Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the company's investor and analyst call. Thank you for joining us today. Let us begin with a presentation by the management of the company on the company's performance, results, strategies, and business outlook. We have received questions submitted by the participants at the time of registration for the call. The management will address the questions received after the presentation concludes. Let me introduce our presenters for today. We have on the call Mr. L. V. Vaidyanathan, Managing Director of the company. We also have Mr. Gautam Kamath, Vice President, Finance. All participants are placed on mute and can participate only in the listen mode. Please note that during the course of the call, the presentations and information shared by the management may include forward-looking statements.
These statements are made on the basis of the company's current views and assumptions and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual events or results may differ materially from those statements. I will now hand over the proceedings to Mr. LV Vaidyanathan. Thank you. Over to you, LV.
Good morning, everyone. Am I audible?
Yes, LV, you are.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on the call today. It's our pleasure to interact with all of you. Today, I shall take you through the work that we have been doing at Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care in line with our strategic priorities and the strides we have made during the fiscal year in achieving our objective. Next slide, please. Over 185 years globally, we have shown that our ability to grow is directly connected to our commitment to responsible business and doing good. Our ability to do good is in turn strengthened by our growth. Therefore, we aim to be a force for growth and a force for good in the communities that we serve, keeping our consumers at the core of it all. Next slide, please.
We have been growing and creating value prior to, during, and following the pandemic through a strategy that drives growth and value creation through five integrated choices. A portfolio of daily-use products where performance drives brand choice. Superiority across product, package, brand communication, retail execution, and value. Productivity to fund the superiority. Constructive disruption of the entire value chain to future-proof our business, a highly efficient and effective organization structure. The model is dynamic and sustainable. It adapts to the changing needs of the consumers, customers, and society and is focused on growing markets, creating versus taking business the most sustainable way and typically most profitable way to grow. We believe that the best path forward is to double down on this integrated set of strategies that are driving our results.
Let me take this opportunity to talk more on the focused portfolio of daily-use products of PGHH in the feminine hygiene and personal healthcare categories. We concentrate our efforts and focus on delivering superior products with the best performance in every tier in which we compete in these categories. For our feminine care business, we serve our consumers with products that not only meet their needs in a way they expect, but also offer them superior benefits which improve their lives. In turn, the consumers reinforce their trust in the brand, which truly makes Whisper a market leader. Next slide, please. Similarly, our healthcare portfolio serves consumers with an assortment of products that cater to diverse needs, be it single symptom, multiple symptoms, and even evolved needs that require customized solutions. This consumer-centric approach has resulted in Vicks continuing its market leadership through the years. Next slide, please.
Coming to superiority, that is the formula to delight consumers and earn their chosen loyalty. Next slide, please. We know how to create value in these categories by delivering irresistible superior propositions to our consumers and retail partners across product, packaging, brand communication, retail execution, and value. We continue to raise the bar on all aspects of superiority in all price tiers where we compete. We are leveraging this superiority to grow markets, as a result, P&G's share in these markets as a way to sustainably build the business. Noticeable superiority is increasingly important in an inflationary environment as consumers reassess value across all elements of their budget. We have been very intentional in building a strong presence across all relevant price tiers and retail channels so consumers have a choice of different price points and value proposition within our portfolio. Next slide, please.
Let me translate our strategy of superior products for you through an example of Whisper. Did you know that during periods, the flow experience of women at night is different from the flow at daytime? Yes. Our Whisper Nights pads are up to 75% longer and wider to give the consumer maximum protection and ensure no staining during period nights. This proposition is growing strong double digit as it solves a key consumer unmet need. Next slide, please. Our brand Vicks leveraged the power of superior communication to better resonate, engage, and serve consumers. We intended to create stronger awareness about the bouquet of benefits Vicks VapoRub can provide to consumers versus the select situations where Vicks VapoRub was most used. The outcome was a simple, yet effective message that Vicks VapoRub relieves six cough and cold symptoms as effectively as mother's touch of care.
We delivered this messaging in the language the consumer prefers on their preferred channel of communication. Let's play the ad now.
"Mummy ke haathon mein jaadu hai. Chaste haath lagaati hai toh khasi gayab. Yeh haath toh panna ghul. Yeh haath toh sardard takt."
