Good morning to all. I am Chintan Trivedi, Company Secretary. I will be assisting the chairman in conducting this AGM. The AGM is being conducted via video conferencing in compliance with the Companies Act, 2013, and the circulars issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the SEBI. This AGM being a virtual one, I would like to draw your attention to certain relevant aspects of the meeting. Members attending the AGM through video conferencing will be counted as present for the purpose of quorum. All the members participating through video conferencing are by default put on mute mode by the moderator to avoid any background disturbances and to ensure orderly participation. Once the chairman announces the question and answer session, the members who have registered themselves as speaker shareholders will be unmuted by the moderator as per the name called out by the chairman.
Please note there is a restriction of 5 minutes per speaker shareholder to speak. If a speaker shareholder faces connectivity issues, we will invite the next speaker shareholder to join. We will allow the previous shareholder an opportunity to speak later. Members who have not registered themselves as speaker shareholders, but wish to ask the questions, they may send their queries to Company Secretary via email after the meeting, and the same will be suitably replied by the email at the earliest. All the documents referred to in the notice, along with the statutory registers required to be kept open for members' inspection at the AGM, are available for the inspection in the electronic mode. During the meeting, if you face any technical issues, you can call on the helpline number mentioned in the notice of the AGM.
The company had provided the members the facility to exercise their vote in respect of the business items specified in the notice through electronic mode provided by CDSL. A person who is a member as on the cutoff date, that is 31st July 2023, is entitled to vote. The members who have earlier not voted on the resolutions through remote e-voting, can cast their votes electronically, simultaneously while viewing the proceedings of the AGM. The e-voting window will remain open up to 15 minutes from the conclusion of this meeting. The result of the voting will be announced after the receipt of the consolidated report from the scrutinizer. Now, I will record the attendance of directors, auditors, and other company officials who are present in this meeting.
Sudhir Mehta, Chairman Emeritus, Samir Mehta, Chairman, Shailesh Haribhakti, Independent Director and Chairman of Audit Committee and Nomination and Remuneration Committee, Haigreve Khaitan , Independent Director and Chairman of Securities Transfer and Stakeholders Relationship Committee and Risk Management Committee, Nayantara Bali, Independent Director and Chairperson of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Committee, Dr. Maurice Chagnaud, Independent Director, Manish Choksi, Independent Director, Jinesh Shah, Director, Operations, Aman Mehta, Whole-time Director, Sadashiv Shetty, Partner, BSR & Co. LLP, Statutory Auditors, Mahesh Gupta, Secretarial Auditor, Sudhir Menon, CFO, Rajesh Parekh, Scrutinizer. Requisite quorum being present, Chairman will take the meeting forward.
Thank you, Chintan. Valid quorum being present, I call this fiftieth AGM to order and welcome all members and directors participating in the meeting. Ameera Shah, Independent Director, is not able to attend the meeting due to some personal exigency and has requested Shri Shailesh Haribhakti to attend on her behalf. The notice of the meeting being shared with the members, I consider it as read. The statutory auditor's report and the secretarial audit report don't contain any qualifications, observations, or comments or other remarks which have any adverse effect on the functioning of the company, and hence, the same need not be read at this AGM. Dear shareholders, good morning, and welcome to the fiftieth Annual General Meeting. As we gather once again this year, it is my pleasure and privilege to host you today.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, management, and employees, I thank you for taking the time to join us and also for your continued support over the past 5 decades. Over the last 50 years, we've transformed from a humble startup into a globally respected organization, making significant contributions to the healthcare industry and the communities we serve. I am filled with a great sense of gratitude and appreciation for this incredible journey we've undertaken together. Our strong foundation of financial prudence, strategic investments and a relentless focus on long-term sustainability have given consistent long-term returns, creating wealth for our shareholders. Over the last five years and 10 years, the CAGR return on our stock has been 20% and 24%. Our key pillar of capital allocation has been our long-term focus on branded generics.
Over the last two years, we have started investing in strategic field force expansions across our key markets, with an objective to increase our prescription base and provide a strong platform for new product launches. Further, we've also started investing in new branded generic markets, which should further add to the resilience of our overall business. We continue to recognize the value of strategic acquisitions as a means to accelerate our growth and diversify our business. Our recent acquisition of Curatio Healthcare has fortified our position in the Indian pharma market, and we are now ranked number 6. This acquisition has also put us amongst the top 10 players in the dermatology segment, and number 1 in the cosmo-derma segment. This business continues to deliver high teens revenue growth, with margin expansion playing out quite well.
