for our engineering business. In Power Transmission, our extensive international market customer outreach and continued investment in R&D and our infrastructure position allows us to capitalize on these global opportunities. As we remain sharply focused on execution and doing the right thing. I believe with the support of our valued stakeholders, we are ensued to create a brighter, more promising tomorrow, where we grow together and create value for all. Now I would like to invite Tarun Sawhney, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the company, to brief you on the performance of the various business segments and his views on the future outlook. Over to you, Tarun.

Thank you, Chairman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to address you at the 88th AGM of your company. As the Chairman mentioned, this has been an interesting year for the company from an overall environmental perspective for the larger businesses of sugar and ethanol, there have been considerable challenges. However, the company has weathered them well. I think our relative performance, if I delve deeper into the sugar business has been better than our peers in our neighboring area. We did have a substantial impact of disease within the sugarcane crop. That has now, of course, been mitigated in this off-season with fresh planting, roguing and a whole host of new techniques to ensure that we have the best varieties for our farmers and that the farmers themselves have disease-free sugarcane. However, for the year under review, there were challenges as there was considerable water that was let from Uttaranchal and led to considerable flooding, especially in Western Uttar Pradesh and led to a spread of disease, which is very unfortunate. In addition, weather conditions continue to play with the growth of the sugarcane crop. And as a result, the overall recoveries of the company was slightly muted. This year as well, we have experienced -- or this summer and monsoon season, we've seen an adequate amount of rainfall and provided that this rainfall stops in the next few weeks. I think the forecast for the upcoming season is very encouraging. But it's important to mention to you the hard work that has been done by the over 1,500 people that are employed in the field by your company to ensure that we get the very best sugarcane varieties and the freshest sugarcane delivered to the factories. As far as the distillery segment is concerned, again, the Chairman was right in pointing out the challenges as we migrated from rice all the way to maize. The company is running a substantial portion of its distilleries on maize. However, due to weather conditions last year, the maize crop was far lower across the country than was forecast leading to a price hike in maize. I am encouraged and happy to share with you that the maize sowing for the Rabi and Kharif crops of maize for this year, this upcoming next period of 9 to 12 months has been fantastic. And I believe that we will have substantial quantums of maize in the country, and therefore, one does predict a slight softening of maize prices, which will, of course, benefit the company. In addition, the central government has announced that if we no longer limit the quantum of sugarcane juice and molasses that will be led for diversion into the ethanol blending program. And this again augurs very, very well for this year. However, in the previous year, there were some limitations as was previously mentioned. With respect to the engineering businesses, I believe that we are at the anvil of great success. Both businesses have performed extremely well, both the Power Transmission business and the Water and wastewater management business. Again, the former with new clients and new projects overseas, leading the way in terms of improved margins and sustainable growth and margin growth. And as far as the water business is concerned, I think we had a period of elections. And that, of course, always has an impact in terms of finalization of projects. And we are hopeful that this year will all go very well for the business as well. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to pass it back to the Chairman.