"Jaadu toh Vicks VapoRub mein hai. Iska kapoor de khasi se aaram. Menthol band naak khole. Giloy, jadebait, tel sardard se lade. Taaki mile chain bhari neend. Vicks VapoRub."
Another example is our Whisper Choice communication that takes to the consumer our technology of magic gel, which, coupled with a longer pad, provides up to 100% stain protection. Let's play the communication, please.
[Foreign language] Ritu, kya hua? Periods. Subah se bahar hai. Kapda aur nahi soh payega.
[Foreign language] Apnao Whisper Choice Ultra XL. Yeh hai zyada lamba. Soakhe char guna zyada aur de 100% tak daag se suraksha. Kyunki isme hai magic gel. No dar, din bhar. Whisper.
We also emphasize our superior performance of our offerings through strong value-based messaging in our communication on packaging and at shelf, physical or virtual, in terms of retail execution. Point of sale is an equally important touch point to engage and educate consumers. By driving superior retail execution, we intend to serve our consumers and customers. Next slide, please. Success in our highly competitive industry also requires agility that comes with a mindset of constructive disruption, a willingness to change, adapt, and create new trends and technologies that will shape our industry for the future. It's a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo, and this mindset of constructive disruption is even more important in this challenging, ever-evolving macroeconomic environment. We are innovating how we innovate, moving faster by combining over 180 years of expertise with entrepreneurial spirit of a startup. Next slide, please.
100% of our brands are impacted by technology in some way or the other. 5 billion plus of our consumers worldwide feel the effects of our innovative tech-enabled solutions. Be it binding of consumer insight or customizing our media reach to reach consumers where they are. Enhancing our go-to-market operations to create value for our partners. Driving digital transformation within the organization for better productivity and expanding availability and service at stores using the power of AI/ML. Tech is truly powering our engines. We have moved away from media planning in silos, TV, digital commerce, e-commerce separately, to an integrated media approach, where an algorithm powered by latest trends and historical data can bring up the best cross-screen media model that helps us achieve maximum reach at the lowest cost.
Historically, our supply chain has been a competitive advantage for us, we are investing significantly to strengthen this advantage and be better positioned to handle larger capacity and higher ranges of demand volatility while reducing overdependence on singular nodes. We call this Supply Chain 3.0, the next generation of supply chain. An end-to-end, synchronized, sustainable, and resilient supply chain amplified by data analytics. For instance, in India, we are leveraging data to optimize total distance traveled and reduce number of touches by the product while improving our speed and reliability to the market. This has resulted in 35% faster speed to the market and has also resulted in reducing 6 million kilometers, a significant reduction in our total amount of carbon emissions. Next slide, please.
The strategic need to keep investing in superiority, the short-term need to manage through a very challenging cost environment, the ongoing need to drive balanced top and bottom-line growth, including margin expansion, underscore the importance of ongoing productivity. We have developed a strong productivity muscle over the years. Productivity is now fully embedded in our operating model and is embraced in every part of our operations. Specifically last year, through our productivity intervention, this company achieved savings of over INR 105 crores. Next slide, please. P&G's organization structure is designed to focus our human, technical and financial resources on our biggest opportunities for growth. This structure yields an empowered, agile and accountable organization with little overlap or redundancy, flowing to new demands, seamlessly supporting each other to deliver against our priorities in the community. One aspect of our empowered organization is the organization's focus on citizenship.
We have embedded citizenship in the way we do business every day, our efforts are based on community impact, equality and inclusion, and environment sustainability, with a strong foundation of ethics and corporate responsibility guiding everything we do. Through this, we aspire to positively impact our people, communities, partners, and leverage the voice of our brands to maximize impact. Next slide, please. The journey of enabling starts with our people at P&G, who live our spirit of being a force for good every day. We continue to upgrade our bouquet of policies and programs to cater to our diverse workforce, so that every single person can bring their whole authentic selves to work every day. For example, we recently introduced our infertility treatment policy to support all employees and their partners with more inclusive opportunities for family planning.
This program supports employees of diverse gender identities, sexual orientations, and family structure. Similarly, we continue to be committed to accelerate the pace of change outside of P&G, be it removing barriers to education and economic opportunities or advancing inclusion of LGBTQ+ community and many other initiatives. You can learn more about them in our citizenship report now live on our website. We are also leveraging our significant voice in advertising to tackle bias through our longstanding brand movements, like Whisper's Keep Girls in School. Our recent film, "Whisper's Missing Chapter" takes forward this movement and aims to educate mothers on the biology of periods, so that they in turn can educate their daughters on menstrual hygiene and health.