On the macro front, global recovery has slowed down due to high inflation, tighter monetary policy, and geopolitical tension. Despite the headwinds, Indian economy has witnessed robust recovery and has mostly returned to pre-pandemic growth. We believe the long-term prospects for the pharma industry continues to be positive, with sustained momentum in the Indian pharma market, along with other large emerging markets. In 2022, 2023, we've grown by 13% in terms of the revenue, despite some challenges we faced in our generic businesses of US and Germany. The consolidation across all our branded generic markets, which now account for over 70%+ of our total revenue, has helped us register an overall strong performance and also improve our profitability. We grew in double digits across all our branded markets.
Notably, India and Brazil, which together contribute to 62% of our revenues, have grown by 16% and 26%. The board has recommended a final dividend of INR 8 per share. Together with the interim dividend of INR 14, the total dividend for the year amounts to INR 22. I'll now talk about the key performance parameters for 2022-2023. As discussed earlier, revenue was at INR 9,620 crore, which was up by 13%. EBITDA was at INR 2,842 crore, which was up by 17%. EBITDA margins were at 30%, against 29% in the previous year. Leverage in terms of net debt to EBITDA was 1.6. R&D spend was 5.4%, ROCE was 22%.
Talking about now our key geographies, India contributed to more than 50% of overall revenues and grew by 16% against the market growth of 9%. Growth was aided by robust performance of 2 brands, of the top brands, new launches, and market outperformance across all our focus therapies. We now have 18 brands in the top 500 brands in IPM, with 13 brands above INR 100 crore of revenue. Brazil, our second-largest branded market, grew 26% against the market growth of 12%. Growth was aided by market share gain, performance of top brands, and new launch momentum. We continue to be ranked number one amongst all Indian players. Germany has seen sequential growth, which recovered from H2 of 2022, 2023, with new tender wins and better growth in the non-tender segments.
Our focus areas will include working on cost efficiency efforts to improve market share in the tender segment, expanding non-tender segment, and developing new segments. In Germany, we continue to be ranked number one amongst Indian players. U.S. registered a stable revenue despite the lack of new product approvals, pending US FDA clearance of our facilities. The base portfolio continued to be impacted by price erosion of mid to high single-digit. The company has 102 ANDA approvals and 46 pending approvals. Our state-of-the-art oral oncology manufacturing facility at Gujarat was cleared by FDA in a recent inspection, and the company has also received its first product approval for the US market from this facility. Our commitment to sustainability and responsible practices will continue to remain our top priority.
We recognize the importance of environmental stewardship, and will continue to minimize our ecological footprint, embrace renewable energy source, and drive sustainable practices across our operations. This past year, we've invested in hybrid solar wind projects to meet our captive power requirement and to reduce our carbon footprints significantly. Our focus on core ESG pillars will help us to navigate growth in a manner that maximizes stakeholder value in a sustainable manner. We've always believed that our success is not solely measured by financial achievements. As a responsible corporate citizen, we've continued to uphold our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility. Through our CSR programs, we've made a positive impact on the communities we serve and the environment in which we operate. We've continued expanding our flagship CSR program, Reach, and now cumulatively support 1,200 villages.
Our commitment to providing comprehensive critical care to children is exemplified by a recent strategic shift towards focusing on surgeries at the new U. N. Mehta Hospital . 780+ surgeries were conducted during 2022-2023. Of these, 50% were life-saving critical surgeries. Under the allied initiatives focused on empowering adults and girls by addressing taboos associated with menstruation and maintaining hygiene, a total of around 27,000 beneficiaries across 615 villages were covered during the year. I would now like to acknowledge the commitment of our employees, who have consistently demonstrated their dedication, passion, and expertise. Their relentless efforts and unwavering commitment to excellence have been instrumental in our achievements. By nurturing a culture of continuous learning and innovation, we empower them to reach their full potential and drive our company.