In accordance with the relevant circulars issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and SEBI, dispensing with the requirement of sending the physical copies of the AGM notice and annual report to the members, the company has sent notice of the 88th AGM, together with the annual report for financial year '24 through the electronic mode, to those members whose e-mail addresses are registered with the company and its depositories. As the notice has already been circulated to all members, I take the notice convening the meeting as read. The Statutory Auditors, S.S Kothari Mehta & Company LLP, have submitted their report on the financial statements for the year ended 31st March 2024. The auditor's report does not contain any qualifications or modified opinion or adverse remarks. In view of this, as per the provisions of Section 145 of the Companies Act 2013, the auditor's report is not required to be read out at the meeting, and the same is being taken as read. Similarly, the Secretarial Audit report also does not contain any qualifications or adverse remarks. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, read with the secretarial standards on general meetings and semi distinct regulations. The members holding shares as on the cutoff date, September 6, 2024, have been provided the facility to exercise their right to vote by electronic means through the e-voting platform of the company's registrar and share transfer agents, KFintech, both through remote e-voting and e-voting and Insta-Poll at this AGM. On all the 6 items provided in the notice of the AGM and being considered, of course, at this meeting. Remote e-voting facility was made available to members during the period commencing from 10 a.m. Indian Standard time on Tuesday, September 10, till 5:00 p.m. Indian Standard Time on Thursday, September 12, 2024. Members participating in the meeting through video conferencing who have not cast their vote through remote e-voting may vote through the Insta-Poll e-voting facility being provided at this AGM through the portal of KFintech. The members who have already cast their vote by remote e-voting prior to the AGM shall not be entitled to cast their vote again. Mr. Suresh Gupta, Practicing Company Secretary, has been appointed as the scrutineer for conducting the entire e-voting process in a fair and transparent manner. Based on the report of the scrutineer, the consolidated results of remote e-voting and the e-voting Insta-Poll at today's meeting will be announced and displayed on the website of the company and will also be submitted to the stock exchanges where the equity shares of the company are listed within the prescribed time limit. Before commencing the e-voting facility on all the items and resolutions contained in the notice of the AGM. We should be glad to answer the questions which members may have on the financial statements of FY '24 and other agenda items. Members who have registered themselves as speakers, during the 10 to 11 September 2026, will be allowed to speak at the meeting. They are requested, they first mention their names, [indiscernible] and the client ID and location. I shall now request the moderator to commence the question-and-answer session. And I call on the pre-registered speakers one by one. There are 41 registered speakers. Thank you, moderator. And over to you.

Thank you, Chairman sir. I will now take up the speaker shareholders one by one. I request the first speaker shareholder, Mr. Lokesh Gupta to unmute audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please.

[Foreign Language].

Thank you, Mr. Lokesh Gupta. The next speaker shareholder is Mr. Ajay Kumar Jain and [ Aloysius Peter Mascarenhas ] are not available in the meeting. I now request the next speaker shareholder, Mr. Manjeet Singh to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and proceed, please.

[Foreign Language]. Thank you for the management team, thank you for the [indiscernible] team. Thank you, sir.

I now move on to the next speaker shareholder, Mr. [ Shri Pal Singh ]. Sorry, sir, there seems to be some Internet connectivity issue at their end. I now request the next speaker shareholder, Mr. Pravin Kumar to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please.

A very Good Morning to my respective Chairperson, respected MD, esteemed Board of Directors, my fellow shareholders. Myself, Pravin Kumar joining this meeting from New Delhi, I have few observations, which I'd love to share with the entire house. But before that, in this financial year, this is our first interaction with the management so I wish the entire management team, each and every dedicated employee a happy and prosperous future. Coming down to my observation, sir, I'm with the company for years now, and I have the deepest respect for you. When we used to meet physically, I see the sparkle in your eyes, your face is very, very smile, like a young man. And today, when I see you, I see the same energy, the same enthusiasm in your speech and I'm very, very lucky to be part of such an interesting company to be very, very honest with you. It's a legacy for me, god bless you, with all the positivity so that you will keep the momentum of creating wealth for a retail investor like me. You are always there to share your wealth with the retail investor, that's wonderful. And now a step ahead, we are acquiring Sir Shadi Lal in that space, and in your speech, that will be subsidiary of our company, and it will be a separate entity but subsidiary. Mark my words, sir, when you touch this company, it will turn into gold in the future because I know your -- I salute your leadership, dedication, devotion to make this company also, one of the best like all in respective space. I whole heartily support all the resolutions which you set out for the notice today, excellent corporate governance is maintained by our secretarial team and I'm very, very thankful to the entire management team to give me this opportunity to share my views and observation, wish you all the luck and all the best. Thank you respective Chairperson.

Now I move on to the next speaker shareholder, Mr. Raju.

[Foreign Language].

Thank you. Now I request to the next speaker shareholder, Mr. Pramod Kumar Jain to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please.

[Foreign Language].

Thank you. Now I request the next speaker shareholder, Mr. [ Murlidhar Talreja ] to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please.

