AGM 2025

Aug 25, 2025

Summary

FY25 set production and earnings records, while management outlined a 2-million-ton growth plan and expansion into critical minerals. Q&A focused on debt, dividend affordability, costs, sustainability and shareholder returns.

Dear shareholders, good afternoon, and a very warm welcome to you all to the 59th Annual General Meeting of Hindustan Zinc Limited through video conferencing. As a reminder, for the smooth conduct of the meeting, the speaker member will be on mute mode. Audio and video will be enabled when they will speak at the AGM as per their pre-registration. I will now hand over the proceedings to Ms. Aashhima V. Khanna, Company Secretary of Hindustan Zinc Limited. Over to you, ma'am. Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I, Aashhima Khanna, Company Secretary of Hindustan Zinc Limited, welcome you all to the 59th Annual General Meeting of the company being held today through video conferencing facilitated by NSDL in accordance with the circulars issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and SEBI. Participation of members through video conferencing is reckoned for the purpose of quorum as per the circulars issued by Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Section 103 of the Companies Act. We have the requisite quorum present with us to conduct the proceedings of this eAGM. All the board members and management personnel are attending the meeting through video conferencing from different locations. I would now like to introduce the members of the board of directors of the company attending this AGM. I am pleased to first introduce Ms. Priya Agarwal, the esteemed Chairperson of the company. Then we have with us Mr. Kannan Ramamirtham, Independent Director and the Chairperson of Audit and Risk Management Committee. Now, we have with us Ms. Pallavi Joshi Bakhru, Women Independent Director and Chairperson of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. We also have with us Mr. Anoop Mittal, Independent Director of the company. Then Mr. Arun Misra, the CEO and Whole-time Director of the company. We also have with us Mr. Sandeep Modi, the Chief Financial Officer of the company. Further, we also have with us the representatives of the statutory auditors, secretarial auditors, and Mr. Manoj Maheshwari, Scrutinizer, to oversee the virtual e-voting process. The company has taken all feasible efforts for conducting this AGM in a smooth manner to enable participation and voting through electronic mode. During the course of this meeting, if the shareholder is facing any technical issues, they may kindly contact on the helpline numbers provided in the notice. The members are further requested to refer to the instructions provided in the notice and the FAQs available on the website of the company. All the documents and registers referred to in the notice of the AGM and required under the Companies Act are available electronically by the members as per the guidelines stated in the notice. I shall now request the Chairperson to call the meeting to order and deliver her speech. Thank you very much, Aashhima. Namaste, esteemed shareholders, fellow members of the board, and distinguished guests. It's with great pride and deep sense of gratitude that I address you today at the 59th Annual General Meeting of Hindustan Zinc Limited. The world is in a state of flux, but almost 8 months into 2025, some trends are clear. One of those is certainly the criticality of minerals, traditional, transition, and critical. To the economy and for the world, in fact, it has emerged as so important that it is now an important pillar of geopolitics as we see around us. Every country in the world is racing to secure supply chains of these minerals. They are key to the modern manufacturing, whether in renewable energy, electric vehicles, data centers, or advanced semiconductor chips. The good news for India is that we have an amazing geology. All these minerals exist in abundance under the surface, but we need to explore and mine them, of course, in the most scientific and sustainable manner. Hindustan Zinc is perfectly positioned to deliver India's requirements and indeed global demand. We have the history, we have the technology, we have the people, and we have the ambition. Coming to our company's performance. This has been a year of purpose-driven progress and transformation. Our company continues to grow and innovate even as we explore a multi-metal future. Looking back at the past year, 2024-2025, we delivered a robust operational performance, recorded one of our lowest cost structures in recent years, and posted our highest ever annual metal production. Our relentless focus on operational excellence has positioned us as one of the most cost-efficient producers globally. Silver has always been an integral part of India's culture, but we have always heavily relied on imports to meet the demand. But we changed that at Hindustan Zinc. Hindustan Zinc made history. We became the first company in the country to produce silver through the primary route, with fully integrated operations from mining to smelting. Since then, our silver production has grown over 20 times, placing us proudly among the world's top five producers today. Recently, Hindustan Zinc became the first Indian company to join the International Council of Mining and Metals, ICMM, a forum of just 25 global leaders like BHP, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Glencore, Vale, and Teck. This is a proud moment not just for us as a company, but for India. It accelerates Hindustan Zinc's journey towards net zero, its leadership in circular economy, and places India's voice firmly at the table of a global mining community as a nation committed to responsible and sustainable mining. FY 2025 was also a standout year in terms of financial performance. Hindustan Zinc delivered an attractive return on capital employed of 58%, the highest since underground transition, and a return on equity of 73%, placing us among the most capital-efficient companies in the sector. Your company continued to deliver strong returns with a substantial dividend payout and exceptional shareholder performance. During FY 2025, your company ranked third under Nifty Metal Index based on market capitalization and is among the top 10 wealth creators on the Nifty 200 Index. With the inclusion in the futures and options segment of NSE, now we are part of the Nifty Next 50 and Nifty 100 Index. This is another milestone reaffirming investor confidence. Hindustan Zinc's market capitalization today stands as a testament to the sustained momentum, having grown from a mere INR 237 crore to INR 180,000 crore over the past 23 years. This translates to around 30% CAGR, compounded annual growth rate, and 800 times increase in absolute terms, reaffirming our leadership in India's metal and mining sector. As a part of our continued growth strategy, Hindustan Zinc has charted an ambitious plan to double its production to 2 million tons in the coming years, supported by a potential investment of INR 30,000 to INR 35,000 crores over the period of the next 3 to 5 years. I am pleased to announce that as a part of the first phase of our expansion, we will be setting up a new integrated refined metals smelter with a capacity of 250 KTPA, along with the corresponding scale-up of mines and mills across multiple locations, an investment of nearly INR 12,000 crores. From a zinc silver legacy to a multi-metal future. Numbers only tell part of the story. What truly defines us is our vision. We are evolving from being India's greatest and largest zinc and silver producing, to becoming a multi-metal future-enabling enterprise. In a significant step towards strengthening India's mineral security, the government conducted its fifth tranche auction, which for the first time included blocks of potash, tungsten, and rare earth elements. Hindustan Zinc emerged as a successful bidder for these key critical and strategic mineral blocks. Further, we are actively pursuing exploration opportunities in copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, potash, and rare earth elements, while also looking at neodymium from monazite, antimony, graphite, and germanium. I am proud to share that Hindustan Zinc is likely the first private company in India to secure a rare earth monazite block, a land-based, non-radioactive deposit distinct from its beach sand monazite currently being mined in Indian Rare Earths Limited. As we expand into these critical minerals, we are betting big on global partnerships. We have already floated international tenders for AI and drone-led