Hello everyone. Welcome to the Nestlé India full year earnings call. I am Shashank Kumar Nair, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Nestlé India. I have with me today my senior colleagues from the Nestlé India management team, Mr. Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. David McDaniel, Executive Director, Finance and Control and Chief Financial Officer, Mr. B. Murali, Director, Legal and Company Secretary, and Mr. Sanjay Khajuria, Director, Corporate Affairs. Now, before we get started, let me first read out the standard disclaimer. Except for the historical financial information contained herein, this presentation may contain statements which reflect management's current views and estimates and could be construed as forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which hold only as of the date. The future involves uncertainties and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from the current views being expressed.
Potential uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, factors such as changes in general economic, political or market conditions, commodities and currency fluctuations, competitive product and pricing pressures, industrial relations and regulatory developments, significant disruptions in the operations due to unforeseen events, including as a result of the spread of the disease. Volume and mix and organic growth are based on Nestlé internal reporting standards. Figures are regrouped, reclassified to make them comparable. Calculations are based on non-rounded figures. Analytical data are best estimates to facilitate understanding of business and not meant to reconcile reported figures. Answers to question may be given based on generally available information in public domain.
No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representation not contained in and not consistent with this presentation, and if given or made, such information must be relied upon as having been authorized by or on behalf of Nestlé India Limited. As for the agenda today, we will have a presentation followed by the question and answer session. Once the presentation is complete, I would invite you to exercise the raise hands option on MS Teams. Once you have raised hands during the Q&A session, my team will enable your mic when you are first in the queue. I would request you to please then unmute yourself and state your name and organization before proceeding with your question. In the interest of accommodating as many questions as possible, we would be grateful if your questions are brief in nature.
As for practice, the entire proceedings are being recorded and will be uploaded on our website www.nestlé.in. I will now request Mr. Narayanan to please take over and make his presentation.
Good afternoon. Good morning, good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and a very hearty welcome to this investor call. I hope to keep my comments fairly brief so that we have enough time for your question and answers. I do hope that all of you are keeping safe, that your families are safe, and that everything around you is calming down as we start to come out of this pandemic, which I do hope. The theme for my presentation today to you, the short one that it is Determined to Keep Strong.
I think we have all been through a lot in business, on our own lives, and I think it's important to reflect on what intrinsic strengths we have as a company to be able to come out of this difficult situation and also to look ahead with some hope and also with a lot of pride at what all we have achieved over this period of time. What were the key takeaways the last time we had met, I believe on the October 29th 2021?
The key takeaways at that time were unwavering commitment to India, leveraging the rural opportunities, striving to continue a robust business model, sustainability across our operations, caring for communities as a way of life, and of course, all that we do around our people, and really ensuring that we have a more robust and a more energizing and a more inspiring work situation. What are the elements of the resilient organization that I would like to touch upon today in my presentation to you? First thing is to cover the full year 2021 results, the quarter for 2021 results, which is in your hands already. The underlying performance.
There is, of course, as you would have noticed, a large exceptional charge that is coming because of reimagining retirement benefits. What are these and how does it impact the organization? Our digital analytics journey, we're very proud of the journey that we are making. As we become a larger organization, there is every need to ensure that data works for us, that information works for us, and that seamless process and decision-making systems support the ambition and the growth of the organization. Finally, we also celebrate a milestone of sustainability that I would like to take the occasion today to highlight. Our full year 2021 performance, as you know, we follow the January-December calendar.
We have closed the sales in December at about INR 146.3 billion, growth of 10.1% over the previous year. The profit from operations has grown by 13.1% of 50 basis points enhancement of the operating margins from 21.7% - 22.2%. Our net profits have grown from 15.7% - 15.9%. In terms of operating growth at 11.5%, though the reported growth is only 3%, that's because of the exceptional items that I will be coming to shortly.
Earnings per share has also moved up handsomely by the same 11.5% from 216 INR per share - 241 INR per share. Of course, the reported number is about 19 INR lower at 222 INR per share. The underlying fundamentals of the organization continue to be strong and robust. If you look at quarter four, 2021, again, the robust growth continues. Profit from operations have also improved. Our growth, reported growth, total sales is at 8.4%. Of course, the domestic sales is higher at 9.2%. We closed the quarter at 37, little over 37 billion. In terms of profit from operations, operating profit, again, underlying growth has been strong, 14.7%.
Operating margins improving from 20% - 21.1%. Of course, the net profit also before the exceptional items moving from 14.1 - 15.2, which marks a 16.6% growth. However, the reported growth is at minus 20%, and that's because of the one-time exceptional item that has been booked in the profit and loss statement. Earnings per share, we would have closed without any exceptional charge at INR 58 rupees per share, which is up from INR 50 rupees per share, a 16.6% growth. However, because of the exceptional charge that has been taken, it is at - 20%.
The point that I wish to make once again is that the performance for the quarter also has been fairly robust and gives us some confidence about the future as well. I talk here about five-year performances. It's good to talk about two quarters and three quarters and four quarters. As the CEO of this company, I would like to put forward the five-year or the six-year performance, in fact, in terms of what we have achieved. Boring as it might sound, to be steady and to a certain extent, to be having steady hands on the wheel is probably a virtue at this time.
If you look at from 2016 - 2021, the growth has been led by volume and mix. That has been the cornerstone of our growth. We talked about it when I came to head Nestlé India in 2015. One of the first statements that we made was we will have penetration-led volume growth to be the driver of growth. That's what we have continued for the last six years, from 12.5% now to 9.6% is the volume and mix-led growth, which arguably, and I don't boast about it, would be one of the better numbers as far as the industry is concerned. If you look at the recent past, which is the last four quarters, again, it has been fairly salutary.
Last quarter, we closed at about 8% growth volume and mix, which will also be somewhere in the top end of the spectrum of performances in the FMCG sector. In CAGR terms, 2016 - 2021 is 10.5%. If you look at value growth, again, it has been a steady performance from 2016 - 2021. 2021 closed at 10.7%. Total sales, 10.1%. Domestic sales at 10.7%. If you look at the last four quarters as well, the sales have been salutary. We closed quarter four of 2021 at 9.2%. In CAGR terms, at 10.4%.