[Foreign Language].

Thank you. The speaker shareholders, Mr. Gagan Kumar and Mr. Vimal Jain are currently not available, even Ashotosh Sharma is also not available in the meeting. I request the next speaker shareholder, Mr. Abhishek to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please. I'm sorry, there seems to be some connectivity issue with Mr. Abhishek. I move to the next speaker shareholder, Mr. Gaurav Kumar Singh. I'm sorry, there seems to be some connectivity issue. We are not getting any feedback from Mr. Gaurav Kumar Singh. The next speaker shareholder, Mr. Rahul Kumar Paliwal is currently not available in the meeting. Mr. Krishan Lal Chadha is also not available. Mr. Chetan Chadha is also not available. I now request Urmila Jain to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please.

[Foreign Language].

I now request the next speaker shareholder, Mr. Surinder Kumar Arora to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please. Sorry sir, there is no feedback from Mr. Surinder Kumar Arora. We now move on to the next speaker shareholder, Mr. Tony Bhatia. Sorry, Mr. Tony Bhatia is also not available in the meeting. I now request [ Mr. Subhash Chander Wadhwa ] to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please.

Respective Chairman and Board of directors, my name is [ Subhash Wadhwa ], and I have joined from New Delhi. First of all, chairman, sir, and entire management of Triveni Engineering for giving the result during financial year '23, '24. Our secretarial department is very proactive, and I'm happy that we get response from them quickly. Thanks for confirming my name as speaker. I support all the resolution of the company. I want to know from Chairman, sir, how the company is planning to grow business in the coming 3, 4 years of time? Thank you, sir.

I now request the next speaker shareholder, Mr. Rakesh Kumar, to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and proceed, please.

Chairman sir, Board of Directors, Company Secretary and co-shareholders. [Foreign Language].

Thank you. We now move to the next speaker shareholder, [ Ms. Santosh Budhani ] to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please.

I'm joining this meeting from New Delhi, A warm welcome to all the Board members and the management team. I would like to thank the team of CS for a very informative annual report. I have only two questions to ask. Number one is the steps to increase the asset quality, credit rating and profitability. And second is your value creation roadmap for two years. I support all the resolutions. Thank you.

I now request the next speaker shareholder, Mr. Ashok Kumar Jain to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please.

[Foreign Language].

Thank you. I now request the next speaker shareholder, Sanjay Kathpal to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please.

[Foreign Language].

Thank you. Now I request the next speaker shareholder, [ Mahender Pal Bhutani ] to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please.

Very good morning to all the Board members and management team. Thanks for the opportunity. I am M.P Bhutani from New Delhi. Regarding annual report, I would like to thank the team of CS for accurate compliances made well in time. Annual report is very informative. Our section has been covered in very transparent and lucid manner. Chairman sir, I am extremely confident that the leadership team will hit more significant milestone and take the company to the next phase of growth. [Foreign Language]. Sir, my general question is, what are some of the challenges and opportunities that you foresee in the coming time? And your strategy to navigate internal and external challenges? Sir, I would appreciate if you could briefly reply and I wish the company all the best for the future and hope to see a healthy growth and business and size of the company. Greetings to all the board members and management team for upcoming festive season. May God fulfill all your wishes and keep you all happy, healthy and safe. Thank you to all.

Thank you. The next speaker shareholders, Harjit Kaur, Chander Mohan Kohli, Asha Kohli, Wiqas [indiscernible] and Narender Singh Chohan are currently not available in the meeting. I now request Mr. Manmohan Dan, to unmute the audio, switch on the camera and ask the question, please.