exploration, tapping advanced expertise from partners in Australia, South Africa, Chile, and even China. These minerals are strategic imperatives for India's position in the global value chain. We are fully aligned with the government of India's critical mineral roadmap and its goal for achieving Atmanirbharta for Viksit Bharat. To take just one example, our upcoming 510 KTPA fertilizer plant under Hindustan Zinc Fertilisers Private Limited leverages sulfuric acid by-products aligning with the broader goal of Samriddh and Viksit Bharat. This has the potential to reduce forex drainage while providing across a top quality fertilizers in India. This expansion marks a thoughtful step towards responsible diversification, guided by strong domestic demand and aligned with our vision to contribute across sectors vital to India's growth. Exploration at a strategic level. As I mentioned earlier, India needs to do a lot exploration. We are committed to that. In the last year, we have deepened our focus on expanding our exploration footprint across our existing and new assets. Our efforts are already bearing fruit, replenishing reserves, extending mine life, and opening doors to new resources. Hindustan Zinc continues to invest in cutting-edge technology and the best of business partners for exploration programs. In the last decade alone, we have invested INR 1,100 crores in exploration. As we grow and diversify, cost discipline remains fundamental strength, not just for margins, but for a long-term competitive advantage. We continue to be among the lowest cost producers globally. This is a competitive advantage that strengthens shareholder value in every cycle. By integrating automation, digitizing, and operational excellence, we have consistently improved productivity without compromising safety or sustainability. Our aspiration is to go beyond industry benchmarks to create a cost model that is resilient, agile, and future-proof. We are building a sustainability-first business model. Even as we grow, we are deeply mindful of how we grow. As we transition to new metals and minerals, we are equally focused on building a sustainable and circular-based model. Today, nearly 13% of our operations are powered by renewable energy, and we are on track to scale this to 70% by FY28. From India's first fumer plant to zero liquid discharge systems, from deploying EVs and LNG trucks to pioneering digital safety systems in underground mines, we are integrating sustainability into every operational layer. We are now 3.32 times water positive, reflecting our deep commitment to water stewardship and resource efficiency. In line with our commitment to biodiversity and environmental stewardship, we have signed an MOU with the Department of Forest, Udaipur to rejuvenate the nearly 400 hectare Baghdarra Crocodile Conservation Reserve in Rajasthan. We are proud to be recognized globally, including being named the world's most sustainable metals and mining company by S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment 2024 for the second year in a row. But beyond the accolades, it is the outcomes that matter, and we remain committed to net zero by 2050 or earlier. Coming to people, partnerships, and purpose, sustainability is not just about our planet, it's about our people, too. We remain committed to build a more inclusive and equitable workplace. From introducing India's first all-women underground rescue team, to having a workforce that is 25% women, we are fostering a workplace of inclusion, excellence, and innovation. Beyond our operations, we are embedding social progress into our growth model, whether it's our Zinc Football Academy, financial inclusion initiatives, or our work in more than 2,300 villages, touching the lives of over 2.3 million people. Through Nand Ghars, our modern anganwadis, we have supported the nutrition, education, and empowerment of over 364,000 women and children across our communities. At Hindustan Zinc, nation-building and community-building go hand in hand. Looking ahead, behind these achievements lies the dedication of our people and your trust, most importantly, our dear shareholders. Today, we stand at the cusp of a new era, a new mineral age. In this landscape, Hindustan Zinc is ready to lead with clear strategy for a multi-metal future, a culture of cost excellence and a bold commitment to exploration. Our purpose is clear. We stand for To meet India's needs, to strengthen India's future, and to create lasting value for all our stakeholders. Let us move forward together to galvanize this company, the industry, and our great nation. Thank you. Aashhima, back to you. Thank you, Chairperson. Now I request Mr. Arun Misra, CEO and Whole-Time Director of the company, to deliver his speech. Good afternoon. It is my honor and privilege to welcome you all to the 59th Annual General Meeting of Hindustan Zinc Limited. Thank you for joining us today and for your continued trust and support in our journey. The past year has been truly defining for Hindustan Zinc. Amidst the ongoing global uncertainties, commodity market fluctuations, and cost pressures, we have once again demonstrated our resilience and ability to deliver strong and consistent results both operationally and financially. It gives me immense pleasure to share that FY 2024-2025 has been a record-breaking year across key performance parameters, underscoring the strength of our strategy and commitment of the entire Zinc family. I would like to draw your attention to the integrated annual report, the board report, and the audited financial statements for FY 2025, which have already been circulated to you. With your permission, I take them as read. Before I delve deeper, we have made strong strides in ESG and are now working towards global recognition, taking us a notch higher. Our inclusion in ICMM as the first company entering the league since 2021 places us at the pinnacle of sustainability, aligning with 40 stringent ESG performance expectations. These milestones underscore our commitment to the responsible mining by driving improvements in safety, environmental stewardship, climate action, and social engagement, while lowering risks and enhancing ESG ratings that improve access to capital and growth prospects. It also strengthens our credibility with stakeholders and positions us as a preferred supplier for global manufacturers seeking responsibly sourced minerals. This year, your company has achieved its highest-ever mined metal and refined metal production of 1,095 KT and 1,052 KT respectively, reaffirming our position as the world's largest integrated zinc producer. We also stand among the top five silver producers globally. We continue to set new benchmarks with production, scale, cost, and efficiency and sustainable practices all reaching new heights. This record performance has been enabled by our investment in digitization, automation, and data-driven operational models, helping us to enhance throughput while reducing downtime and wastages, as well as improved environmental metrics. On the financial front, we have delivered one of our best performance till date, recording our second highest-ever revenue, EBITDA, and profit after tax. Our EBITDA for the year stood at INR 17,465 crore, marking a strong 28% growth, while our profit after tax reached INR 10,353 crore, recording 33% growth over previous year. Despite global market volatility, we maintained a sharp focus on our operational excellence and cost leadership globally, ending the year with one of the lowest zinc cost of production in recent times at $1,052 a ton and continue to be one of the lowest cost zinc producer globally. One of the highlights of the year has been our remarkable increase in domestic zinc sales, enabling us to capture around 77% of India's primary zinc market. This achievement reflects not only the growing demand for zinc in the domestic infrastructure and industrial sectors, but also the deep trust that our customers place in the quality and reliability of our offerings. Our value-added product portfolio has continued to grow with the zinc alloy plant contributing meaningfully to our differentiated solutions strategy. In FY25, we clocked the highest ever value-added product share of 22%, started with an investment of roughly INR 190 crore. This plant has already started generating a quarterly EBITDA run rate of around INR 40 crore, showcasing a payback period of less than two years. All our growth projects are progressing well, where our 160,000 tons per annum roaster project is under commissioning. The fertilizer plant at Chanderiya is expected to be commissioned by