Hence, it is fair to say that penetration-led volume growth has been the defining element of the performance of Nestlé India in the last five years-six years. Where has the growth come from? Because you would say you got this growth, but where is the growth coming from? Mega cities has been growing consistently for us. It took a dip in 2020. You will see those numbers in brackets, and that is because of the COVID situation, where mega cities, which is those, cities which are greater than four million population, were adversely affected. If you look at metros, they continue to be strong, and they've had growth that also has been indicative in some sense, synonymous with the reducing impact of the pandemic.
Again, at 6.3% growth to look at the last quarter. If you look at Town Class 1, this is the exciting part of India that really defines our rural strategy. Town Class 1, again, has been encouraging growth. If you look at Town Class two-six, has actually been double-digit growth, and you can see that 12.3%, 17%, 16.6%, 13.7%. So fairly strong growth that have come. Now, we are arguably a low intensity as far as rural sales is concerned, getting about 20%-25% of our sales coming from rural markets. We have closed quarter four at about a 9% growth following upon a 10% growth.
Some of the characteristics has been that this has been a secular growth across town classes and of course, in terms of intensity of growth skewed towards smaller towns and skewed towards the rural markets. That really tells us that the Nestlé portfolio has come to stay and has started making the inroads into the markets of the future. Profit from operations, how have we done here? Again, I'm giving here the chart for the last six years. 17.6% is what we closed in 2016. It's almost up by 460 basis points to 22.2 in 2021. If you look at the recent past performance, we had an exceptional high in quarter one of 2021 at 23.3.
Closed last quarter at 21.1. A CAGR of 16% in terms of operating profit growth. If you look at net profit growth, the CAGR has been 25%. There again, it has improved from about 10.6% on a point to point comparison from 2016. Would have closed at 15.9%. Of course, the reported is 14.7%. So therefore, this again has been a good journey for us, almost by about 500 basis points, 530 basis points. Last four quarters again has been reasonably strong. 16.7%, 15.6%, 16%, 15.2%. Reported 10.4%, and that's because of the exceptional item that we had under the transition cost of the pension plan.
Again, the CAGR here has been a strong 25%. Strong volume led growth, strong evolution of operating profits, strong evolution of net profits. If you look at the domestic sales for last year, we had Milks and Nutrition, that's about 42% of the portfolio growing at 2.6%. I hasten to add that we had a very high base effect in 2020 that also has impacted, and to a certain extent, the Milks portfolio was also impacted by competitive pressures. The Nutrition portfolio, however, has started to make amends coming out of the pandemic and in fact recording quite encouraging growths. The Prepared Dishes and Cooking Aids has grown extremely well at 16.7%.
The confectionery business has also grown extremely well at 20.4%. The powdered and liquid beverages, which is the coffee business, has also grown by 16.1%. You can see that the categories that need to start to fire on cylinders have started to fire on cylinders. I think that is an important part that you need to notice about the overall portfolio of the company, that it is not unidimensional in terms of growth. It is now becoming more multidimensional in terms of growth. If you look at innovation continues to be a priority for the company. From 1.5% of sales coming in 2016, we kept innovation as the central plank as far as the initiatives of the company were concerned.
Happy to see that we closed at close to 5%. 20 new projects in the pipeline, 100 new projects, new products launched in the last five years. New categories are also being considered at the time that I'm speaking to you. All this has created significant value for investors in terms of annualized returns. In the last 20 years, an annualized return of 19.8, almost 20%. A company that had a market capitalization of little over a billion dollars in 2001, today is almost at INR 2 trillion and about $25 billion in terms of the overall market capitalization. You can see that we are up 38.2 x versus the FMCG benchmark index of 14.7 x.
This gives us a lot of pride, ladies and gentlemen, but it also gives us a lot of humility to be able to be on this wheel of high performance as we go forward. What are some of the storm clouds that are appearing? I'm putting this up front here. Storm clouds on the horizon. Global commodity prices. I've tracked here 13 commodities. Out of the 13 commodities, six commodities are hitting 10-year highs. Not one year or two years, but 10-year highs. I think that is food inflation, I think, a matter of concern. It is something that we have to watch out. Of course, as a company, we have got the necessary competencies. We've got the ability to be able to manage this as best as we can.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that food inflation and commodity inflation is here to stay for a while at least. This is a quick section on the impactor of our results, which is really the exceptional charge that has been taken, which is really reimagining our retirement benefits. As you know, one of the perquisites of working in the Nestlé organization, apart from, of course, a professional environment and an ethical environment and a sustainable environment, is the fact that our employees enjoy pension as well after their retirement. What are some of the changes that have been done? We call it the future ready plan. The earlier pension plan was a defined benefit pension plan, was unfunded. There was no portability. Finally, there was the pension eligibility was only at retirement. What have we done today?
We have aligned to market practice, and it is fully funded, a combination of frozen defined benefits for past services and defined contribution for future services. Those who are existing in the services of the company will have their defined benefit frozen till first December, and then after that, they will move to the defined contribution or the National Pension Scheme as far as their pensions are concerned. What does it mean for employees? It means security, fully funded plan managed by financial experts. Please remember, ladies and gentlemen, Nestlé is a brand marketing company. We are not the best guys as far as managing funds or managing our treasury operations as optimally and as good as some of the pension companies and other insurance companies are capable of.
Portability, it's fully portable. Benefits irrespective of age and service and flexibility. There's a choice of annuity products based on the financial needs of the employee at retirement. What is in it for the investors? Firstly, it is de-risking our profit and loss. Embedded risk of a defined benefit plan has been mitigated, bringing future cost certainty as far as the organization is concerned. Of course, this will have favorable impact in the future on the operating performance of the company as well. Finally, in terms of financial impact, approximately two-thirds of the defined benefit pension liability has been covered. A one-time exceptional cost of INR 2.4 billion has been factored into the results, and therefore that EPS that you saw lower by INR 18 was that one-time cost.
Investment of INR 13.7 billion covering the obligation under the plan. I want to mention that the company has had very strong cash flow generation during 2021. The 2021 cash generation has really gone towards paying our dividends, and the carry forward of last year has gone towards the investment in the insurance organization as far as the future liabilities are concerned, and also in funding the strong CapEx program that we have got. Bottom line, the company has not gone and accessed any financial institution for any loans or does not have any other risk that is associated with heightened interest cost over a period of time.