Respected Chairman, Dhruv Sawhney, MD Tarun Sawhney, Nikhil Sawhney, Independent Board of Directors, Dr. Rajender Pal Singh, KMPs, all the shareholders attending this call, a very good noon to you. I am Manmohan Singh attending this meet. It's been another, say, year of transition for us. The results which you have come out with are very satisfactory because there have been a lot of challenges. And the regulator is always giving new surprises year-on-year and it's been a learning experience for all of us. But I'm sure amidst the challenges, our leadership team is very able to grow from here on year-on-year. Sir, actually, there are not many questions in my mind, but I would like to restrict to a couple of them. The first thing being the R&D, which we are doing. And we are innovating with the newer products. So what is our spend on R&D.? That's a small question which I have. But then pertaining to this, I would also like to understand that given say, ethanol, this thing -- for, say, which will be used for, say, automotive by -- automotive industry. [Foreign Language]. All the automotive industry is spending crores and crores of rupees on R&D. So that's one key area. The other part is regarding the CSR, we are doing a lot of funding for CSR activities. [Foreign Language]. There are many companies where there are equal number of registrations, but then they only allow 5, 7, 10 speakers. [Foreign Language] there are shareholders who are not -- say, despite registering, they are not available to interact. So that is a different issue. But then I must appreciate wholeheartedly. [Foreign Language]. And we will remain abided with your decision. [Foreign Language]. Whether it will be -- being a subsidiary, whether it will eventually merge into the -- our entity or it will remain a separate entity and yet to remain a subsidiary. [Foreign Language].

The next speaker shareholders, [ Anjana, Dev Kumar Agarwal, Sachin Singhal and Madhu Singhal ] are currently not available in the meeting. With this, we have completed with the speaker shareholders. Chairman, sir, you may please proceed. Thank you.

Thank you. I shall answer the very appropriate questions that have been asked by our shareholders, and thank you for them. A lot of thought has gone into it. And I'd like to take all of them up together rather than for each person. Some of them are the same. I think In the question of merger of Shadi Lal Enterprises will be taken up by our Board and of course, the moment any decision is taken, that will be communicated to our stock exchanges and to the shareholders and put on our website straight away. It will be shortly taken up by them. But I can't say what the -- any decision on this diligence taken by the Board. We have a very good order book going into the current year financial year '25. And that is a very encouraging sign. The issue that was mentioned about R&D is a very appropriate one. In the sugar area, we are continually looking at new sugarcane varieties that will be most appropriate for the agronomic conditions and also where they are in their cycle of evolution. And we've been very successful in this. And we're using all the new technologies in these efforts. A similar R&D efforts in our Power Transmission business are quite exceptional. And that's what's giving us the growth in our products and services in this area. There was a question about our meeting with the government, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Tarun Sawhney has asked at all the high levels, both in the central government and state UP government to meet with them, both alone and on a one-to-one basis and collectively, and he's been doing that a lot and they are very happy with the interactions. I would -- I thank you all for the personal comments, compliments, and our team is really responsible for this great work that Triveni Engineering has been able to accomplish. And of course, the support and forethought given by our Board has been extremely useful. So that I want to show you will be continuing and our team is all geared up for growth in all areas in the next 3 to 4 years, and we see no reason why this should not happen. Of course, especially in the sugar business, it depends a bit on climate change and on government policies, but they have been very positive right now, and our expectation is that this will continue. And so it augurs very well for both the sugar alcohol and our engineering businesses. There was a talk about how much [ jute ] packaging we have, if you would -- we can give you that data offline. I'd like to mention that thoughts on bonus and dividend will be taken up by our Board. But we have had for the benefit to shareholders and one shareholder did mention it with the share price of INR 474 now, it has increased by 34% in the last year, and this is as on date in 1 year. And that's quite substantial, and that's to the benefit of all shareholders. So I think we are expecting with our efforts of cost cutting, of expansion, for this to continue. Our value creation roadmap for the future is a extremely relevant question. And this is based on our very innovation team and the innovative methods that they're using, our usage of technology. and our efforts on R&D. In our engineering businesses, we are looking at new markets internationally and are making good progress in the same. So I feel that we have a very encouraging future ahead of us. And there's no reason why we cannot sustain the growth that we've had for the last few years. As far as the challenge of meeting the internal and external pressures in the future, I'll ask Vice Chairman, if he has anything further to add on this. And then I'd also like to mention that we are very much keen on moving into our diversification phase and moving away from a sole reliance on sugar, so you will find that our engineering and our ethanol businesses, in keeping with the government's aspirations, will be taking a much more central stage. Vice Chairman has already mentioned that to you about what has happened in the past. And with our new distillery coming on stream, we expect this situation to be much better. Tarun, would you like to add a few words?