From being the first brand to advertise sanitary pads, to now being the first to depict female anatomy in advertising, Whisper continues to break taboos and educating a lot of women on menstrual hygiene and health. Let's look at this film now.
Jignesh?
Present, Miss.
Purvi? Purvi? Absent, Miss. Beta, Purvi sick.
Aunty, we have come to meet you.
Periods. Periods start at the age of 10 or 12 years. It happens every month when the uterus forms a lining to support the baby. If there is no baby, this lining comes out in the form of blood from the vagina. Periods is not a disease, not something to be ashamed of. This is not a curse. This does not mean that you are going to die. Periods are a sign of becoming a healthy and strong woman.
Aunty, we can do everything by using pads. The girl who does not know this, she skips school for four days every month. Gradually she drops out of school. Aunty, Purvi will come back, right?
Whisper has given period education and free pads to 10 crore school girls and moms. With every pack of Whisper Ultra you buy, you too can help us keep a girl in school.
Our long-standing commitment to education is also our way of contributing to the social development of the country, brought to life via our flagship CSR program, P&G Shiksha. P&G Shiksha is a holistic educational program which addresses critical barriers to achieving universal education. Over 18 years, Shiksha has helped reach thousands of schools and communities, impacting over 35 lakh children. Next slide, please. Environmental sustainability has been embedded into P&G's business practices, and we consistently strive to minimize our environmental impact, encouraging consumers and suppliers to do the same. We have committed to accelerating efforts to combat climate change as part of Ambition 2030. We've committed to be net zero by 2040. Our global water strategy aims to restore water in water-stressed areas around the world. Today, we are collecting more packaging waste than we put out and leverage renewable energy in our operations.
Our brands are incorporating sustainability and serving consumers with superior products, for instance, by leading the use of recycled plastic. Next slide, please. Many of these efforts have been recognized widely by prestigious institutions, which only reaffirms our belief of being a force for growth and a force for good. With that, I hand it over now to our CFO, Mr. Gautam Kamath.
Thank you, LV. Good morning, everyone. My name is Gautam Kamath, and I'm the Vice President of Finance for P&G India. LV spoke about our integrated growth strategies and how they're making a difference to our business results. I will now share with you what exactly these business results have been in the past one year, as well as over a longer period. I'll also share with you our view on the long-term outlook for the industry as a whole. Of course, many of you sent over questions, which I will address in the course of my session. We have bounced back in a year in which the industry faced several headwinds. In the healthcare category specifically, we face a very strong category growth challenge as the impact of a high COVID-driven base got corrected.
Despite that, our sales for the Q4 quarter grew 3%, excluding the impact of any one-time items. The headline, though, was not our sales. Rather, it was the bounce back of our profits, which grew 255%, driven by the premiumization and pricing and a reduction in expenses in response to our productivity program. For the fiscal year, our sales grew 12%, excluding the impact of any one-time items. We saw strong growth across both our portfolios, despite the challenging situation on category demand growth for the cough and cold sector, as well as the massive commodity headwinds in the industry. The profit grew a strong 10%, excluding the impact of one-time items. We were able to offset the headwinds through a combination of prudent pricing combined with our productivity program, which, as LV earlier mentioned, delivered INR 105 crores in savings for the year. Just give me a second. Yeah.
Before I address some of your questions, I want to talk about the external landscape and how we see it evolving. Next slide, please. FMCG consumption in the April-May-June quarter was the fastest that we have seen in the past six quarters. Inflation is softening and volume growth is finally returning. The 7.5% volume growth in the quarter is great news for the industry and the economy in general because we know volume growth eventually unlocks capital investments and triggers a very positive investment cycle. In another piece of good news, the rural growth is inflecting as well, with the quarter showing 1.4% volume growth in the non-food sector after four quarters of significant volume decline. Many of you had questions on how rural economy is growing, I'll address them later on how that impacts our business as well.