That's really to assuage you that the fact is that there is a one-time cost that has been factored in, and that's the cost that you're seeing as far as the results of the company are concerned. What are some of the initiatives as far as transforming ourselves with digital and analytics? This is something that we're very proud of. Our digital spends today are anywhere upwards of 30%. In some brands it is, it's closer to 50%, 60%. That is Digital India for you. Proud of is the multi-intelligent data analytics system that we have now put together that is really data-fed, analytics-led, and future-ready as far as the business interventions are concerned. The three platforms for this enterprise-wide data warehouse. Data is the new oil, as they say, and this data is starting from retailer segmentation to dynamic forecast.
In fact, our salespeople are today being able to carry on their handhelds auto recommendations to the retailer on what they need to buy. This is the kind of offtakes that they have been able to enjoy. That's the facility that we're building into our operating systems. In terms of cockpits for business management, whether it is brand review, whether it is channel and e-commerce or whether it is growth planning, there is a more robust platform for this, not anecdotal, but data-led. Finally, advanced analytical models, both for integrating sales planning, for integrating supply chain and value chain analysis and value chain planning and of course, demand forecasting. The ideal situation is that when there is a seamless impact of offtakes that is measured in the marketplace into production planning and into supply assurance over a period of time.
This is what the journey that we are on, and we are making some encouraging progress in this direction. In terms of granular clusters, we talked about it some time back. How are we doing this? Harnessing granular data lakes. I think today we have a fair amount of data that is available both from internal and external. Looking at 6,260 urban towns, 555 village-level data. Big data analytics involves five key KPIs or measures as far as consumer behavior is concerned: income, consumption, savings, investment, infrastructure and media exposure. We've got indices that chart out the country basis this. Finally mapping all of this in terms of potential of geo-targeted clusters. What does this do? This helps us in what we call market mix modeling. This is a jumble.
We don't know what the elements of what a sales performance translates into. If you were to look at the eight or nine vectors, you are able to disaggregate it using the power of data and analytics between, for example, trade-led, digital paid, digital earned, digital owned, television, PR, outdoor formats, print, and the base level sales. You can disaggregate each of the vectors that impact sales in a geography, in a cluster, in a channel and in a brand. That translates into a greater optimality as far as the media investments are concerned in terms of better leveraging of trade assets, building long-term equity, augmenting portfolio strategy, etc.
All of this is significantly helping the organization to be sharper, smarter, more focused and more efficient as far as utilization of the resources for promoting the sales and promoting the geographies are concerned. We've also embarked on the fact that Nestlé of the future is not going to be a company of just brands, but also providing services to consumers. The service arm of the company is also flexing itself, and Ask Nestlé is one of it. It brings alive the Nestlé corporate's trust credentials via a service ecosystem for individuals and for families. In 2021, Ask Nestlé attracted about 4.8 million visitors. It is authentic, it is relevant, it's applicable tools and trackers and regional content has been put in on recipes, on expert advice, on custom meal plans, on tracking growth.
All of this is to help people with the values of nutrition, with the values of expert advice, and with the values of the voice of science, rather than rather than depending on any other source as far as their nutrition information is concerned. Finally, of course, building positive inclination towards brands and a stronger business connect with focus on first-party data for a cookie-less future. I think we are all looking forward to a time when we will have a cookie-less future. Really building up the strong foundations of information on first-party data is one of the key strategic responses in the digital space as far as Nestlé is concerned. Ask Nestlé is just the beginning of this particular journey. Our sustainability journey, I want to take this occasion.
I think we have had the occasion last time to be talking extensively about our sustainability journey. Today it is to really focus on 10 years of the Nescafé Plan. This is our Nescafé Plan headquarters at Kushalnagar. This is in Karnataka. It's a live demo farm that we operate. Farmers to really look at the livelihoods of coffee farmers, building a community and building a farming community across the value chain and, of course, sustainable management of landscapes are linked to our value chain is a key deliverable on, in this.
Improving livelihoods through better varieties, through yield improvement, responsible sourcing, traceability and transparency, sustainability, and finally of course the environmental impact in terms of various scientific measures in order to contain water usage and also to look at soil testing and optimal conditions for growing and also the plant requirements and protecting the soil. What are some of the initiatives? The two ends are the launch of the Nescafé Plan marked the beginning of a stronger sustainability journey. What is the outcome? The outcome is pouring respect for people and the planet into your cup. That's the quality coffee that comes from the Nescafé Plan. What has this meant? This has meant dealing with three states, 4,400 farmers. Almost 30% of our coffee is sourced sustainably.
In terms of yields, 18% improvement in yield has taken place. 23% savings of water on the farms. 2,500 soil samples tested over a period of time in 251 villages. What's more important is that when people and farmers put in the extra effort to grow sustainable coffee, we pay them for it. The coffee that you drink is made from coffee from which we pay INR 3.5 per kilo extra for part of the coffee source, which is 30%+. Almost 7,000 tons of sustainable coffee was purchased by us last year. This becomes a virtuous circle that we look at.
Good manufacturing, good growing practices, better sustainability, better rewards, better incomes, leading to better farming practices to be done over a period of time. This gives us inspiration to look at other crops as well, where we will be looking at these kind of initiatives. In sum and substance, I've covered for you the performance of the company. The operating context of the company continues to be strong. The portfolio continues to be strong. As far as the charges that have appeared as far as the P&L for the last quarter is concerned, I've explained to you the transitions that have been made for the right reasons as far as the pension plan of the company is concerned.
I've given you a flavor of the kind of data, digital analytics opportunity and excitement that the company has built in. Finally, I've talked about the sustainability journey and an example of what we've been able to achieve during this period of time. What are some of the key takeaways this time that I would like to leave you with? Number one, sustainable volume-led growth. I think this is a mantra that we are not going to let go of in a hurry despite the environment in which we live. Strong value growth across rural and urban India. We are excited by what we are seeing in rural India, and we are also looking at accelerating the journey as we go forward. Sustainable performance.
This is really not just a hope and an aspiration, but I believe, ladies and gentlemen, a demonstrable performance of the company. Innovation continues to be an engine of growth. I think the fact of the matter is, in the last two years, our focus has been to try and focus on the core, to make the core happen for us, because I think it's important to see that the core portfolio of the company does not derail during very difficult volatility, and difficult periods of operation. At the same time, the projects are all ready, and many of the projects are on the anvil of coming up in the next couple of months. Implemented the future-ready plans for our people. That's what we talked about. Strong commitment to transform using data and analytics.