Moving forward, our key priorities will be: continue to strive for market outperformance in our branded markets through new launches, pouring into new therapies, strengthening product pipeline, and also for generic markets, continue to build on, on strengthening the product pipeline. We'll continue to deploy capital to high growth in organic opportunities and develop them as growth engines over medium to long term. Driving cost efficiency initiatives to improve competitiveness and margins will continue to remain a major priority. Building and engaging an empowered workforce with focus on leadership, innovation, and productivity is another important priority. Driving implementation of ESG roadmap and initiatives will be the major focus of 2022-2023. In conclusion, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all our shareholders for their support, our dedicated employees for their hard work and commitment, our valued customers for their trust and loyalty.
I also express my gratitude to the members of the board for their continued guidance. Thank you once again, and look forward to a sustainable and a successful year ahead.
Chairman will brief on the business items specified in the notice, and invite the queries from the members on the financial statements and other items enumerated in the notice.
I would like to now place the following ordinary business items for your approval. Adoption of the standalone and consolidated financial statements. Confirmation of payment of in- dividend declared and distributed, and declaration of final dividend. I also place the following special business for your approval: ratification of remuneration to cost auditors, issuance of equity shares, including convertible bonds and debentures, alteration of Articles of Association of the company, appointment of Nikhil Khatau as a new independent director. The above items have been explained in detail in the notice of the meeting. As I am interested in Item 3 of the notice related to my appointment as director, liable to retire by rotation, Shailesh Haribhakti will preside as chairman of that agenda item. I would now request Shailesh to place the agenda.
I very happily place the above business in the notice before the meeting. Ordinary business item number three, to appoint a director in place of Mr. Samir Mehta, who retires by rotation, and being eligible, offers himself for reappointment. The above is explained in detail in the explanatory statement attached to the notice of the meeting. I now hand the meeting back to Shri Samir Mehta.
I would now invite the queries from the members who have registered themselves as speakers in respect of business items, as explained above. I now request the moderator to unmute the speaker after I speak out the name. I would first like to invite Jaydeep Bakshi.
Good morning, Chairman Emeritus, Chairman, and MDs and Board of Directors. Myself, Jaydeep Bakshi, connecting from the city of Kolkata. Thanks to our Company Secretary, Chintan Ji, for giving me an opportunity to express my view and presenting a detailed and well informative annual report, and also helping out and supporting and maintaining good relations with the shareholders. Also to Archana Madam, for the support, and also to the entire Secretarial Department for conducting this video conference in a smooth manner. Sir, your initial presentation explained our company's position and also future prospects, and also the different ranking and in different sectors.
Sir, every industry is facing headwinds, and in this conjuncture, the revenue we have generated, a 15% growth and also the dividend, total dividend we have passed of INR 22, is a very good, no doubt, a good achievement, and credit goes to all involved regarding this. Sir, just want to know the any new launches are we planning for expansion for product, product portfolio and for further penetrations? What has been our business generated from the e-commerce platform? Also for the CapEx spending on the R&D for high quality and innovative products, which we are thinking of. What is our plans for the carbon neutralization program and also for the waste management and water recycling, processing? What are the steps for are we thinking of increasing the prescription business?
Sir, regarding the safety matters, have any accidents been occurred, and what are the measures are we undertaking? Sir, do we foresee any risk in the near future for our business, and if so, how do we plan to mitigate this? Sir, what is the present capacity utilization of all the units which we are running? Sir, there is a mainly increase in the selling and publicity of expenses from INR 884.91 crore to INR 1,026.99 crore mentioned in page 330. Kindly throw some light on this. Also, our power and fuel expenses has grown up to INR 155.28 crore. What are the steps for the green energy and saving of our energy cost are we thinking of?
Because now these solar panels and all these are the call of the day now. Sir, our opening inventory of the finished goods increased from INR 958 to INR 1,013 crores. Kindly also throw some light on this. What is our plans regarding the single-use plastic? Because this is being now banned now. Are we, sir, outsourcing any product from the MSME sector? Because they are the backbone of every industry. Sir, the two letters, the A and I, are now the... We were familiar with this earlier, regarding, sir, in the aviation industry. Now, this AI, AI and this ML technology has gone into every industry. How much are we implementing these new technologies in our day to day actions?