While the term cautiously optimistic may be a bit of a cliché in the field of investments, I believe it's the term that best describes our outlook for market growth at the moment. We are seeing the consumption trends to be broadly up, driving our optimism. Retail inflation for the months of July and August have averaged 7%, August rainfall has shown an 11% negative deviation from the norm, driving the caution part of it. On anecdotal evidence, September rainfall appears to have bounced back and may have a big say in how the rest of the year pans out. Many of you also asked about commodity prices. Commodity prices have remained high, we have not seen the cost pressures receding as expected. The bars that you see on this chart here represent the three commodities that we use the most in terms of value.
You can see the price upcharge in the fiscal year 2022-2023 was even higher than the increase in fiscal year 2021-2022, they're not showing signs of receding yet. This means bottom line pressures will remain. Of course, this could differ based on the particular commodities that impact each industry and each category. I return now to more PGHH statistics, especially some long-term data. Our integrated growth strategies that LV laid out are working for us. We have delivered consistent high single-digit sales over the past 10 years, while at the same time delivering a cumulative annual profit growth of 13%, while becoming more and more asset efficient. Our return on equity has improved by 54% during this period. Our operating profit margin during this period has increased by a whopping 550 basis points. Another way to look at these numbers is in absolute.
Our absolute sales have gone up 2.3 times over the past 10 years, while profits have more than tripled, demonstrating our ability to consistently deliver superior execution of our strategies. We have also created significant shareholder value over this period. Our dividend per share over the past 10 years has increased by six times, our share prices have reflected the consistency of business results delivery. Once again, our integrated growth strategies enable us to bring consumer centricity to life and have been the guiding forces enabling these results. We are confident that these are the right strategies to navigate the near term. I'm now going to move to the Q&A session and would like to thank you for sending your questions in advance. Many of you had questions on category growth expectation for the next few years.
I quote one question here from Mr. Mudit Minocha, from M3, which is, "What is the category growth expected for the next five to seven years?" We expect volume consumption growth within the FMCG category to be in the mid-single digits over the next five to seven years. There are, however, several categories where consumption is fairly underdeveloped. Whether we look at the potential to further improve and impact consumer lives, or whether we compare to other countries with similar per capita income. We see an opportunity to grow these categories double-digit. To make this a reality, the role we see companies like P&G play is to continue to drive awareness and education, making our products available to consumers at varied price points and retail channels, and continuing to delight them with superior propositions at the right value.
There were quite a few questions on our current market share, our strategies to defend that market share, and long-term plans and strategies going forward. Again, Mr. Mudit Minocha from M3 asked this. Mr. Vishal Gutka from PhillipCapital asked the same question. Mr. Akshay Jogani from Xponent Tribe, Mr. Aman Batra from Goldman Sachs, and Mr. Ranjit Hingorani all asked the same question. Let me try and address this. We are market leaders today in both the feminine care category, where we are nearly half the market, and in the cough and cold category, where we are over half the market. This has been possible because our focus has actually been to grow and build the category, and that's what we will continue to focus on. Our integrated growth strategy will continue to form the primary foundation for us.
This means focusing on delighting and serving consumers, customers, society, and shareholders through the five strategic and integrated choices. A portfolio of daily use products in categories where performance drives brand choice. Superiority across product, package, brand communication, retail execution, and value. Productivity in everything that we do. Constructive disruption across the value chain, and an agile, accountable, and empowered organization. We gave you examples of each of these. This strategy has helped us navigate multiple challenges in the recent past, and we are confident that these are the right ones to hold us in good stead in the times to come. I'll move on to the next question. Mr. Vishal Gutka asked if recent distribution expansion will help us to do or to gain meaningful market share and volume growth. The short answer to this is yes.
There was never any question of whether distribution expansion directly leads to market and category growth. It helps us make our products available and better serving to our consumers and customers. The real question was: Can we go deeper in a sufficiently cost-effective manner and grow profitably? That is the question that we have answered positively with our recent distribution expansion. Talking more about how we did it, we developed an in-house artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithm that analyzes consumer behavior patterns to customize a range of P&G products at a store level. With this, we have transitioned from a cluster-based planning to a store and neighborhood-based planning. This win-win model is helpful for the consumer in making their desired products available and helpful for the store owners, helping them optimize inventory and significantly reducing non-moving stock. I'll move to the next question.