I think that's something that's important. Sustainable initiatives at the core of being a force for good. Finally, of course, that while we do see that there is an impact of inflation at this moment of time, and that is something that is probably going to last for a while, yet the prospects for growth continue to be healthy. I thank you all for your patience. I thank you all for your attention. I thank you all for your support. I thank you all for your understanding. Stay safe, and I look forward to your questions. This is my team, which is ready, determined in adversity, and inspired to grow. The picture you see is our factory in Sanand, the factory that is the newest factory, the ninth factory.
About 62% women, the most digitally connected factory, the most ecologically friendly factory, and the future face of Nestlé. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Narayanan. We are now assembling the question queue. First in queue is Abneesh. Abneesh, you may unmute yourself and proceed with your question.
Yeah.
Yeah, hi, Suresh. Congrats on the results. I have two questions. My first question is on the Maggi noodles and the prepared dishes. In Maggi noodles, you mentioned that strong growth momentum sustained due to increased availability. Could you elaborate on both? Why I'm asking this is it's a fairly well-penetrated category. There have been new players like Sunfeast YiPPee! Noodles. Is Winning in Many Indias helping versus pre-COVID? If you give some sense on the market share in the noodles.
Very good question, Abneesh. As always, you know, you ask the question and you also give part of the answer. That's the beauty of your question. Yes, indeed. Some of it has been really the granular India that we are looking at. I think this is paying off for us significantly. The availability part, I think the opening of our ninth factory in Sanand, that has been clearly some of the availability related issues there have got eased out a bit. I would not say entirely eased out, but eased out a bit. I must say that there is remarkable resilience as far as the brand itself is concerned. I respect competition, but I don't fear competition. I think we know what we need to do, and we will do what we have to do.
I think the respect and regard and the equity for the brand continues to be very strong. We are at about the 60% on market share that we talked about. We have made progress and we will continue to make good progress in this category going forward.
Sure. One small follow-up there. So in Maggi, the brand extensions you have done in the last five years, could you call out some of the successes you have seen here the last five years?
I think the biggest success for us, you know, we have had variants of Maggi, for example, that have done very well. Maggi Atta Noodles. We have just launched Maggi Veg Masala in the south. That's also got off to a great start. Masala-ae-Magic has actually been a very powerful brand, and I think it's doing very well. During the two years of the pandemic, it actually picked up significantly. And there are more. I mean, we look at new categories also within Maggi that we are coming up with, Abneesh. The point that I would wish to make, taking your question on board, is that when I first came, Nestlé India was known to be a Maggi company.
Today, I'm happy to say that there are multiple engines of growth. It's not just one brand. Yes, the brand is important. I'm not saying for a moment that Maggi is not important. There are multiple vectors of growth that is making the journey more exciting as far as we are concerned.
Sure. Last question. In milk, nutrition, you called out, that, slower growth in milk was because of competition. Could you elaborate on that?
Look, I think the fact of the matter is both operating environment also. A lot of our milk products sell in parts of the country which have been especially COVID impacted. Like for example, in the Northeast, there has been a significant impact of COVID there that has led to a lot of operational constraints. I'm not saying that it has been easy working in those. Of course, I think the fact of the matter is that competitive pressures in terms of the capability or the proclivity of our competitors to also look at price changes depending on the increase in commodity costs is different and therefore that also puts pressure as far as we are concerned.
Sure. Thank you. That's all from my side. Thank you.
Thank you, Abneesh.
Thank you, Abneesh. We have the next question from Krishnan. Krishnan, you can go ahead. Krishnan, you'll have to unmute yourself and then proceed. Krishnan, we would request you to unmute yourself, please. Okay, I think Krishnan is having some connectivity issues. We'll go to the next one in queue, which is, Shirish. Shirish, please unmute yourself and ask your question to Mr. Narayanan.
Sure. Thank you for the opportunity, and that's a nice presentation you have given. However, I was a little stuck. You said CY 2021, volume was 9.6% and value growth was 10.7%. It's truly a volume-led growth, which I really appreciate. Tell me, how are you managing? I mean, the whole industry is crying. There is inflation which is there. What is the secret sauce you have been managing? Does that mean that even 2022 we will see a volume-led growth and company will take a marginal price increase?
Look, Shirish, you know very well that, you know, my task here is not to be giving you, forward guidance, so therefore I shall not, comment on how much of growth we will do. I think one of the advantages, Shirish, that we are seeing is I think our portfolio helps. Our portfolio helps, and I think that portfolio is what is helping us. We have also had some very strong programs so far in terms of, cost mitigation. Shark, as we have called it, has also, given us, good economies. But, you know, going forward, I think, we will have to look at, judiciously, price changes wherever it is called upon to do so. I don't think we can be completely oblivious to it.
The philosophy at Nestlé has always been that price increases and price changes come last in the queue. Really for me, the word pricing power is a word I do not quite like. It is consumer power that is important. It is not pricing power that is important. I like to exercise whatever we need to do on pricing as the last option that we have as a company. Because what for us is the big challenge, Shirish, and you know this well, is that most of our categories are relatively lower penetrated. You know, I'm not like a bar of soap or I'm not like a biscuit that is there in almost every household. I've still got a lot of runway to cover.
Therefore, I think we will do this judicious mix between pricing, between portfolio management, and between cost and cost efficiency initiatives, to be able to keep you happy, to keep the consumer happy, and to keep ourselves happy.
Just quick follow-up, Suresh. You did mention SHARK last time. Would you be able to quantify as a percentage of net sales what kind of saving we would have done in CY 2021?
It's about between 1% and 1.5% of sales.
Okay, wonderful. My next question is on health science, and you always have spoken when we met you physically about two years before, and even you have been saying, but I have not seen any comment during this presentation on health science. I more look at this is a new age product and this is penetrating very fast. Even the price premium what we are charging is also accepted by the consumer. So tell me, what is the growth which you have seen last, say 4 quarters-5 quarters since the time we have got into this?
You mean you're talking about the health science portfolio?
Yes.
Yeah. No, the health science portfolio is relatively small, Shirish. I think, you know, but it's a very promising portfolio. I think we have got a couple of products that are lined up. You know, we have probably arguably the best product for obesity called Optifast. That got off to a great start. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, it's got affected because, you know, nutritionists and bariatric surgeons have not been able to get their hands on the product and neither on the people whom they can help. That's a product. You know, our Resource High Protein is probably, I would call it arguably the best protein supplement.