quarter one of next financial year. At the same time, we are deploying a new innovative technology to recover 27 tons per annum of silver and 6,000 tons per annum of lead from smelter waste while minimizing environmental impact. Our smelter debottlenecking projects at Dariba and Chanderiya are progressing well and expected to complete in quarter two of FY26. These initiatives will enhance our throughput capacity and prepare us for the next phase of growth. Further, in the current financial year, board has approved two major projects as part of the overall 2X growth project to align with the strong growth expected in domestic steel demand. The phase one will have an investment of INR 12,000 crore, where Hindustan Zinc will set up a new 250,000 tons per annum integrated smelter at Debari, along with associated mines and mill expansion across its operations. Another is the India's first and one of its kind unique tailings reprocessing project with an investment of INR 3,823 crore, which will be set up at Rampura Agucha Mine with a 10-million-ton pit capacity to process the historic tailing lying there as waste. The state-of-the-art facility will recover zinc and silver from the old tailings, turning waste into valuable resources while advancing sustainability and circularity of our process. As we have stated before, and with the recent announcement by the London Metal Exchange on introducing a green premium for sustainable metals, our Asia's first low carbon zinc EcoZen is well-positioned for stronger value realization. EcoZen not only aligns with our net zero ambitions, but also enables our customers to reduce their Scope 3 emissions. As we look ahead, we are cautiously optimistic. The global supply deficit in zinc and silver, coupled with India's resilient macroeconomic fundamentals and ongoing infrastructure push, provide a favorable backdrop for us. India's projected steel consumption and smart city programs will only deepen the country's demand for corrosion-protecting metals like zinc. In line with this, we have set a confidence target for FY25-26. Our long-term vision is clear. Hindustan Zinc is committed to supporting India's journey to becoming the third-largest global economy. With future-facing metals like zinc and silver playing critical roles in electric mobility, renewable energy, and digital infrastructure, we stand poised to enable India's energy transition and green development goals. Further, as part of our sustainable reporting efforts, I am excited to launch our digital annual report 2024-25, hosted on a green-powered server, consistently reducing the carbon footprint for three consecutive years. This time, India's first gen AI chatbot for annual report has evolved into Zincky Sonic, featuring real-time, voice-enabled conversation mode. We have also made it much more inclusive through special accessibility features, including text-to-speech integrated in our report. Here is a glimpse of our Zincky Sonic. Hello, everyone. My name is Zincky, your own gen AI bot for Hindustan Zinc Limited annual report 2024 to 2025. Hello, Zincky. What is the profit for the year? The profit for the year is INR 10,279 crore standalone and INR 10,353 crore consolidated. What was Hindustan Zinc's EBITDA this year? Hindustan Zinc's EBITDA in FY 2025 was INR 17,465 crore. Hindustan Zinc at a glance, leading the future of sustainable mining and metals. Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta Group company, is the world's largest integrated zinc producer and among the top five silver producers globally. We are a global leader in critical minerals and metals with one of the largest and most diversified portfolios. We are recognized globally for our scale and operational excellence, technological and innovation capabilities, and pioneering sustainability efforts. World's largest integrated zinc producer. Among top five silver producers globally. Hope you like our Zincky Sonic and our sustainable digital annual report. We are a company designed for the future, built on the foundations of responsible mining, sustainable practices, and inclusive growth. We see our metals not just as commodities, but as critical enablers of progress and protection in a rapidly changing world. Thank you once again for your continued support and faith in Hindustan Zinc. With your trust, we look forward to scaling new heights and delivering even greater value in the years to come. With this, I now hand over to Aashhima. Thank you, sir. The notice for the meeting and the integrated annual report, containing the audited financial statements with the directors and auditors report for the year ended 31st March 2025 have been sent to the members through electronic mode, and the same is also available on the company's website. The auditors report does not contain any qualification or modified opinion or adverse remarks. Considering the same, the notice of the meeting and the auditors report is being taken as read. The members are further informed that in compliance with the act, the company had provided the remote e-voting facility before and during the AGM to the members determined as on the cut-off date to cast vote electronically on all the resolutions set forth in the notice. Members who have not cast their vote electronically earlier are requested to cast their vote during the course of this meeting through the e-voting system provided by NSDL as detailed in the notice. Now, we will commence our question and answer session, which will be anchored by the moderator. I request the moderator to invite the speaker shareholder who have registered themself to ask their questions. The speaker shareholders are requested to limit their speech to a maximum of 2 minutes each and are requested to keep their questions brief and specific. To avoid repetition, the answers to all the questions will be provided towards the end. Over to you, Vaishali. Thank you, ma'am. I would now like to invite the speaker shareholder one by one to ask their queries. I would invite our first speaker shareholder, Mr. Dinesh Kumar Nagda. Kindly unmute yourself, turn on your video, and ask your query. Yeah. Good afternoon all, and the chairperson and the respected board members. Yes. Good afternoon. Yeah. Am I audible? Yeah. Yes, very much. Yeah. Yeah. It is a matter of great pride that I, as a shareholder, was always part of the success story of Hindustan Zinc, where the company is delivering more than 1 million tons of metal production performance from last three, four years consistently. This showcases the fundamental strength, its uniqueness, global positioning, and growth prospects of the company. Hindustan Zinc not only delivered its record mined metal and the refined metal production, and bringing down the cost of production as committed by each quarter is guided by the management in the earning calls. These results were supported by better quality of ore, more use of renewable energy, and improved coal sourcings. Can the company improve profit and reduce cost even more in the future by using technology or clean energy solutions? How should we see the sustainable reduction in the cost of production? Thank you. Thank you very much for the question, sir. Thank you, Mr. Dinesh. Our next speaker shareholder, speaker shareholder number 2 is Naresh Kumar Agrawal. Sir, kindly unmute yourself and ask your question. Good afternoon. Am I audible? Yes. Respected Chairperson and respected board members. First of all, I want to congratulate for this outstanding performance consistently. Sir, जिस तरह आज पूरी दुनिया critical minerals पर focus कर रही है, जो कि आने वाले समय में काफी जरूरी भी है। इसी क्रम में भारत सरकार भी critical minerals पर focus करना चालू कर दिया है। इसी क्रम में भारत सरकार ने अभी एक-दो years में कुछ critical minerals के mines blocks का auction किया है, जिसमें कुछ blocks Hindustan Zinc को भी allot हुए हैं। मुझे यह जानकर बहुत खुशी हुई है कि Hindustan Zinc अभी zinc, lead, silver के अलावा other minerals like potash, tungsten and rare earth में भी कदम रख रहा है, जो कि भारत सरकार और government की policy के अनुरूप है और aligned है। मुझे इस संदर्भ में यह question पूछना है कि company का इस बारे में क्या plan है? इसका benefits investor point of view से हम कब expect कर सकते हैं? Thank you. धन्यवाद, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Naresh. We move to speaker number three, Mr. Harshal Vijayvargiya. Sir, request you to unmute, turn on your video and speak. Mr. Harshal, can you hear us? Yes. I hope I am audible. Yes, you are audible. Please continue. Respected board members, I am very happy to see the company growing not only as a zinc metal company, but over a period of years, it has emerged as a primary silver producer in India, and now it is actually among the top five silver companies globally. This makes us proud as shareholders to see the company growing exponentially, where the silver has seen growth more than almost 20 times in the last two decades. My question is, as silver is now becoming a bigger part of the company's profit and its demand is rising. Hindustan Zinc is in a good position to benefit from the same. We believe that new projects are also likely to help silver production in the coming quarters. With silver prices holding up well, is the company doing any specific project or anything specific to ramp up the production in the next 3-5 years? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Our speaker number 4 is Mr. Santosh Kumar Saraf. Sir, kindly unmute yourself, turn on your video and ask your question. माननीय सभा नेत्री जी, उपस्थित निर्देशन मंडल के सदस्यगण, कर्मचारीगण, मैं संतोष कुमार सराफ कोलकाता से आप सभी को राम-राम कहता हूँ। आशा करता हूँ, आप सब अच्छे स्वास्थ्य में होंगे। Madam, मैं उन सभी कर्मचारियों का भी आभार प्रकट करता हूँ जिनकी कड़ी मेहनत का फल है कि आज हमारी company इतना अच्छा result दे रही है और इतना अच्छा dividend दे रही है। जी। उन कर्मचारियों के साथ-साथ उनकी family का भी आभार प्रकट करना चाहूंगा जो सदा backbone के रूप में उनके साथ में खड़ी रहती है, जिससे पूर्ण क्षमता से वह अपना योगदान हमारी company में देते हैं। मैं secretary उनकी team का भी आभार प्रकट करता हूँ, जो सदा हमें touch में रहते हैं और बताते हैं कि आपका speaker number इतना है, link मिली कि नहीं मिली। आशा करते हैं भविष्य में इसी तरह उनकी भी सेवा प्रदान होगी। Madam, balance sheet के बारे में क्या कहूँ? मैं आपके इसके लिए CFO और उनकी team का आभार प्रकट करना चाहूँगा कि इतनी अच्छी balance sheet उन्होंने दी है कि हमारे कोई प्रश्न ही नहीं है। और आपने भी अपने वक्तव्य में काफी कुछ चीजें बताई हैं। तो हम क्या करें? तो CFO से मैं request करूँगा, प्रिया जी आपके through, अगले साल जब balance sheet बनाएं, तो एक-आध तो loophole जरूर छोड़ दें, जिससे उस loophole पर आपसे हम जवाब ले सकें। अगर कोई point ही देंगे नहीं, तो हम क्या पूछेंगे? Meeting में आना है, आपसे दर्शन भी करने हैं, आपको भले आशीर्वाद भी देने का है। तो यह है कि उनसे मैं request करूँगा कि CFO साहब थोड़ा हमारे लिए भी छोड़ दीजिए। आप रखिए अपने मन में और हम अपनी meeting में आकर उनसे पूछ सकें। पूछने की बात तो आपने बहुत कुछ बताया, लेकिन मैं दो ही चीज पूछना चाहूँगा। एक तो rare earth mineral जो बोलते हैं, essential जो बना रहे, जिसके लिए China अपने को हाथ दिखा रहा है, और भी country अपने को हाथ दिखाई है और आपको कई mines भी मिली है। मैं यह जानना चाहूँगा कि future में इसका expansion का क्या plan है, जिससे हम अपने देश का Atmanirbharta बन सकें और मोदी जी की background से हम help कर सकें। और एक चीज और है कि trump card कल आपने ताश में देखा होगा, हम लोग trump मारते हैं, trump मारा मैंने। तो कब हमें trump आता है, किसी को पता नहीं है। तो यह कभी सुबह trump दिखाते हैं, कभी रात में दिखाते हैं, दोपहर में। तो इस trump card से बचने के लिए हमारे management ने क्या plan बना रखा है। आपको plan A, plan B बनना चाहिए। पता नहीं कब trump card खेल दिया जाए और हमको मौका ही नहीं मिले। अतः request है management से कि अपना plan A और plan B बनाइए। और Madam प्रिया जी, आपके leadership में मैं चाहूंगा कि ज़्यादा से ज़्यादा women को empowerment किया जाए। ऐसा नहीं है कि women अपनी factory में hard work नहीं कर सकती हैं। मैं समझता हूँ, जैसा आप जानती हैं कि border पर भी काम कर रही हैं, gold medal लेकर आ रही हैं, boxing में भी काम कर रही हैं, कुश्ती में भी काम कर रही हैं। तो एक बार chance, मौका देखिए उनको भी हुनर दिखाने का। ज़्यादा कुछ नहीं, CFO साहब से request करूंगा अगले साल कुछ छोड़िएगा, तो हो सकता है एक-आध minute ज़्यादा आपसे समय लेकर पूछूं। एक बार आपको financial year 2025 की शुभकामनाएं देता हूँ। और जितने भी हमारे कर्मचारी भाई-बहन हैं, जितने भी हमारे director भाई-बहन हैं, जितने भी हमारे associate भाई-बहन हैं, बहुत से प्रार्थना करता हूँ, हल्दी-वेलदी, safety के साथ यह year जाएगा। इसके साथ में से आने वाले त्योहारों की, चाहे वह राष्ट्रीय त्योहार हो या आपकी family के personal त्योहार हों, उनकी भी शुभकामनाएं देता हूँ। बहुत से प्रार्थना करता हूँ यह त्योहार आपकी और हमारी जिंदगी में आनंद और खुशियां लेकर आए और भरपूर लेकर आए। रही बात VC meeting की, तो मैं प्रिया जी आपसे request करता हूँ VC meeting रखिए। देखिए, कोलकाता में रहता हूँ, age 77 की है। तो सिर्फ VC के माध्यम से आपके प्रति आभार प्रकट करने का मौका मिलेगा। हमारे कर्मचारी के काम के प्रति आभार प्रकट करने का मौका मिलेगा। अन्यथा इससे मुझे बंद कर ना यह आपसे request है। और moderator का आभार प्रकट करते हुए अपना वक्तव्य समाप्त करता हूँ। जय हिंद, भारत। राम-राम। आपके आशीर्वाद और प्रार्थना हमारे लिए सबसे important हैं। धन्यवाद। Thank you, Mr. Santosh. We move on to our speaker number 5, Mr. Manoj Kumar Gupta. Sir, request you to unmute, turn on your video and ask your question. Hello, good afternoon respected Chairperson, Board of Directors, fellow shareholders. My name is Manoj Kumar Gupta. I have joined this meeting from my residence city of Joy Kolkata. Ma'am, I will take your three to three and a half minutes. First of all, convey our best wishes to your beloved father and our icon, Anil भैया. Because I am a great admirer of your beloved father. क्योंकि हम लोग दोनों एक पड़ोसी थे Kolkata में, मेरे father और आपके grandfather. So I have a great respect to your father. He is a great man who has inspired, who has built the Vedanta type company in the country after he has acquired the Hindustan Zinc and BALCO in disinvestment in early 2000 under the leadership of our visionary Prime Minister Bharat Ratna Atal Ji at that time. और Madam मैं 1995 से इसका shareholder हूँ. जब Hindustan Zinc का share price ₹8 था. ₹8 कोई लेने को तैयार नहीं होता था. मात्र जो है 2 से 3,000 shares की trading daily होती थी. उस समय जब इसमें frequently board में changing होती थी, तब से. और Anil जी ने लेकर इस company को सजाया-संवारा नहीं है, इसको बनाया है और एक global company बनाई है जो कि दुनिया में metal में compete कर सके. वह एक ऐसी company बनाई है. जिसने उस समय ₹800 लगाया होगा, आज उसकी value जो है ₹6 लाख हो गई और उसको कम से कम डेढ़ लाख रुपए dividend के रूप में पिछले 20 साल में मिल चुका है. मतलब ₹800 का dividend डेढ़ लाख रुपए और appreciation. तो इस तरह की leadership और इस तरह की transparent और dedicated team उन्होंने Hindustan Zinc में दी है, जिसका कि मैं उनको तहे दिल से शुक्रिया करना चाहता हूँ. और देखिए, आपको भी मैं तहे दिल से शुक्रिया अदा करना चाहता हूँ कि उन्होंने आपको command दी है. और यह समय है, देखिए India में बहुत से father ने command अपनी लड़कियों को सौंप दी. चाहे वह Godrej हो या चाहे HCL Technologies हो और बहुत सी कंपनियों में जो है अपनी सक्षम और योग्य पुत्रियों को पिता ने अपनी command सौंप दी. चाहे Dr. Reddy's ने Apollo देखिए, अपनी लड़कियों को दे दिया और लड़कियां आज नाम ऊंचा कर रही हैं. तो मुझे उम्मीद है कि आप भी अपने father का नाम आगे लेकर जाएंगी और उनका नाम ऊंचा करेंगी, जिससे कि employees और investor को अच्छा return मिल सके और देश का नाम गौरव कर सकें. और अभी जो issue चल रहा है, rare earth और जो critical mineral जिसमें कि हमारे visionary Prime Minister और अभी China जा रहे हैं परसों 30 तारीख को SCO Summit में भाग लेने, जिससे कि China से rare earth के ऊपर बात हो सके. तो हम चाहेंगे कि हम China पर depend नहीं रहे कि Hindustan Zinc को जो block मिले हैं, उसमें हम इतना explore करें rare earth पर कि हम हमारे यशस्वी प्रधानमंत्री के vision को fulfill कर सकें और self dependent बन सकें rare earth में और critical mineral में. Ma'am, how you will reduce your carbon footprint by 2030? What steps are you taking to go further to save the cost of energy? How much is our ESG score? If our ESG score is good, then what is your plan in that regard? Can we throw some highlight? Bring some more women to the board as executive KMPs in the position. Thanks to the company secretary and that team कि देखिए, आपने company secretary भी lady को रखा और उन्होंने बहुत अच्छा service किया है। और उन्होंने तीन बार phone भी किया। परसों भी phone आया कि आप join करिएगा। Time से करिएगा जिससे मैं पूरा आपका भाषण सुना हूँ। और चांदी जो है ना, देखिए चांदी तो अब आप produce करिए। Metal जो है बहुत दाम बढ़ेंगे और उसको आप more and more explore करिए। और मैं Mishra साहब का भी बहुत धन्यवाद देता हूँ कि उन्होंने video से जो उन्होंने Zinc सम्बंधित video दिखाया और उन्होंने सिखाया हम लोगों को। तो इसको continue रखिए और CSR में तो आपका कहना नहीं है। कुछ CSR कोलकाता में करिए। कोलकाता से देखिए, आपका लगाव है। कुछ ऐसा जो है ना, hospital या school में कुछ जो चाहे machine donate करिए, चाहे कुछ भी करिए जिससे कि आपका और आपके family का नाम हो कि Hindustan Zinc ने या Vedanta Group ने यह machine donate किया। इसमें ध्यान दीजिए। और जो है ना, next year 60 years है। How you will celebrate the diamond jubilee with the employees and the investors, what's your plan in that regard? Madam, मैं तीन साल से आपसे कहता आ रहा हूं कि कम से कम एक plant visit