Mr. Nikunj Gala from Sundaram Mutual asked how's raw material scenario currently. I believe I covered this in my presentation where I talked about how the commodities are moving, and that covers the question on raw material as well. Mr. Rohit Kadam from Entrust asked whether there are plans to merge with other unlisted entities in India. This was a recurring theme, and many of you asked questions on integration, merger opportunities. While we can't comment on this price-sensitive information, our current corporate structure in India is delivering strong results. We will continue to focus on creating value for all our stakeholders. Mr. Rohit Kadam from Entrust asked us, "Are there any new categories you plan to enter?" Similarly, Mr. Sandeep Shanbhag from Excelsior also asked if the company intends to enter into new product categories other than feminine hygiene and cough and cold.
Once again, while we can't talk about what's in the future, this year has been great in terms of our brands upgrading and introducing innovations across the portfolio. This includes Vicks ZzzQuil, which is the world's number one sleep supplement, Vicks 2-in-1 Roll-On Inhaler, and Vicks VapoRub Xtra Strong on the healthcare portfolio. Of course, the consumer favorites, Whisper Ultra Hygiene + Comfort, Whisper Choice Nights, and Whisper Ultra Softs, all in new avatars on the feminine care portfolio. Mr. Nikunj Gala from Sundaram Mutual asked how the competitive intensity is currently. After a couple of years of flat volume growth, the industry as a whole is looking to come back strongly. Competitive activity is fairly intense. Healthy competition actually enables category growth, and we're all for it. There were a couple of questions on our ad spend.
Again, Mr. Nikunj Gala from Sundaram asked, "What percentage of ad spend is management comfortable with in the long term?" Similarly, Manasvi Shah from ICICI Prudential asked, "How will ad spends pan out for the rest of the year and next year?" The ad spends are not determined by comfort levels. They're a function of the business need at hand and the right scale of consumer awareness needed to address it. Therefore, this could vary from year to year. The focus has always been, and remains, growing the category by delighting our consumers with superior propositions and locating the relevant touchpoints to create awareness with the right consumer audience. The next question we got was on whether we propose to expand manufacturing for exporting as well.
Today, our footprint in India also serves consumers across many other markets, including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Philippines, South Africa, to name a few. Ms. Meenakshi from The Hindu BusinessLine asked, "How much does e-commerce channel contribute to your total sales?" E-commerce is already contributing in double digits to our overall revenue. Of course, it differs by category and the choice a business makes on the channels for each segment. This strong growth and momentum can be attributed to evolving consumer habits, where consumers are shopping online to meet their needs instantly. Along with this, e-commerce is opening up a new set of avenues to reach, target, and engage consumers. In fact, we are also learning and seeing early wins on specific formats like quick commerce. Let me take an example.
Whisper has a single-minded focus on developing evolving segments like nights and bringing in new users via driving education, leveraging right topics and topicalities, and creating a buzz regarding bundles. Whisper Nights is growing at 150 index versus year-ago, bringing a lot of the segment growth. Vicks ZzzQuil, one of our newest launches, seeks to help Indian consumers with the rest that they deserve and drive a significant mindset shift across consumers, pharmacists, and customers. ZzzQuil is the number 1 product in the past three months on e-commerce portals in the sleep aids category. Moving on to the next question. Mr. Gokul Maheshwari from Awriga asked us, "Can you comment on the penetration and per capita usage? What has been the capital growth and your market share movement in the last five years?" Again, a lot of you asked very similar questions.
Mr. Raunak Soni from Equirus asked us, again, about the low penetration levels. Mr. Ankit Gupta from SBI Mutual Funds asked how do we expand the market size for women's hygiene. Similarly, Mr. Vicky Punjabi, Mr. Chockalingam Narayanan, Ms. Disha Seth from Anvil, all of you asked very similar questions. Let me address this. Feminine care category is of course categorized by generations of taboos and stereotypes, preventing girls from availing timely and appropriate awareness about periods and hygiene. Therefore, our focus over the last three decades has been to drive menstrual health education and hygiene. Till date, we've educated over 10 crore girls and mothers. We have also spearheaded many consumer movements that challenge these stereotypes, from #TouchThePickle to the recent #KeepGirlsInSchool. You saw our recent communication as well during LV's presentation.