Sir, in page 15 and 14, our Indian products have been well explained and well depicted also. Sir, regarding the Brazil products, we have the Braille inscriptions on our product packets. Can we have them on our Indian products also? If you can throw some light also on this. Sir, nothing to add more. I've supported all the resolutions. Sir, this being the 50th year, kindly have some memento to commemorate this occasion, because this is a once a time achievement, a lifetime achievement. If possible, kindly also arrange for one visit to our plants. Sir, with the faith and trust of all the stakeholders and under your leadership and the help of the board members, our company will come out with much better results and reward the shareholders handsomely in the coming years.
Thank you, sir, and all stay safe.
Thank you, Jaydeep. I'll respond to all the questions together at the end. I'll now request Prabhjot Singh Saini, who's the next speaker.
Good morning. Thank you very much for allowing me to speak at your AGM. Mr. Chintan has been following up very persistently to have this conversation with us. Thank you very much. Sir, I am a very old shareholder of yours, and I have been rewarded well by you, and I have seen this growth of the company since last 20 years. We have really enjoyed joining and being with you all together. Only a few questions of mine, that, what exactly are we doing? Are we, is there any dependence of ours for API from China? Are we having any way to really reduce that dependence altogether through and through?
Kindly just tell me, what exactly are we doing to really increase our capacity? We, I've seen that, we were stuck in the sales bracket of INR 7,000-8,000 for a long time, and last year we had a good 10% jump. Are we having that same kind of growth in future? Are we planning, we have done something regarding that one? Thank you very much. I love the company and we look forward. Why don't you split the share? There's one thing that I have been rewarded last year also for a bonus, but I believe that splitting the share would create more liquidity in the market for our company. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Prabhjyot. I would now request Rishikesh Chopra to speak up, please.
Sir, he's not available in the meeting.
Okay, he's not joined, right?
No. Yes, sir.
Okay. Okay. I guess, anyone else left, Chintan?
Rangwala.
One minute. Yes, Yusufbhai Rangwala. I would now request Yusufbai to speak up, please. Yusufbai?
Mr. Yusuf, you are being unmuted. Please speak. Yeah. Hello. Sorry, I think he's not able to connect with us because of network. You can move forward.
Okay, I'll, I'll respond to the, the questions, or the queries that Jaydeep Bakshi had. There was a reference about selling expenses, which have gone up. There are two aspects that, that, the preceding year had COVID-related, muted, expenses. Obviously as the year normalized, the, the expenses, got back to the normal level, pre-COVID level. There was a high revenue growth, including acquisition of, Curatio. That also led to addition of the sales, publicity and medical literature expenses. Power and fuel expenses, have, have grown in, in, context of the volume growth, and there is no other major concern there.
During the year, we have undertaken a new hybrid project, which is a solar and wind hybrid capacity. That would help us move significantly from the current sources of power, which is from the electricity board to our own renewable-based power generation. That will also, besides neutralizing the or reducing the carbon impact, will also be a steady long-term source of power, which will not be subject to the inflationary increases that the fuel like gas and coal go through. Increase in finished goods, that's again linked to the Curatio acquisition, which happened from H2 of last year. There is no other major aspect which explains the increased inventory levels.
There was another question about the new product launches, which are obviously part of integral part of our business and growth strategy. As part of the portfolio expansion plans, we constantly keep looking at how do we strengthen our, our new launches. We've also invested in the, the field force expansion in the last 2 years, significantly across all our, our major branded markets, and, and that hopefully would, would bring better results in the, in the next 2-3 years. We frankly do not see a material risk on future growth, I mean, in any of these businesses in, in the near term. E-commerce, share has not been significant in, in India or in, in the other markets that we operate in. There was also another reference about accident.
We had a 0 accident during the year. In fact, for last many years, the company operations have been run very efficiently with no real. I mean, besides not having any major accident, have had no real EHS concern. 50 years of completion through increased dividend and bonus has been rewarded. The split is something that board will look into as we move along and in future. Visit to the plant is always welcome, and each year there have been requests and most of those requests have been fulfilled. I would also request Chintan to coordinate with all of you, and whosoever desires to visit the plants would be organized at a time of convenience.
Much of the details which were asked for regarding carbon neutralization, risk management, and all that is adequately covered in the Business Responsibility Report. If there are still any questions left, Chintan and Sudhir and team is happy to help. Capacity utilization for the year was 57%. Generally, around 60%- 70% is the norm that we follow. We don't like our capacity utilization to go beyond 70%, so when it crosses around 60%, is a point in time that we initiate the new capacity buildup. So it's around that level currently, and we are working on a new plant. What else? I think that is about what probably Mr. Jaydeep Bakshi had asked.