करा दीजिए। दुनिया के उस झील के शहर उदयपुर को दिखा दीजिए। हम लोग दिल्ली पहुंच जाएंगे, तो company secretary को बोलिए कि दिल्ली से, मिश्रा साहब को भी मैं कहता हूं जब वह मिलते हैं steel factory AGM में, जिसकी Rourkela में factory है और आपने acquisition किया तो उनसे भी कहता हूं कि sir दिखाइए, जिससे कि हम देख सकें और दुनिया को बता सकें कि हमारा plant ऐसा है और देखने लायक है। उदयपुर जैसा शहर। So with this, I conclude my speech. And once again, I request you to convey our best wishes to your beloved father, and I wish to God for his healthy and prosperous, safe, long life. Thank you. नमस्कार। Thank you. Sorry, ma'am, you were on mute. No, I was saying thank you very much for the good wishes, I will definitely convey them to my father. Thank you, ma'am. With this, we move to speaker number 6, Mr. Piyush Vardia. Sir, request you to unmute yourself and ask your question. Okay. Very good afternoon, respected Chairperson and other Board of Directors. Good afternoon. It is indeed a matter of pride for Hindustan Zinc, the way our company is growing not only in terms of the performance, but also retaining its global positioning in ESG for last 2 years. This is indeed commendable, the way we are creating best ever ESG practices across the company. Recently, we saw that the company has become the first company in India to get the ICMM membership, which is itself is a very renowned and prestigious membership globally, considering that only 25 companies currently in the ICMM. Madam, and Board of Directors, I just wanted to understand how the ICMM is going to add value to our company towards its profitability and reputation. How this will be the game changer for our company and our country as well. Which are the other companies currently the part of ICMM? Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. We move on to speaker number seven, Indrani Chakraborty. Ma'am, request you to unmute yourself, turn on your video and ask your question. Am I audible? Yes. Very good noon, ma'am. I am Indrani Chakraborty, attending VC from Kolkata, a small shareholder of your company. At first, I congratulate my Company Secretary, Board of Director, and my fellow shareholder to give me a chance in this platform. I casted vote along with my family members in favor of you in this AGM. I believe my company will perform better to better in coming future. Ma'am, my question is, how many female staff of your company? Okay. Nothing more to say. Thank you everybody. Have a nice day, ma'am. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Miss Indrani. Thank you, ma'am. We move to speaker number eight, Mr. Sudipta Chakraborty. Sir, request you to unmute yourself and ask your question. Very good noon, ma'am. I am Sudipta Chakraborty, attending VC from Kolkata, a small shareholder of Hindustan Zinc. At first, I congratulate my Company Secretary, my Board of Director, and my fellow shareholder to give me a chance to speak something in this platform. Madam, I believe my company is in strong hand, and it will perform better to better in coming future for our directors' honesty, dedication, devotion, and determination. I believe Hindustan Zinc performance will grow day by day. My first question is, how can you control your liabilities and interest cost? My second question is, how would you implement green energy and AI technology in your business? I casted vote in your favor. Your secretarial team performance is superb. From the very beginning, they cooperate with the speaker. We are glad to be a part of this prestigious company. Lastly, madam, I want to say, please arrange a factory visit for the attending member. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Board of Directors for patient hearing. Have a nice day. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. With this, we move to our next speaker, Mr. Jaideep Bakshi. Sir, request you to unmute yourself and ask your question. Very good afternoon, Chairperson ma'am and others present in today's video conference. Myself Jaideep Bakshi, connecting from the city of Kolkata. First of all, I convey my thanks to our Company Secretary and to the entire secretarial department for regular follow-ups and for attending this video conference and the moderator for conducting this video conference in a smooth manner. Madam, you covered the entire above our company affairs in the initial speech and also the video clipping was great. I am proud to be a part of our company. What is our future progress and how do you plan to move forward? Share the thoughts and what is your thought on waste management and highlight on this rare earth technology which we are mining, which we are taking place. Kindly share some thoughts regarding this and also on R&D department and also new implementation through this digital technology. Kindly share that and I wish the company all the best in the coming years and thank you for giving me the opportunity. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you very much for the very relevant important questions. Thank you. Thank you, sir. We move to our next speaker, Mr. Yusuf Yunus Rangwala. Sir, request you to unmute yourself, turn on your video and ask your question. Madam, क्या आपको आवाज आ रहा है madam? आपको आवाज आ madam? जी बिल्कुल आ रही है आवाज। बिल्कुल। Madam, पहले तो मैं Bombay से Yusuf Rangwala बात करता हूँ madam और first I want to ask you regarding your daddy sir. How is your daddy? उनको हम wish करते हैं। Give my regard और उनको बोलो Rangwala साहब ने आपको wish किया है और Vedanta Group में, मैं पूरा Group का shareholder हूँ madam और आपकी company का today morning में madam आपके यहाँ से phone आया था और अभी भी मुझे message आया। यह दिखाता है कि अपनी company कैसा shareholder को care करती है। Sir, अपनी company Udaipur में है। Madam, मैं इतना humble हाथ जोड़कर आपको विनंती करता अगर हो सके तो Diwali के बाद, क्योंकि Bombay में भी आपका office है, तो अगर आपने हमें factory visit का मौका दिया तो एक बहाना है हमारे लिए madam Udaipur फिरना और आपका visit भी करना। एक बहाने से हमारे दो काम हो जाएगा madam. मेरा इतना request है अभी next year, 60 year हो गए। इस बारे में आपका क्या विचार है कि 60 साल का हमारे लिए celebration हो जाएगा madam। अगर आपने हमें visit कराया तो हमारा celebration हो जाएगा madam। और आपने zinc का जो annual copy में आपने पूरा balance sheet बनाया है, इतनी अच्छी balance sheet है और आपके साथ हंसते हुए photo और क्या कहना है madam, इस company के बारे में क्या कहना है madam? आज अपना broker, for example Motilal Oswal, HDFC और so many other brokers are telling to buy this company. This is a very excellent company क्योंकि आपके father है। Father की guidance आप पर रहेगी madam क्योंकि उनकी आशीर्वाद आपके साथ में है। तो यह company में हमें कोई गम नहीं है। और एक जानना चाहता हूँ madam total number of staff कितना है? आपके पास total number of staff कितने हैं? Point number one. Point number two, sir, madam आपने last bonus कब दिया था? यह जानना चाहता हूँ। बहुत साल हुआ, madam आपने bonus नहीं दिया। आपके treasury में madam बहुत धन है। तो bonus के लिए आपकी क्या आशा है? आपके पास इतना अच्छा cash है और इतने अच्छे staff खड़े हैं। आप एक पर दो से दे सकते हैं sir। क्योंकि अभी sir गणेश चतुर्थी पधार रही है। There are so many companies are giving a bonus, तो अपुन क्यों bonus नहीं देते sir, madam? अभी next year 60 साल है तो इसके लिए मैं आपको हाथ जोड़कर विनंती करता हूँ। मेरी दो मांग हैं। एक तो आप हमें जरा visit कराइए और madam, हो सके तो आपसे मुलाकात भी का एक मौका आएगा। Udaipur हम आएंगे तो आपसे मुलाकात होगी और आपके father से भी मुलाकात होगी। क्योंकि अभी Udaipur हम नहीं आ सके। अगर आपने visit करा तो आ सकते हैं madam। जय हिंद, जय महाराष्ट्र। गणेश चतुर्थी पधार रहे हैं, उनकी आपको शुभकामनाएं देता हूँ। जय हिंद, जय महाराष्ट्र। वंदे मातरम। भारत माता की जय। जय हिंद। Thank you, Yusuf जी, thank you. मैं definitely मेरे पिताजी को बताऊँगी आपके बारे में। Thank you. Thank you. We move to our next speaker, Mr. Manjit Singh. Sir, request you to unmute yourself, turn on your video and ask your question. Am I audible? Yes. [Foreign language] Hindustan Zinc [Foreign language] management team, secretarial team [Foreign language] and my co-shareholder, [Foreign language] I [Foreign language] all [Foreign language] welcome. Good afternoon, madam. Good afternoon. Good afternoon जी। company की जिस तरह की progress रही है, उसमें हमेशा ही आशा की किरण रही है साथ में कि company तरक्की करेगी। हम आपके भरोसे हमेशा रहे हैं कि company को आप और अच्छा आत्मनिर्भर करेंगे। इसकी हम आपसे आशा करते हैं और भगवान से प्रार्थना करते हैं। जिस sector के अंदर हम हैं, उसके अंदर block deal का भी काफी आता है और उसका कुछ impact हमारे पर पड़ता है। यह block deal कब तक रहेगी और सरकार भी कुछ अपना हिस्सा बेचने के लिए इच्छुक है। उन्होंने भी road show वगैरह करें हैं इसके लिए। हमारी company जिस sector के अंदर है, उसमें आप जो है एक ₹12,000 करोड़ की एक बड़ी विस्तार योजना पर भी काम कर रहे हैं। उस पर कितना कार्य हो चुका है और वह कब तक पूरा होगा? थोड़ा आप इस बारे में बताइएगा। और 2026 का जो हमारा कर्ज मुक्त होने का लक्ष्य है, उसकी तरफ हम कितना अग्रसर हैं और वह 2026 से पहले पूरा हो जाएगा या 2026 से आगे तक हम जाएंगे। जो है हमारी borrowing खत्म होए और कर्ज मुक्त हम हों, इसके बारे में आप थोड़ा बताएंगे तो हमें company के बारे में और जानकारी मिलेगी। हाल ही में जो घोषणा हुई 15 अगस्त को, यह जो GST slab के change होने का, अगर यह implement होता है आने वाले time में, दो महीने के अंदर इसकी योजना है। Diwali तक का उन्होंने समय बताया है। हो सकता है दो की जगह तीन महीने लगें। तो यह जो GST के slab change अगर होंगे तो उसका क्या impact आएगा हमारी company पर? और कितना positive रहेगा हमारे लिए। और मैं नहीं कहता जी 2025-26 की balance sheet. 