From being the first brand to advertise sanitary pads to now being the first to depict female anatomy in advertising, Whisper has consistently challenged these taboos. This has also borne fruit for us. Fem care category has grown 23 times over the last 20 years. 20 years ago, 24 crore pads versus today, 480 crore pads. While our shares have hovered around the similar mark, we have continued to be market leaders. This has also led to the penetration of the category and Whisper increasing consistently. This reinforces our belief in category growth as the driver for not just growing our business, but also serving more consumers and doing good in the society, bringing to life our mission of being force for growth and force for good.
Mr. Raunak Soni from Equirus also asked us: how big is the unorganized segment in feminine hygiene, and how does imports from China affect the sector growth rates? Unorganized segment is around 5% of the overall market share, and it has stayed the same for the last two years. There's been no significant impact to imports as most of the unorganized players actually operate from India. Mr. Shyam Mehta from Creaegis asked: I would like to know about the penetration levels of the sanitary pad category in India, divided by urban and rural. Is there a case to have two different brands to address both markets? Similar questions from Mr. Siddharth Bhattacharya on what's the addressable market size on feminine hygiene, especially in rural India. Similarly, Mr. Prateek Prajapati from Motilal Oswal asked: what might be the differing contributions from rural and urban?
Similar question from Mr. Mitesh Kamdar, again from Mr. Krishnan Sambamoorthy from Nirmal Bang on what's the penetration level as compared to other BRICS countries. Let me address all of these here. As you all would have guessed, penetration levels in rural India significantly lag those in urban India. Roughly, the numbers are in the ballpark range of 60% plus in urban India and below 35% in rural India. Having said that, there is a significant opportunity to increase penetration even in urban areas. In terms of value spent per consumer, we are about one-fourth of the average BRICS consumption. The penetration and consumption gap has only widened with the pandemic-induced challenges. Our aim has been to address the common and diverse challenges faced by menstruators across markets and make superior propositions from our diverse portfolio available to them.
We are doing this by identifying needs, designing propositions, and making the products available to consumers. I already spoke of our extensive efforts on busting taboos and myths regarding periods. Our Whisper Nights portfolio is an excellent example of catering to unique consumer needs. We spoke about how the flow menstruators experience at night is different from flow at daytime due to gravity. We have a product designed for it. Our Whisper Nights pads are up to 75% longer and wider to give the consumer maximum protection and ensure no staining during period nights. I move to the next question on: how has competitive landscape changed over the last five years, especially with the advent of Sofy, Stayfree, et cetera? I think Manasvi Shah from ICICI Prudential asked this question. Yes, the competitive landscape has evolved, and more competition has entered the category.
Like I said, healthy competition can also help to grow the category. There have also been tough years given the pandemic-induced challenges and commodity inflation that impacted the category and the industry at large. However, our overall growth during this period has remained strong as we've remained focused on driving our integrated growth strategy and remained focused on the consumer. Mr. Vicky Punjabi from UTI Mutual Fund asked if there are any thoughts on developing natural portfolio in healthcare. Actually, 90% of our healthcare portfolio is naturals and ayurvedic. Mr. Ankit Gupta from SBI Mutual Fund asked: what do you prefer over the long term, market share or profitability? Look, it doesn't have to be an or. We believe and have demonstrated that market share can be delivered while growing the category top line and bottom line. We have proven that over the years with our integrated growth strategy.
Aman Batra from Goldman Sachs asked us to share the current direct and indirect distribution reach and plans to expand the same. Similar question from Mr. Prateek Prajapati from Motilal Oswal on information about our existing distribution network, including the quantity and locations of distribution centers. Look, while we can't share details to the extent of our distribution network, we did cover earlier about how we are leveraging the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to make our products reach more stores and better serve consumers from those. I hope that adequately answers a significant part of that question. Mr. Pritesh Vora from Mission Street says we have close to INR 1,000 crore of cash on the books. Are we looking for inorganic growth opportunity? If yes, what kind of acquisition strategy do we have? This is price-sensitive information, and unfortunately, I'm unable to talk about this.
Another question from Mr. Pritesh Vora. Can you please detail on product extension, if any? Mr. Abneesh Roy from Nuvama also asked, "What's the % of new products contribution?" Aiswarya Dave from iThought also asked if there are any new products to be launched in the near future. Our two newest product launches have been ZzzQuil Sleep Aid Gummies and Whisper Overnight Pants. Both are products that are unique and develop nascent category segments, and we're hoping to serve a very specific consumer need with these products. Mr. Tejas Trivedi from Barter Capital asked us to explain the nature of flowing expenses, of business processing outsourcing expenses, legal and professional expenses. Business process outsourcing expenses are the charges that are paid towards services that we receive from a shared service center. These are in the nature of accounting, IT, and back-end processes.