It's available for people with normal protein supplementation, for diabetics, for people with hepatic or liver-related situation, for those with dialysis. I think this is a promising part of the portfolio, and we will dial up. As you know, globally, Shirish, I think Nestlé is very actively buying into health science and into nutrition science companies, some of which will also benefit us in the future.
Okay. That's my last question on the distribution front. You did and you were saying that 25% business is coming from rural. You also shown in the presentation that we have about 555,000 villages. At this point of time, if you can tell me over CY 2021, what is the kind of growth in terms of distribution, in terms of coverage and village coverage is gone?
Look, I think good question, Shirish. At the moment, let me be very clear. I'm not targeting 555,000 villages. That's the universe. We are targeting, as I mentioned the last time to you, 120,000 villages, which is villages over a population of 2,000. Therein we have covered, I think about 75,000-80,000 villages. There is still about 40,000 villages still left. The results have been very encouraging. I think to get an 8%-9% volume growth at this time in rural India says that the portfolio must be working. Otherwise, you know, why would consumers be interested in picking up the portfolio?
That's what gives me the encouragement and gives the company also the encouragement, because remember that this is, you know, you and I have worked for strong distribution companies, so we know it. The distribution is very easy to put on paper, very difficult to create. I think that's the process of creation that we're doing.
Thank you, Suresh. All the best to you and the team.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, Shirish. We have our next question from Shilpa. Shilpa, you can unmute yourself and go ahead.
Yes. Mr. Suresh, hi. I hope all is well on your end. My first question is, I wanted to get a sense of the demand environment, because a lot of the other FMCG majors are also flat, slowing growth, especially in rural areas. This is especially on the back of inflation. I want to understand from your front, how have you seen this environment? Especially, I mean, has there been any impact, third wave? Because of inflation, what's the kind of impact that you're seeing, especially in rural areas? Because you did mention that the rural growth was quite healthy. Are you not seeing any signs of a slowdown because of inflation in the past couple of quarters?
Look, I think I want to be clear. No, it is not that everything is absolutely sunshine as far as the economic concept is concerned. I think, you know, the loss of jobs, the kind of pressure on incomes, the seeking of value, all of these continue. Therefore, there's nothing there that has dramatically changed. I think, you know, every portfolio plays to a certain genre of consumers, and a certain kind of penetration and a certain kind of stickiness as far as the consumer profile is concerned.
I think the Nestlé portfolio. I mean, this is not to take away from the pain that is being felt by a lot of industry players. It is not, you know, at the moment, you know, I have not seen any huge weakness that is appearing. Consumers continue to be seeking value, seeking good quality, seeking trustworthy brands, seeking nutrition, seeking credibility. All of this is enshrined in the Nestlé model. So therefore, as far as we are concerned, I think we see a certain element of stability. But yes, if food inflation really continues for a long time and is exacerbated by what happens geopolitically, then it can be a cause for concern.
At the moment, as our results are showing, you know, the pressure points are being felt, but it's not that the house is collapsing.
Right. Thank you. In fact, inflation was my next question. You did say food inflation was a concern and some of the commodities are 10-year highs. Did you effect any price increases in the past quarter? I wanted to understand on that front.
Yes, we have. We have, Shilpa. We have done selective price increases have been taken. But as I mentioned earlier to the question that was asked of me, I think we put price increase at the last that we need to do. We look at efficiencies, we look at strategic buying, we look at Project SHARK, we look at you know, portfolio and capacity optimization, and then we come to issues of pricing. But yes, price increases have been taken, and as I mentioned earlier, that could also be a lever that we need to press in the future if indeed the level of inflation is unrelenting.
Right. Thank you so much. My last question is that you did say there's a lot happening on the innovation front and new categories are being considered. Now, while I understand you cannot give me any specifics, I wanted to understand what are the areas that you're looking at that look promising for Nestlé in terms of innovation?
Across the portfolio of the company, Shilpa, honestly is across the portfolio of the company, whether it is in nutrition, whether it is mix, whether it is in the prepared dishes or portfolio, in the coffee portfolio. I think there are a number in some of them in the health sciences portfolio of the company. There are a whole variety of projects that are on, and I think these are. When and how we launch them will always be dependent. The first right on resources will always be to the core of the company. I mean, the core has to be secure.
Right.
There's no point in me building an outhouse when the living room is collapsing. I think that's the philosophy that we use, that we will protect the living room, we'll protect the core of the house, and then we will selectively keep adding. The issue for us, Shilpa, I don't say this with arrogance, at Nestlé, the question is not what to launch, but when to launch. You know, we don't have-
Right.
We don't have a shortage of ideas. The question is, when do we want to launch whatever we want to launch?
Right. Also, I mean, globally also Nestlé has been foraying into a bunch of new categories. Will some of that also reflect in the domestic market?
No, sure. I think the fact of the matter is that we enjoy a huge amount of support from the parent in terms of technology, in terms of R&D, in terms of brands, in terms of operating efficiencies, et cetera. I mean, you know, we have an umbilical cord that is extremely strong and therefore it is clear that whatever benefits accrue to the global portfolio, some of it, as is relevant, would flow down to us as well.
All right. That's it from my end. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you, Shilpa. Next in queue is Percy, along with his colleague, Samir. Percy, you or Samir, whoever is able to unmute, if you can please proceed with your question.
Last time also, Percy had a problem. I hope this time he doesn't.
It seems he's having a connectivity issue again, sir. That's why he had his colleague also on the call, but in the interest of time, apologies, Percy, we'll have to circle back. Since we are already out of time, what we'll try and do is accommodate two more questions, sir. First from Avi and next from Vishwa. For the others whose questions we've not been able to answer on the call, feel free to email it to us and whatever we can share in a transparent-
Look, Shashank, I don't mind if you want to continue for 15 minutes more till 5 P.M., it's fine. We will do that.
Perfect, sir. Perfect. Let's do that. Let's try and take as many questions as possible. Avi, over to you next.
Hi. Am I audible? Sorry.
Very much.
Yeah. Hi, this is Suresh. Thanks for this. Just had two questions. The first was, you know, basic follow-up on the gross margin. Is it fair to say that the sequential increase in gross margin that we saw is largely driven by a better category mix? You know, if I kind of look at the math, it does suggest that there has not been a material change in either mix or realization versus what we saw in the third quarter. Just to follow up on that, if that is the case, then, you know, just trying to build it up, would it not be fair to say that while you're concerned about input cost inflation, it's not as current kind of concern, it's something that could play out, which is what we are seeing.