2026-27 तक हमें कितना फर्क आएगा अगर GST के ये slab change होते हैं। आने वाले 24 months के बारे में आप अपनी योजनाएं बताइए कि GST slab change होने से हमारा EPS कितना बढ़ने की उम्मीद है। थोड़ा आप इस बारे में बताइएगा। Secretarial department ने अच्छी मेहनत करी है। हम आपसे जुड़ पाए हैं। हमारी company BSE, NSE के अंदर listed company है। 500188 हमारा code है। HINDZINC जो है symbol है हमारा। उसका पूरा मान-सम्मान रखते हुए well on time उन्होंने balance sheet बनाकर हमारे board को हमारे साथ रूबरू करा है। यह अच्छा लगा हमें जो हम आपसे जुड़ पाए हैं। योजनाएं चल रही हैं सबके दिमाग में, speaker shareholder के, कि भाई शायद company की तरफ से कोई प्रस्ताव आएगा हमें जो है factory visit का। तो कोई मुश्किल कार्य नहीं है। भारत जो है मेहमानों का देश रहा है। मेहमानवाजी यहाँ अच्छी चीज मानी गई है हमेशा। अगर ऐसा ही कोई है तो खैर मेरे को छोड़ दो, बाकियों को ही बुला लो। कोई बात नहीं, अगर एक मेरे को miss करने के बाद बाकियों को अगर मौका मिल जाता है। आना मैं भी चाहता हूँ वैसे अगर ऐसा कुछ संभव हो सके तो आप plant visit का जो यह matter है, कम से कम नहीं तो दो-तीन साल तक AGM के अंदर इसके बारे में जिक्र नहीं होगा क्योंकि यह काफी time से जिक्र चल रहा है। अगर ऐसी कोई योजनाएं आगे बने तो यह festival season के बाद आप हमें मौका दीजिए और आगे आने वाले time में आप तरक्की करें इसकी हम आपसे आशा रखते हैं और भगवान से प्रार्थना करते हैं। हमारे company के अंदर हमारे बुजुर्ग भी पूरा योगदान कर रहे हैं और हमारे youngest भी जो है योगदान कर रहे हैं। हमारे board की average age क्या है, थोड़ा इस बारे में भी आप बताइए। Thank you for the management. Thank you for the secretarial. Thank you जी. Thank you मनजीत जी, thank you very much. Thank you sir. We move on to next speaker shareholder Mr. मनोज शर्मा. Sir, request you to unmute yourself, turn on your video and ask your question. Hello, am I audible? Yes, very audible. Hello. Good afternoon respected chairperson and distinguished board members. Yes, good afternoon. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak here today. [Foreign language] मैं जानना चाहता था कि क्या Hindustan Zinc अपने products जैसे Zinc और Silver को export करने पर focus बढ़ा रहा है, especially जब global demand strong है और हम अभी कितने देशों को export करते हैं? Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. We move on to our next speaker shareholder Mr. सरबजीत सिंह. Sir, kindly turn on your video, unmute your mic and ask your question. Hello chairman ma'am, can you hear my voice? Yes, we can hear you clearly. Ma'am, first of all good afternoon to you all the board of directors, all the staff of Hindustan Zinc Limited. Ma'am, जिस तरीके के आप लोग एक-एक investor को investor friendly approach के साथ return देते आए हैं, इसके पीछे ma'am आप लोगों की मेहनत clear दिख रही है। अच्छे से अच्छा ma'am आप लोग return देते आए हैं और time to time ma'am dividend और interim dividend सब कुछ आप देते आए हैं। यह ma'am एक सबसे ज्यादा good sign है कि आपकी नेतृत्व के अंदर और आपके father साहब की नेतृत्व के अंदर जिस तरीके को investor को investment पर return मिला है, ma'am यह काबिले तारीफ है। Ma'am, जिस तरीके से हमारी promoter holding around 62% है तो ma'am इसको हम कुछ बढ़ाने के लिए कोई buyback वगैरह का plan कर रहे हैं, ma'am थोड़ा सा इस बारे में बताएं। बाकी chairman ma'am हमें पूरा विश्वास है कि आपके नेतृत्व के अंदर जिस तरीके से CS madam और उनकी पूरी की पूरी team ने काम किया है, एक-एक shareholder ma'am यह किसी-किसी meeting में ही होता है कि ma'am सारे के सारे speaker shareholder आपके सामने बोल पा रहे हैं chairman ma'am। कई जगह तो बोल नहीं पाते हैं, connectivity की दिक्कत आती है। इसके अंदर ma'am इन लोगों की जो मेहनत है, वो clear दिख रही है। बाकी ma'am यही कहना चाहूंगा कि एक-एक speaker shareholder आपसे जुड़ता है अपनी company से और उसको यही होता है कि हम लोग को अच्छे से अच्छा return मिले और return तो ma'am आप अच्छे से अच्छा देते ही आए हैं। बाकी ma'am आपसे एक छोटी सी request और है। जो-जो speaker shareholder हमारी company से जुड़े हैं, ma'am इनको reward के रूप में कुछ ना कुछ जरूर आप ध्यान रख care करें। बाकी ma'am हम आपका शुक्रगुजार हैं कि आपने हमें बोलने का मौका दिया। Thank you ma'am. Thank you so much for giving me a chance. Thank you very much सरबजीत जी. Thank you. Thank you sir. We move to our next speaker shareholder ma'am H.S. पटेल. Ma'am, request you to unmute yourself and ask your question. Hello. Hello. You are audible ma'am. Please proceed. Ma'am, please unmute yourself. You're audible now. Okay. Thank you so much. Good afternoon to all of you. Here it is a little bit very tricky, whether it's audible or not. Very good afternoon to all of you. It's audible. This is the 59th. Sorry? You are audible. You are very audible. Thank you. This is the 59th AGM, and today the share price quoted is 435. You are giving us a dividend of INR 29. Thank you very much, Chairman. Madam Priya Agarwalji, Chairman of the company. Arun Mishraji, the CEO of the company, and Mr. Sandeep Modi, the CFO of the company. Thank you, Aashhima Khanaji, but you have never spoken even once to us. The speaker shareholders are very few. This is an AGM, and I request that at the time of AGM, it is necessary that you are heard and we speak to you. It is very essential. We feel very agitated when we don't hear you. I have never heard anybody from your office. I asked Vedanta lady to connect me with you all. Otherwise, it was impossible for me to get your connection, get your line through. Please do not do this and allow the shareholders from Mumbai also to talk to you. Zinc has been the largest and the only integrated producer of zinc, lead, and silver. I congratulate every employee, the board of directors, and the management team for this. This is among the top five silver producer we are globally, and the largest integrated zinc producer in the world. Second largest globally zinc resources and reserves, based on 453 million tonnes, and among top five silver-producing mines. Madam, this is all because of your initiative, your help, and I strongly believe it is because of your father that whatever I am a very proud shareholder to be of this company, and it is because of your father. Even my husband was there at that time, and he was very much thoroughly with you that, yes, this is the company in which we should invest. Please continue to do that. I am really happy under your guidance. "And under your guidance we have received a lot of help. Good help has been received." I will come to a few questions. Please. Our debt equity ratio has shot up to 44% at standalone level. While at the console level, it is at some growth. Will this trend continue? What is our borrowing cost? Can we repay all the borrowings and hope that our company becomes a debt-free company in years to come? What is the CapEx plan for this year, and the percentage breakup basis segment which we have? Congratulations on being the lowest zinc producers and globally INR 1,052 per metric ton also. Also launching EcoZen low-carbon zinc at 75% low carbon footprint. Even with steady revenue and PAT visibly with good dividend per share and earnings per share, why is the company net worth and cash equivalent reducing year by year? What steps is the company taking to overcome this? Further, can we improve our debtor turnover ratio? Do we, apart from profit shares, pay royalties to our parent company? If so, how much percentage do we pay them? That is our Vedanta. Is it linked to the revenue or the profit number? Madam, exports is done to how many countries? These are my few questions. Every employee of the company has done the best to give very good results. Thank you very much in hot sun, in the heavy rains, in the flooded rains. You all have done very good job. I thank the management, especially the lady on the board, and hope you will continue your father's practice. Thank you very much. I'm Mrs. Patel from Mumbai. Thank you very much, Mrs. Patel. Really very, very kind words, and we're very sorry for any inconvenience. I'm