Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Manish Mahawar from Antique Stock Broking. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Vishnu. On behalf of Antique Stock Broking, I would like to welcome all the participants on the Q3 FY 2024 earnings call of Dhanuka Agritech. From the management, we have Mr. M.K. Dhanuka, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Rahul Dhanuka, Joint Managing Director, Mr. Harsh Dhanuka, Executive Director, Alliance and Supply Chain, and Mr. V.K. Bansal, CFO, on the call. Without further ado, I would like to hand over the call to Mr. M.K. Dhanuka for opening remarks, after which we will open the floor for Q&A. Thank you, and over to Mr. Dhanuka.
Thank you, Mr. Manish. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am M.K. Dhanuka, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Dhanuka Agritech Limited. I hope all of you are doing well. Thank you for joining us in the conference call for results of Q3 FY 2023-24. I have with me Mr. Rahul Dhanuka, JMD, Mr. Harsh Dhanuka, ED, and Mr. V.K. Bansal, CFO. Dhanuka Agritech is a leading agrochemical company in India, focusing on value sales in the market. The company's strength lies in the manufacturing and marketing of formulated products. The product portfolio is spread across insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and plant growth promoters. As you are aware, now, Dhanuka has commenced operations at our Dahej chemical synthesis plant, and we are working on our capability with the establishment of new R&D laboratory for research on chemical processes. Dhanuka Agritech is working with the vision of transforming India through agriculture.
Our belief is that when we transform the lives of farmers by enhancing their productivity and quality, and in turn enhancing their income, we are making a small contribution to transforming India. This year, Dhanuka has taken a special initiative to increase our collaboration with various educational institutes, with the purpose of transferring new technology to the farmers of India. Dhanuka has pan-India presence, with warehouses in all major states across India. With 4 manufacturing units and 41 warehouses across India, we cater to around 6,500 distributors and dealers and around 80,000 retailers. Through this extensive network, Dhanuka reaches out to around 10 million Indian farmers with our products and services. Dhanuka have more than 1,000 techno commercial staff, supported by a strong sales and marketing team to promote and develop new products.
Dhanuka's strong R&D division has world-class NABL-accredited laboratory, as well as an excellent team for new product registration and development. Dhanuka has international collaborations with 10 leading global agrochemical companies from the U.S., Japan, and Europe, which helps us to introduce the latest technology in India. In terms of the financial performance for the Q3, the revenues from operations stood at INR 403.24 crore in Q3 of FY 2023-24, versus INR 393.37 crore in Q3 of FY 2022-23, representing an increase of 2.5%. EBITDA stood at INR 62.16 crore in Q3 of FY 2023-24, versus 51.83 crore in Q3 of FY 2022-23, up 19.9%.
Profit after tax was at INR 45.37 crores in Q3 of FY 2023-24, versus INR 46.07 crores in Q3 of FY 2022-23. Zone-wise share percentage of turnover for Q3 FY 2023-24 was North India, 22%; East India, 12%; West India, 27%; and highest was from South India, 39%. Product category-wise percentage share of turnover for Q3 of FY 2023-24: insecticides, 32%; fungicides, 21%; herbicides, 35%; and others, including plant growth promoter, 12%. This year, due to continuous decline in prices of generic products ranging from 5%-40%, there is a significant gap in volume growth and value growth. The volume growth has...
The volume has grown by 8.55%, while the value has grown by only 2.51% in quarter three, representing an overall value reduction of 6% on the entire portfolio. In this challenging year, where the industry is facing significant headwinds and pressure on both top line and bottom line, Dhanuka has been able to show significant resilience. This performance is empowered by our continued emphasis on bringing new technology for the farmers and Dhanuka's strong, diverse product portfolio with focus on specialty molecules. This has helped Dhanuka to move forward, albeit at a slower pace, even in such trying circumstances. To share our enthusiasm for the current year and the future prospects, we are happy to announce that the board of directors has declared 400% interim dividend.
That is INR 8 per equity share, having face value of INR 2 per share, which will absorb INR 36.47 crores. Dhanuka has also invested INR 10 crores in an agritech startup, namely, KisanKonnect Safe Food Private Limited. KisanKonnect delivers farm produce directly to customers through its application and farm stores. It works with farmers to grow food sustainability by using its in-house technology to deliver customers fresh vegetables and fruits through its delivery channel. Further, I would like to share that Dhanuka has signed a non-binding letter of intent with Spain-based Kimitec, to explore various business opportunities for the development and commercialization of biological products using natural molecules and derived from natural sources. Kimitec is a biotech company and founder of MAAVi Innovation Center, the largest European biotech innovation hub dedicated to natural molecules.