The clouds is what we are seeing, not this necessarily playing out. Those are the two bits first.
Let me take the second question, and I will give the first question of yours to my able finance director to be able to give you a more granular answer. As far as the food inflation is concerned, let me mention that it is here and now. This is not a futuristic kind of statement that we're talking about. Between December quarter and now we are seeing a distinct storm clouds and, in fact, the storm is upon us, so it's not a hypothetical, let me look at it three quarters from now kind of situation and give you an idea.
This is what we are facing today, and this is what my team and I are trying to mitigate as best as we can. That is on the part of food inflation. The first part on the sequential margin change, David, you might like to answer that question.
Sure. Thank you, Suresh, and thank you for the question. If we look back at the last four quarters, we have seen our gross margin dropping a little bit quarter by quarter as input cost inflation has been coming higher and higher. We've been managing this, much as we have for the last several years with the volume growth and the scale benefit this brings to our P&L, through judicious control of all of our cost heads, and careful timing and calibration of of marketing investments, for example. Latterly, some pricing. As Suresh has said, more as the last choice, last weapon of choice. It's true to say that more pricing has been needed as we have moved through the year as the input cost inflation has steadily ramped up.
As Suresh says, this picture is continuing to evolve in the same manner.
Okay. Just one thing. Can you give us a number on the inflation on a basket level? Is it possible to share that? How much is it from December till date?
I can tell you that our index of commodity costs is up in high single digits%, let's say, over the last six-9 months.
Perfect. Just the last bit is on the pension plan change. Would it be fair to look at this resulting in a lower hit to the P&L on the employee cost front from a future perspective? Is there for the remaining one-third which needs to be covered, would there be an additional investment that would be required?
Both questions, the answer is yes. There will be a marginal improvement in operating margins through a lowered employee cost. If you like, the pension service cost is now National Pension Scheme cost. The key element here has been de-risking and removing the possibility of the liability growing with demographic factors and the actuarial valuation. Providing employees with flexibility and portability and more professional management for their pension. It's been a win-win, and that's been evidenced, I think, by the extremely smooth transition we've had of this project. Yes, a marginal improvement going forward.
When or if we come to address the remaining employees, it would be fair to say that it's likely there will be a one-time transition cost again. That could be in a proportionate manner to that we've seen for the first wave.
Okay. Thank you very much. That's all from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. We have our next question from Vishwa. Vishwa, if you can please proceed.
Yeah. Hi. This is regarding child nutrition from age two to seven years old. If you see our portfolio like LACTOGROW or NAN PRO versus competition versus PediaSure, like, we may not be the leaders, but how we are dealing with, like, Resource versus Ensure and Nestlé or NESPLUS versus Kellogg's. In terms of competition, how we are dealing and how we are trying to improve the market share. Second, the availability of the products at chemists or hospitals or the availability across India, how relatively with our mass products, how we are faring there.
Good question, Vishwa. I think the signs on the two-seven, what we call the toddler range, has been extremely encouraging. I think mothers realize the quality of good nutrition, of credible nutrition, of demonstrated performance, and I think that is playing out quite well for us versus any of the other players in the market. Similarly, as far as Resource High Protein is concerned, yes, we may Ensure is much larger, but I think we have a product that's also technically a very good product with the least amount of sugar and the highest amount of whey protein, so therefore there is a positive in that as well.
Also, I think, let's be very clear, the breakfast cereal business is here to stay. Nestlé has always been a long-term oriented company. You know, Maggi wasn't built in a day, neither was Nescafé, neither is Kit Kat. These all take time. The company has got the stomach, it has got the courage, it has got the wherewithal to stay the course and to make it happen one day. I think that is something that we will not stop at. Therefore, all these categories have got off to relative levels of encouraging starts. I think we will continue on this journey as we move forward in the coming years as well.
Sir, just to add, in terms of availability, like, are we covering all chemists across India?
Yes. What we do is we have got a fairly strong pharmacy presence. For example, for the toddler range, there is a strong pharmacy presence that is taking place. As far as the other two categories are concerned, we are doing it more selectively, Vishwa, because, you know, one of the risks is that these are relatively higher value products. We have to be careful, otherwise we will have to keep taking back products in large quantities. We are more judicious, we are more careful in our distribution strategy. Also, we are putting a lot of weight on e-commerce as being a carrier for this.
Indeed, during the pandemic, you know, e-commerce has helped us open up the tier two and tier three towns, which otherwise had to be done with physical distribution. We are playing to the strengths of the category and playing to the strengths of the geography and channel as well.
Got it, sir. Sir, next two more questions, sir. If you see traditionally, say 80% of our portfolio comes traditionally and 15 modern, 5% e-commerce. If I put in that way, as if you see 10 years or five years down the line, if modern trade inches up to 50% or so, if I presume, and, compared to traditionally modern trade, they have private labels, and they may have the pricing power to charge more commission on the selective products. How you see this, I mean, if not now, immediately, like in future, if modern trade evolves, similarly applicable to e-commerce, so how the strength of why because these are monopolies and they have pricing power. I mean, they may. How you would see this challenge?
Look, I think, Vishwa, the fact of the matter is that as a company, we respect brands, we respect competition, we respect our customers, because many of these people who you're referring to are our customers. This company has built 155 years because of integrity, trustworthiness, and quality as far as our brands are concerned. I think that is something that we are not gonna walk away from. So long as our brands remain credible, remain trustworthy, remain honest, of the highest quality, and of the best value deliveries to consumers will stick with us. That is the belief of the company that has made Nestlé into the largest food company and the largest FMCG of sorts in the world.
I think this is the philosophy that will make us continue on this journey.
Got it, sir. Sir, regarding third question, final question. Regarding the B2C, presently D2C.
Vishwa, I'm sorry to interrupt.
No, sir, last question.
Vishwa, you can actually reach out to us and share that question because there are so many others in queue, and we have to be fair to everyone. I'm so sorry.
Okay. Yeah. Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you for understanding, Vishwa. Harit, you are next. If you can please proceed. Harit?
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah. Hi, good evening. Just had two, you know, quick questions. You know, first was on the rural side. You know, it seems like from all quarters we're hearing that, you know, there are challenges on rural demand. You know, how do you think of the next six months - 12 months in terms of your rural distribution strategy? You know, is the idea now to consolidate and wait till you see a pickup there, and then kind of, you know, push forward again on the village side or just wanted to hear it because there is a cost benefit that you would be doing on this side, you know, given what's happening.