sure we can get that rectified. Thank you. Thank you. We move on to our next speaker shareholder, Mr. Aspi Bizania. Sir, I request you to unmute yourself, turn on your video, and ask your question. Madam, am I visible and audible? Yes, very much. Very much, Aspi. Yes. Good afternoon, madam. I'm Aspi from Bombay. Good afternoon. I thank our Company Secretary and the team for giving me an opportunity to speak. Madam, I congratulate the management on excellent results. On EPS of INR 24, dividend of INR 29 has been declared, which is not good. We are borrowing to pay dividends. Our finance cost for the year has become INR 1,100 crores. Please do not pay more dividend than earnings. Madam, we have very good corporate governance in our company. Our group company should learn corporate governance from us. Sterlite Technologies doesn't have corporate governance in their company. I had registered on KFintech site as a speaker for Sterlite Tech. I also have email acknowledgment from KFintech. However, Company Secretary of Sterlite Tech didn't send a link to attend and speak at the AGM. Please inform this to your beloved father, Mr. Anil Agarwal, to take corrective action. Such actions of the CS reflects on the corporate governance of our group. Is it possible to make our company secretary the group company secretary, so the secretary of Sterlite Tech will come under her? Madam, then page 57 of the annual report shows silver output of 687 tons as against 746 tons last year. Why output has reduced? Madam, our share is 77% of zinc as per our CFO's presentation. Who holds 23% share? Rather than setting up a new plan to process tailings, is it not possible to extract more in our existing plants so that future tailings are useless after our processing? This is only a thought process. Madam, latest news on disinvestment, 28% is still held by the government. Please request the government to give the shareholding as rights to the existing non-promoter shareholders. This will be a mini bonus for non-promoter shareholders. Madam, quarter 1 was not good. Reasons for quarter 1 going down? Top and bottom line both have reduced quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year. Please explain. Thank you very much and all the best for your future. Please convey this to your dad. Thank you very much, SPG. I will surely do. Thank you. Thank you. We move on to our next speaker shareholder, Mr. Himanshu Anilbhai Trivedi. Sir, request you to unmute, turn on your video and ask your question. Hello. I'm audible, madam? Yes, Himanshu ji. You are very audible. I'm audible? Yes. Yeah. Good afternoon, respected Chairman, Priya madam, and other Board of Directors sitting on rise. Myself, Himanshu Trivedi from Vadodara, Gujarat State. First of all, thankful to our Company Secretary, Aashhima madam, for sending me a hard copy of the AGM report well in advance, which is full of information and fact figure are in place, which is easy to follow, easy to understand. I am thankful to you and your entire secretariat team. Report is nicely prepared with a beautiful, colorful photograph with all corporate governors are covered in the report. All parameters are covered by the report. I don't have much question because I have full faith on board and their working. Sir, I support all the resolution item. I have sent my all question and query through the email well in advance. With the save of the time of AGM and give the opportunity to speak my rest speaker or shareholder. Madam, you have laid out the entire menu today in the AGM report. Now even the lunch is also over. But sir, as a speaker, I have few questions. What is the market share we have in domestic and international market? My second query, what will be the effort of small unorganized sector? My third query, what would be the profit sharing ratio in coming financial year? And my few query, let me know what are the Hindustan Zinc's major mining and smelting operation of prime location. And what is the important metal does beside Hindustan Zinc we have to brought? What is the main business of the Hindustan Zinc? And my final query, what is the uses of Hindustan Zinc Limited and five function of the zincs, madam? I support, I wish, I good luck and bright future for coming financial year and coming fiscal year. Thank you to allow me to speak. Thank you, madam. Thank you, Himanshu ji. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. With this, we move on to the last speaker shareholder of the day, Mr. Gautam Nandi. Sir, request you to unmute yourself, turn on your video, and ask your question. Am I audible, ma'am? Yes, very much, Gautam Nandi. You are audible. Thank you. Thank you very much, ma'am. Very good noon and Namaskar. Namaskar. Respected Chairperson, Board of Directors, my online fellow shareholders. Myself, Gautam Nandi from Kolkata. Very old equity shareholder, holding 550 equity shares of your company. Firstly, I would like to give thanks to your secretarial department for sending me annual report, along with notice and necessary joining link through email well in advance. I have also received the hard copy as requested for. Madam, you are organizing your annual general meeting through video conference, and I find it is a grand success like the previous years. Madam, I am very pleased to receive your wonderful annual report, which is very, very attractive and also very informative. So thanks again. I find fantastic, excellent performance in every segment, even in this challenging year. So thanks. Your CSR is also very, very good, so please keep it up. Respected Chairperson madam, your introductory speech was very informative and also very encourageable. So thanks. Already all points have been covered, so no repetition from my side. Only one or two points I would like to share with you, ma'am. Ma'am, very happy to know you are going to start two major projects. So thanks again. Very pleased to receive your very good dividend, INR 10 per share. Though, in the last year, we got a higher dividend, so consider, please. Madam, you had issued last bonus shares in the year 2011. So many years have been elapsed. Now, may we expect any bonus issue in this year? Madam, how many employees do you have at this moment? And among themselves, how many permanent and how many non-permanent employees do you have? Madam, one thing I must say, I got huge price appreciation in your stock. Obviously, I am very happy. I am also very proud to be a shareholder of your company. I have full trust upon our strong management like you. So, along with my family, I wholeheartedly support your all resolutions, which we have already casted through our e-voting. Madam, looking forward with a positive outlook towards our company with higher profit margin, handsome dividend, one is to one bonus and return. May God bless you, ma'am. Stay safe, stay healthy. Thank you, madam. Namaskar. Thank you very much for your blessings. Thank you, Gautam Nandi. Thank you. Thank you. With this, we have completed the Q&A session. I now hand it over back to Mr. Arun Misra to conduct the further proceedings of the AGM. Thank you, sir. Over to you. With permission from Priya, let me start addressing the questions raised. First, about ESG. As you would appreciate, we are, for two consecutive years, number one in metal and mining sector in Dow Jones Sustainability Index. We wanted to do even one notch better, as our Chairperson guided us, that we should attempt being recognized in the ICMM by being included in the ICMM council. We attempted that, and we are very happy to share, we are now a member of ICMM council. This puts additional measures to ensure our operations are more sustainable. We are more caring as an organization to the society we live in. We take care of biodiversity. We do not only have net zero target, we also have no net loss target, as well as in our all expansion programs and concern. No net loss to biodiversity around us, and also ensure world best amount of compliance to environmental standards. Clear ask from us is to even go beyond the norms that is set for ourselves as per Indian laws and look at the global benchmark that we need to target. We will continue this journey in terms of ESG, and we are clearly in focus of using more and more renewable power as our primary source of power in our smelting operations. As we exit this year, this current financial year, we aim to exit at a percentage of 30% of power would be renewable power only, comprising primarily of solar, wind, with some amount of battery backup. And this number will go up. In matter of about two years' time, we should go close to 90% of our power mix will be