I'll now move to some of the questions that Prabhjyot Singh Saini addressed. China dependence. API are mostly outsourced in our case, but which are again, mostly India-based. There is very little China dependence. Whatever the China dependence was, there is also an alternate API source, whether from India or from outside. In fact, for most of our API, we do have an alternate source, whether it's from China or India or anywhere else. Our own in-house API capacity is focused on small volume, complex API. Growth over the last two, three years was significantly compromised as we have been aware that U.S. and Germany faced its own challenges, the market related. We have had to deal with the closure of our important part of our business in U.S.
Germany, there had been significant changes in the tendering outcomes. Those two aspects did impact our overall growth. Both are significantly corrected now. The last one or two quarters, as we've been seeing, has been posting now healthy growth, and we are back on the growth trajectory that we've been otherwise on in the past several years. I think that was it from Prabhjyot Saini as well. Chintan, we can move forward, right?
Sir, Yusuf Rangwala has joined.
Okay, we can, Yusuf bhai, if you are able to speak up, please, go ahead.
Yes, sir. Very good, good morning, sir. Good morning, sir. Mumbai, sir, Yusuf. Good morning, sir. Hello.
Yusuf bhai, you are not very audible.
Now, sir, sir, now, give me a minute, sir. Give me only 1 minute.
Uh.
Sir, only 1 minute I will take. 1 second, sir, 1 second. Sir, 1 second... 1 minute. Now, now, now you can hear my voice?
Better.
Speaking from Mumbai, Yusuf Rangwala. I'm very, I'm very thankful towards Chintan and his team. Sir, today there was a meeting. That is why I cannot speak. I'm sorry. I, I'm very extremely sorry. Sir, your balance sheet, 385 pages balance sheet. Our Chintan and his sir is very excellent balance sheet. We are the Unienzyme, which is, which is a world famous. Sir, Unienzyme is a so excellent medicine, which is our, our brand, sir, and our pages. There are two, our, our, our company printed four pages, sir. CSR activity, sir, this shows how I'm very happy to see this balance sheet and our, especially our company share division. Sir, 56, two times dividend. This is a history, sir. Last year, bonus sir. Sir, sir, factory visit request, sir. Factory. How many ladies and how many gents? My question number one.
Question number 2: Bonus last year. Sir, celebration 1 to 1 bonus. That is a very handsome, very handsome return. Sir, sir, you export. Export country, export. This help. Two pages balance sheet medicine. I'm very happy with your company, share department, sir, and I'm very proud to be of the excellent company it is. I am the total power shareholder. Dono achhi company, sir. These are the 2 excellent companies, sir. Nothing more to add. I have share mention. Smell of flowers, outside leaves, coming resolution, full support. Our Chintan, thank you very much, sir. How is your health, sir? How is your health, sir? I would like to help. Tablet. Sir, tablet.
Yusuf-
Tablet... Sir, Allah, mermani ji.
Yusufbhai, all good.
How is health, sir? Product... sir, what are the plan for the five years, sir? Balance sheet, sir, very large, sir, nothing more to it. My good wishes, I pray to God for our well, well company and nothing more to it, sir. I end my speech. Thank you, sir, wish you a very Independence Day. Sir, it is very nearby. Wishing you all the board and my friend, very happy Independence Day, sir. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Yusufbhai. Thank you for your kind words, and Board appreciates your, your appreciation of the quality of balance sheet, the some of the actions taken, like the bonus, the higher dividend on completion of 50 years. Like I earlier also said, probably, you had not been able to join that time, that factory visit can be arranged anytime, so, which Chintan and company would look into. Thank you so much once again. Chintan, anyone else?
No, sir.
All right, so we'll move ahead. It's possible that some of the members wished to ask questions but have not registered themselves. I would request such members to send their questions to the company secretary via email after the meeting is over. We'll ensure that all such questions will be answered via email within a reasonable time. Before I conclude, I would request you to cast your vote if you've not already voted. The e-voting window will remain open up to 15 minutes from the conclusion of this meeting. I heartily thank all of you for your valuable contribution, taking interest in the affairs of the company, and participating in the meeting, and giving your support. Thank you so much.