Thank you, Chairman. Just a few other points were raised by the shareholders. I'll cover that and then address the subject of future value mapping in addition. The crushing capacity at the company after the enhancement at Sabitgarh and -- if one is to add Sir Shadi Lal will be approximately 70,000 TCDs. So that's an increase from 61,000 to 70,000 TCD. There was a question on MSP of sugar and the possibility with going up to INR 42, that, again, has not happened. At this particular point in time, the MSP is INR 32. And the decision will be taken at very high level to the government. Until that's taken, I think it's not wise to start calculating any impact on profitability, et cetera. The conundrum between maize versus sugar as far as the ethanol blending program is concerned, I think this is a very valid question. It's a very real question, not just for last year, but also for the future. And you will be happy to know that the vast majority of our distillation capacity at Triveni is multi-feed, and therefore, we are best positioned or one of the best positioned in the entire industry in terms of being able to manage a differential pricing between ethanol derived from sugarcane byproducts or from grain. Yes, we do also utilize several online platforms for the sale of sugar, all that are currently available. However, the total quantums of sugar that are traded on these platforms is very, very little and your company produces a very large quantum, almost 1 million tonnes of sugar last year. And therefore, to utilize these online platforms is something that we're looking at. We're hoping that there would be more depth and breadth as time progresses. There was also a question on the debt rating of the company. We'll be very happy to note that the debt rating of -- the long-term debt rating of the company has been further improved to AA+ by ICRA, which allows us huge flexibility in terms of availing of different routes for our debt. And lastly, there was a question about a suggestion on CSR to assist sugarcane trash and burning. We do that in any case. You'd be very happy to know that we buy excess trash from the fields, not just sugarcane, but also wheat and rice and utilize it in our Cogen boilers, we can utilize up to 10%. And as far as research and development is concerned, we are looking at enhancing other waste, other agricultural waste besides sugarcane bagasse to up to 20% in our boilers so that we'll be able to absorb a lot more of this agricultural waste and prevent the sugarcane trash and burning, of which very little actually happens in our areas. This is really a problem in some other areas, but we're really trying to play our part as good citizens in terms of procuring this waste and utilizing it for green energy. As far as the future is concerned, I will not repeat what the Chairman has already said, but there are ample projects that are underway in terms of enhancing value, not just in the next 8 months, 7 months or so before the end of this fiscal year, but also beyond that, within the entire commodity space and adding value through ethanol, through alcohol and through branded alcohol as well, amongst other initiatives within the engineering businesses. So it's an exciting time, and I thank all of you as well personally for the support and encouragement to the entire management team. Back to the Chairman.

Thank you, Tarun. I'd also like to just add one more thing before I close the question and answer, that our defense business is also progressing well. It takes a little longer, but government is very -- the armed forces, especially the Navy are very happy with our initiatives in this regard. And as and when they come to fruition, they will be brought to your notice. But this is another area of growth for the company. I would now like to declare the proceedings of the AGM as complete. As mentioned earlier, the Insta-Poll e-voting facility will now be activated for those members who are participating in this meeting, but have not cast their vote earlier through remote e-voting with all the resolutions proposed in the notice of the AGM. The Insta-Poll facility will remain active for 15 minutes after the meeting and thereafter, will be disabled automatically. The members may cast their vote by clicking the voting button, which is a thumbs sign, appearing on the bottom left side of their screen. I would request the Company Secretary to get the e-voting process completed, as mentioned. I'd like to convey a sincere thanks on behalf of all my colleagues on the Board and the management and workers of the company to all the members for attending and participating in the meeting. And I also thank my Board and the stakeholders for their support and being here. Please stay healthy and safe and take care of yourselves. Thank you very much, and have a good day.