Legal and professional fees are what we are currently paying, not just to legal firms that represent us as well as external firms and agencies that are helping us on tax and regulatory matters, but also on data purchases. Nielsen data, for example, which is purchased, is actually classified under this heading, so that number might look high. What are the products from Vicks global portfolio that can be launched in India? This is from Mr. Krishnan Sambamoorthy from Nirmal Bang. Indian consumers are unique, with their own habits and usage practices. Taking products from global Vicks portfolio and launching in India without assessing the specific consumer need in India can result in lukewarm business outcomes. The starting point is always unearthing the specific consumer need.
Post which, we then assess the best way to serve that consumer need, including assessing product from our very rich global portfolio. The launch of ZzzQuil, Vicks Steam Pods, and Whisper Period Panties are prime examples of the global portfolio products serving the needs of Indian consumers. Any thoughts on reviving Old Spice brand to the fullest? Asks Mr. Amit Kadam from Canara Robeco, who's clearly, like myself, a lover of the brand. We continue to make the best efforts to grow the brand. As the aerosol deodorant and aftershave lotion categories continue to expand, we strive to grow Old Spice with it and develop the category. This is from Mr. Priyank Chheda from Vallum Capital. The recently announced CapEx of INR 2,000 crores in Digestives for exports, will it be done under PGHH? If yes, when and how?
Similar question from Mr. Kailash Rustagi from VNS Risk. This announcement actually pertains to a different legal entity and not to Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care. We have begun witnessing green shoots in rural regions. This was from Ms. Meenakshi Verma from "The Hindu." Yes, indeed, there are visible signs of green shoots in the rural economy. As I said earlier, we remain optimistic about the growth, with some concerns about the monsoon and retail inflation, but the broader trend is very encouraging. Of course, it will also require companies like us to continue to invest in rural growth through awareness programs, trial, and distribution, which we are already working towards. There were a couple of questions on margins, Mr. Mitesh Kamdar asked about what's the long-term band for EBITDA margins. Similar question from Mr. Abneesh Roy from Nuvama.
Amit Kadam from Canara Robeco also asked how do we see gross margin and A&P behaving in current financial year. I answered A&P earlier. Let me address the margin question. We will continue to drive both top-line and bottom-line as well as EBITDA margins. The exact band is difficult to predict, but we aim to grow bottom-line ahead of top-line in the foreseeable future. This will enable us to fund innovation, raise the bar on superiority, and absorb the macro headwinds. The next question was on what's the internal benchmark for growth, and is it the market share multiplier to GDP? This is from Mr. Ajay Garg from AM3 Ventures. We have a bouquet of benchmarks that we define for ourselves, including top-line and bottom-line growth, category growth, cost and cash, organization growth, with ethics and corporate social responsibility guiding everything that we do.
The next question was from Disha Seth from Anvil on what's the company's thought on process of decomposition of feminine hygiene products. Are we coming out with products which are environmental friendly? We are on a journey of sustainability, and we continue to work with the government and all other stakeholders. We continue to work with different state authorities and organizations to enable collection as part of our Extended Producer Responsibility. We are also working on partnerships with the municipalities and NGOs to collect the waste that consumers will segregate, and we are testing technologies to upcycle. In fact, environmental sustainability has been deeply embedded in P&G's business practices for many years now. We consistently strive to minimize our environmental impact and encourage consumers and suppliers to do the same across four scientific top focus areas: water, waste, climate, and nature.
We take pride in being able to collect back more packaging waste than we put out. Being zero waste-to-landfill across sites and leveraging renewable energy in our operations. We have made strong commitments, including an ambitious climate transition action plan, Ambition 2030, which accelerates our efforts to combat climate change. We have committed to being net zero by the year 2040. In conclusion, we hope today's session was both informative and exciting for you. We have endeavored to respond to most of the questions that we have received from you, either in the presentations or in the Q&A section at the end. Some questions, while we may not have called them out, would also have been addressed as part of what you heard from us today. Once again, we thank you for joining us on the call today.