Yeah. No, Harit, I think, look, we are not sitting on hope. We have demonstrated performance. You saw the rural, the village numbers, 9%.
Yeah.
8%, 10%. It's not that we are sitting on hope. We will go, you know, pragmatically, but we will go strongly on enhancing our semi-urban and rural distribution. No two ways about it. Yes-
Okay.
With the benefit of the portfolio, we hope to get better growth. Yes, we have a lower play in rural markets, and therefore, I think some companies feel the pain a hell of a lot more as compared to us, I do admit it. Even on the base that we are in, 25%, we are still getting the growth we're seeing. I do hope that this continues with the judicious management of the portfolio and of the right SKUs in the rural markets.
Got it. The second one was on the innovation strategy. Again, you know, in the wake of a slightly slower demand environment and the commodity inflation moving up, which means you know you have probably lesser budgets to invest or you know on non-core, as you call it. You know, is there a thought process that you know the products are ready, but maybe you might have to wait it out a little bit you know before you you know kind of put it out in the markets?
I think the best analogy is just what I gave. When the living room is collapsing, you don't build an outhouse.
Yes, yeah.
You don't build an outhouse. We'll ensure that our living room remains secure.
Got it. Got it, sir. Wish you all the best. Thank you.
Thank you, Harit. Mr. Narayanan, we will take two more questions, one from Arnav and another for Lishamba. For the others in queue, sincere apologies, but feel free to reach out to me if you need any clarifications, and we'll help out.
Arnav, please proceed.
Yeah. Hi, Suresh. Just two quick questions. One, your overall growth is quite strong in all categories, but milk and nutrition still remains. Do you see this last two years as more of a cyclical challenge due to COVID and other factors, and therefore you could unlock the growth here or structurally here where the growth will be a little lower? That was the first question. Second, I just wanted to ask on the PLI scheme, if you could quantify what percentage of your turnover potentially could benefit from that and any kind of
Thank you. Thank you, Arnav. Lost your voice in the middle. I think as far as the PLI scheme is concerned, I think we have been one of the beneficiaries in the fruits and vegetables category. I think it is, you know, we are quite happy with participating in it. It demands a certain investment over the coming three years-four years, which we are willing to commit to. I think it plays to our strength as well.
That will be, I think, an important aspect of our initiative and also the leveraging of manufacturing that we will do over the period of time. Just to jog my memory on your first question, it was on?
The milk and nutrition, you know, the growth has remained a bit anemic. Were there cyclical factors, or do you think there are some structural issues why this category would continue to be a little slower?
Let me make it very clear that milk and nutrition is a core strength of this company. In as much as you might get swayed by one year of either extraordinary growth or slightly muted growth, for us it is a play of our strength. You will see this playing out. I mean, if you look at the last quarter, the quarter four results, for example, for Milk and Nutrition, it has been quite strong. The full year is at 2.6%. The quarter four is at, I believe, 7.6%-7.7%. It's been fairly strong. It's not that the portfolio itself is anemic. Yes, there are base effects.
Yes, there are purchase patterns and buying patterns that have been somewhat warped because of the pandemic. That'll get itself adjusted. Overall, I think we have a great degree of confidence in this portfolio. You will see traction happening.
Okay. Suresh, thanks so much. That's it from my side.
Thanks.
Thank you, Arnav. Lishamba, if you can just unmute yourself and go ahead, please. Lishamba, I would request you to unmute yourself, please.
Hi, am I audible?
Yes, Lishamba. Please go ahead.
Mr. Narayanan, good afternoon. My question relates to the impact of inflation, which you mentioned that's going to be there for a while, and also right now you are in the middle of this input inflation. How is the company trying to mitigate it, keeping in mind how long it's going to last? In the sense, do you see that remaining in the next 2, 3 quarters, or do you see that going away in the next 1 quarter or something like that? That's number one question. Second is on the rural part. You did mention that because you have a lesser penetration there compared to other bigger players.
How do you see the reduction in the outlays of the programs like government programs like MGNREGA being reduced and that impacting the purchasing power of the people out there, and subsequently on your growth in the overall rural franchise growth in the country?
Look, I think, thank you, Lishamba. I hope you're keeping well. Look, as far as the outlook on rural growth is concerned, I think, in as much as it can be said that there is pain in rural markets, that has been reflected by many players. What we can say is that, I guess as a, as probably as a result of the urban to rural migration that we have seen, that happened a couple of quarters ago, there has been therefore a seeding of brands that has taken place in some of the semi-urban and rural markets that is benefiting Nestlé.
As we go forward, I think as of now, we have not seen a dramatic kind of shift or change as far as the progress of our brands is concerned. Of course, this will depend on the enormity and acuity of the economic pain that will be felt or not be felt as we go forward. I think I would really not like to make any doomsday scenario as far as rural markets is concerned, because we have had fairly encouraging growth as far as rural markets are concerned. Let's see how the MGNREGA cut back in budgets, et cetera, how that plays out as we move forward.
As far as inflation is concerned, yes, it is here to stay. Typically the company has got three or four levers that it uses. Number one is portfolio. Number two is economies and cost efficiencies. Number three is sweating its assets and as David McDaniel said, you know, leveraging the impact of scale. Number four is pricing. These are the four levers that we've got available to us. Using the different capabilities and ability that we have as an organization, this is what we will leverage.
As I told you, the first privilege is economies of scale, then cost, then economies of scale and cost rationalizations, and then of course, the sweating of assets in order to get the benefits of the infrastructure that we have. Finally, coming to pricing. How much we will have to touch of each of these, I think time will tell. These are typically the levers that are available to us as a company.
Is it going to be a long-haul fight or is it going to be something that you can go away in the short or medium term?
Look, I wish I was a futurologist to be able to tell you exactly how long the pain will last. I can only tell you that today the pain is felt. Today my arm is hurting, that much I can tell you. Whether I can play Nadal next year, I don't know.
Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you so much for your time.
Thank you so much, Lishamba.
How many questions are left, Shashank? If there are two or three, we can take it, but if it's more, of course, then.
Yes, sir. In fact, nobody in queue, we managed to reach out to all of them. We can try and take one from Percy, who has tried to connect back again through his friend Samir. Samir, if you would like to go ahead, please.