renewable power. Overall, we are 3.2 times water positive, and we want to take it to five times water positive level. And of course, through our expansion, we want to create more and more jobs. And one of the questions on current employment, we are about 25,000 people directly employed around us through different production operations, and more than 100,000 people who are indirectly dependent on our operations. And as we grow to 2 million ton expansion program, we hope to create more and more job for people in Rajasthan, as well as experts and executives who come out of entire Indian academia. Second question on Hindustan Zinc's foray into critical minerals. As Priya, in her statement, clearly articulated, that Hindustan Zinc wants to go beyond lead, zinc, and silver, and we also want to produce more and more critical mineral of future, which are needed by the country. For example, she did mention neodymium. It is a primary metal required for producing electromagnets, which are the main components of electric motors, which are required for electric vehicles that you see on the road. We have got a block. Only company to get a land-based monazite block, which will be the source of this neodymium. We have got block in tungsten, very essential metal required for very critical applications in defense and other sectors. We have got a block in potash. We are looking at graphite. We are looking at various other minerals. As and when they are auctioned by Government of India, Hindustan Zinc will keep on participating. We are very hopeful that we will have a good bouquet of minerals. All of them, there a question was on when they will add to the bottom line. See, it will take about 2 years for exploration and maybe another 2 years for putting up plants for not only mining, but also the smelting. In 5 years' time, meaning that by 2030, we will have at least three to four new metals joining Hindustan Zinc's product basket, apart from lead, zinc, and silver, which is very good news to all of us. There were questions on the various other aspects of net debt to equity ratio. You will all appreciate, looking at the right measure, net debt to equity about 0.25. That means it's hardly one-fourth of the EBITDA that we generate. Our balance sheet is extremely strong. We are in no position of any kind of difficulty as far as funding our growth plans are concerned. We have got very, very ambitious growth plan. We have already announced a INR 12,000 crore project for 250,000 tonnes of metal. We have announced a recycling project of INR 3,800 crores. We will also continue to announce more and more projects till we can offer to you a 2-million ton scheme, which will make this Hindustan Zinc not only the largest and the most effective contributor to India's growth. There was also a question and good suggestion raised about why process old tailings and why not process current tailings. See, the capability is being placed. It will always have the flexibility not only to use old tailings, but also current tailings. As you will appreciate, over the last 10 years, Hindustan Zinc has been constantly investing more and more in operational capability to increase our recovery of zinc. Our recoveries have gone up over the years from 85% to currently about 92%, meaning the amount of zinc available in the current tailing will be far smaller compared to what it was on the tailing, which was dumped in the tailings pond maybe 10 year, 15 year back. Hence, the priority of using the old tailings first, create more space, de-risk our tailing dams, which always poses a risk of embankment failure. Convert the balance tailings into dry tailings and store them properly. Do we export zinc and silver? We don't export silver because India total silver consumption is roughly around 7,000 ton, and we produce close to 700 tons, meaning we produce only 10% of India's consumption. India is a net importer of silver. Hence, there is no question of exporting silver from India. As far as exporting of zinc concerned, we are primarily domestic player. We want to sell almost all our zinc in the country. But various regions, many steel companies want to have a second option ready. So roughly about 15%-20% of the India's total zinc consumption, about 800,000 tons, gets imported. And equal amount of zinc, we export, but it's not our priority. We export mostly to the countries on Southeast Asia, India's neighboring countries, as well as little bit in the Middle East. Of course, I would ask my CFO to talk about in case of insurance cost and any amount of borrowing that is in the horizon. The one question asked on main business to Hindustan Zinc. Hindustan Zinc main business remains to mine mineral, which are of critical importance to the country and which are extremely difficult to mine, being of the nature that they are either they are too deep into the earth or their occurrence is in a traces. So we are expert in mining below one kilometer. We are expert in beneficiating 3%, 4%, 5% grade minerals, and which are also high value since they are very trace mineral, and hence our entire area of operation will remain lead, zinc, silver, and other critical minerals of similar nature. Where does the zinc find its application? Mostly into galvanization. Also in ductile iron pipe welding applications, in cars in the form of zinc wear, in the building facades in the form of zinc rolled sheets. Also little bit amount fertilizer in terms of zinc sulfate crystals. Overall, I think I have tried to address most of the questions. On the growth in silver, yes, it is of utmost importance to us. We have current capability of about 700 to 750 tons of silver production. And as we double our production of zinc and lead, we will also put up more and more fumers. We are also putting up very innovative technologies to recover silver from the jarosite. When we do recycling of tailings, old tailings, we'll recover silver from there. So all taken together, we do see a potential of producing about 1,500 tons of silver per annum from Hindustan Zinc in a matter of three to four years of time. Overall, that would be the response. And of course, we appreciate all shareholders, the love and concern for our company. We also appreciate their eagerness to see and visit our facilities. Whenever we arrange such facilities or have some shareholder-oriented programs at our plant premises, we'll surely inform them. And as and when that happens, I will be the first one to come back and inform them accordingly. Over to you, Sandip. Anything on the borrowings? Thank you to all the shareholders for taking out their time to join this AGM today. There was a specific question on the borrowing cost. The borrowing cost last year was 7.78%. With the repo rate reduction and other things, we raised at benchmark rate. Our borrowing cost is currently around 7.3% blended form. As Arun Ji was saying, we should look at net debt to EBITDA, which is showing the capability of the company to raise the funds and service the debt. So net debt to EBITDA is less than 0.25. That is a comfort I wanted to give to the shareholders. The borrowing depends upon as we are going on the expansion phase. We see our expansion CapExes are having very good IRR and our borrowing cost being triple A-rated company is very less. By funding in a mix of it, we can have a good equity IRR for the overall shareholders return improvement. That is about the borrowing side. There were also a question on the cost reduction, how the further cost reduction will happen. The further cost reduction will happen as Priya Agarwalji, Arun Ji, both were saying, the renewable energy. As long as more and more renewable energy will come, that will be kicking in, say, 70% by FY28. That will reduce the cost further by 20 to $25. As we are a volume-driven company, as we improve the volume, our cost of production per ton will also go down. These are two key levers through which we should be looking at, say, FY27, $1,000 kind of cost. Thank you. I now request the members present in the meeting to cast their vote electronically if they have not done it so far. The e-voting facility will be open for the next 30 minutes to enable the members to cast their vote. I hereby confirm that the requisite quorum was present throughout the meeting. The results will be announced as per the prescribed timelines. The resolutions as set forth in the notice may be deemed to be passed today, subject to the requisite number of votes. Thank you to all the directors and members for participating at the AGM and for making this eAGM a success, and for extending your full support. Stay healthy and stay safe. Thank you