Percy doesn't seem to like me, I think. I mean, last time also, he decided to black out, and this time also he's doing the same. Percy, not fair.
Samir, you'll have to unmute yourself, please. I think we are again having a challenge, sir. We do have a few more people in queue. Would you like to take or-
No, no. It's okay. I mean, if there are two or three, we can manage, but if it's going to be like 20, then obviously it's.
Yes, we've got in fact four people in queue.
Okay.
Next in queue is Manish.
My request to all of the ones who are asking questions, please ask one question, please. If you ask, each of you ask five questions, then obviously it becomes equivalent to having 20 people on the call.
Manish, you can go ahead, please.
Am I audible?
Yeah, Manish. Please.
Yeah. Suresh, my question is regarding the milk products and nutrition, where if I look, say, data from the last seven years, we never had a double-digit growth. The maximum in any year we grew by was around, say, 8.5% odd. There are two segments to this. One is your dairy segment and another is your nutrition. I would like to know, first of all, how is the breakup now between the dairy segment and the nutrition segment? Which segment are we suffering? Do you think that the kind of changes which are happening in the dairy sector in India, whether it is from the cooperatives or some of the other private players, will this competitive intensity sustain over the longer term, and will our growth rates here remain in the single digits?
Look, I think it's a good question. It's a fairly large and fairly important segment for us. I would say that if you look at milks and nutrition, the nutrition part is clearly growing quite well, and especially the new segments that we are having in the toddler area is growing even better. The consumers today are seeking quality of nutrition, quality of the product, trust and various other elements that go to define the competitive advantage that we enjoy as a company.
To that extent, I think it remains for us an important vector of growth, and it'll continue to do so for a while. Yes, competition obviously is intensive in the dairy sector. I think one of the equations that we are very clear on is that we are in the business of selling value-added products that have a sustainable top line and bottom line. We are not an empty calorie company, so I will not be having products there which make, you know, 0.5%, 1% or 2% margins and expect to make a business out of it, because that is empty calories that honestly doesn't satisfy you and doesn't certainly satisfy the other investors and doesn't satisfy the company.
Okay, sir. Just one thing. Do you see the growth rates actually crossing our peak of 8.5% in the near term?
Very difficult to say. I think the track record has been relatively strong. During the pandemic, in fact, it has been fairly strong. Let's see how it pans out. I think, you know, the question you should be asking me is that, will you be capable of sustainably adding to the overall kitty as far as the company is concerned? The answer is yes.
Okay, sir. Thanks a lot.
Thank you, Abneesh. Our next question is from Abhijeet. Abhijeet, kindly unmute yourself and go ahead please.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. My question was on the CapEx side. You had, you know, talked about INR 2,600 crores of CapEx and so wanted to know what's the status, how much of it has been already incurred, and whether that CapEx was sort of instrumental during the year. I mean, were the plans in use? And so on that essentially on that.
Thank you, Abhijeet, and I will like to pass that on to my able colleague, David, to answer you.
Okay. Thank you for the question. The short answer is plans are on track across all the categories in that INR 26 billion that we previously declared. During the year, we've capitalized or we've spent, sorry, about INR 7 billion.
Okay. Just one, if I could slip in, just one. On the, you know, again, on the milk and nutrition part, what I understand is milk is, you know, gives you good growth. But the real, you know, strong growth, long-term growth, remains in your nutrition part, where you have done a really great job on the toddler part. If we have to, you know, just disseminate the growth between these two during the year. Was the, you know, the sort of a bit of a tepid growth initially because of milk more and while nutrition was stable? Would we be right to say that? Nutrition has continued to grow at a very stable rate.
No, I think the base effects for both, you know, came at different times. The milk came in early. You know, the uptick in nutrition came in a little bit later. In a sense, both the categories were beneficiaries of the spike during COVID. Obviously, because of the nature of the comeback, you know, nutrition came back more strongly towards quarter three, quarter four, whereas our milks were doing better in the first two quarters. You are seeing that differential performance averaging out over the year.
I want to tell you fundamentally that yes, both the portfolios are fairly strong portfolios of the company, and I think gives us a lot of hope for the future. Except I would like to add that somebody can always say, "Look, with milk, why aren't you even bigger than what you are?" I think the danger there is to be selling empty calories, and I want to put it upfront to you that we are not interested in selling empty calories. I mean, I don't want to just sell a product that makes a very weak margin and call that business because I don't think that's what you expect from Nestlé.
Got it. Thanks. Thanks a lot, sir.
Thank you, sir. The queue is showing one question left. That is from Meenakshi. Meenakshi, if you can unmute yourself, and please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. I hope I'm audible.
Yeah, yeah.
I wanted to understand that this rural growth of 9%-10% that you just mentioned, this is in the past quarter. Like, could you dwell a little? Also, sir, the selective price hikes that you talked about, what quantum have they been taken and where all have they been taken, sir?
Nice to hear you, Meenakshi. Yes, you know, the rural growth has been, as I said, 9%-10%. It's been a fairly strong growth in the portfolio that is represented in rural markets. As I look forward, as I answered the question earlier, you know, it's difficult for us to prognosticate how long this would last or whether there'll be any impact of any of the portents of weaker economic performance that is being seen. But nevertheless, as of now, the growth seem to be reasonable. It is. Yes, it is in the last quarter.
I think you will see progress on our rural initiatives as you move forward and as our plans also start to unfold. Post the comedown of the Omicron wave, you know, a lot of the physical operations will start happening because that's one of the things that has been impeded during this period. In terms of price changes, I would say roughly about 1% or 2%, 100 basis points-200 basis points of prices have been affected today. We are still looking at the math to see what more is required in the pecking order that I talked about. Cost economies, efficiencies, infrastructure sweating and then pricing. Meenakshi, mute again.
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay.
I think-
Okay.
Meenakshi is facing some network issues. If you allow, then shall we close the proceedings for today?
Sure. I think if that's the end of the questions, then I just would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who's joined on the call today. I hope the presentation was able to clarify some of the issues that are being reflected in the results. Also, some of the issues that are impactors to the results, so that you have a much clearer understanding. You also have a little bit of a granular idea on where the company is going and what are the kind of initiatives that it is looking at. Really thank you all for your joining on this call, and appreciate you taking the time. Please remain safe and please remain secure at this time. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Narayanan. With that, we conclude the session. Thank you, everyone.