With great pleasure, I would like to share that our group chairman, Mr. R.G. Agarwal, has been bestowed with honorary doctorate for his exemplary contribution to the Indian farming community by the Vice Chancellor of Amity University, Noida, 31st December... Sorry, 13th December, 2023. So now Mr. R.G. Agarwal is Dr. R.G. Agarwal. Friends, to summarize, Dhanuka continues to demonstrate our ability to overcome challenges and emerge stronger despite uncertain business environment. We will aggressively roll out new products in the upcoming quarter, and would ensure that it reaches to the consumer with the right technology. I reassure our shareholders that we are committed to the task of transforming India through agriculture. On this note, I would like to hand it over to the operator to enable us to take question and answer. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. First question is from the line of Himanshu Binani from Anand Rathi. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you for taking my question, and congratulations on a very decent set of numbers. So sir, my first question was largely on the gross margin side. So we have seen a very considerable improvement into the gross margin during this quarter. So maybe if you can throw some light on the reasons on improvement into the gross margins.
Yeah, you see, the significant improvement in gross margin is largely on account of product mix. So there is a significant growth in the specialty molecules driven by our new introductions, 9(3), last year as well as the previous year. Second, see, there was significant drop in rates of generic, and same was not offered, see, not passed on to the customer to that extent. These are two main reasons for the improvement in the gross margin.
Got it. Got it. Secondly, if I again look at your guidance for FY 2024, I believe that that math is actually not matching. So we intend to post or deliver a double-digit sort of revenue growth. However, if I actually work out with the math, nine months, we have posted somewhere around a 4.5-5% sort of numbers. While on the margin side also, we intend to deliver somewhere around a 50-100 basis points of margin improvement on a year-on-year basis. However, till nine months, what I can see is that we have already done somewhere around a 270 basis points improvement into the margins as compared to the last year nine months.
So going forward, by this sort of run rate and the annual guidance by 4Q, in 4Q, the run rate for revenue growth would be coming upwards of 40%, while there would be a margin contraction. So maybe, maybe if you can correct me.
You see, as far as margin is concerned, in the since beginning of this year, we were saying that there should be an improvement of at least 200 basis points of the gross margins, and which we are delivering, it's, it's more than that.
...And even in the Q4, we are expecting a improvement of 200 basis point, improvement across margin Q4 as well. Right? In terms of the growth, yes, value growth is not double digit, but, our volume growth is almost single digit, in large single digit, near double digit. Q4, we are expecting similar growth.
But then, sir, the run rate, the ask comes to somewhere around 40%+ out of amber. So are we, like, that confident of a 40% sort of growth, overall revenue growth for Q4 as compared to last year's Q4, is the question?
So you see, Mr. Binani, the double-digit growth guidance was on the basis of the normal monsoon. But the monsoon was erratic. We have, we are well aware that because of which the, not Dhanuka, overall industry has not been able to perform. So if the monsoon would have been normal, then definitely Dhanuka would have delivered double-digit growth. But overall industry also is not able to perform because of the weak monsoon, and also Dhanuka is not able to deliver the initial forecast which we made at the beginning of the year, anticipating a normal monsoon.
Got it, sir. Got it. Thank you. Thank you for the clarification.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Huseain Bharuchwala from Carnelian Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Am I audible?
Yes, you are audible. Please go ahead.
Sir, I wanted to understand that tie-up. I wanted to understand how does this tie up with Spain-based company? So we are already doing biological products, but the biological products contribution is less than 5%. And I remember in the earlier calls, you have said that the biological products will be maximum contributing to the 10% of the overall top line. So how this new tie-up with the Spanish company will actually help us in terms of scaling? And, will these products be margin accretive? So if you can give us some color on the type of products that we are doing with the Spain-based company, and, how it will help us, how would the revenue mix change with this new biological product that you are launching or working with Spanish company?
Right. So there are three spaces of biologicals: biological nutrition, biological control, and biological stimulants. These are sometimes fungi-based or sometimes plant-based extracts, which influence growth and independence of the crop against the challenges of insect or disease. Kimitec is a R&D organization doing research on all the three domains, and we hope to try their products pretty soon in upcoming kharif for biological control, as well as for biological nutrition. Based upon their fitment for the Indian market, we'll be introducing those products. Some of their nutrition products are already approved in the Indian market, and we might be introducing them pretty soon, yet after our own internal trials. This market is pretty big, you know. Market is pretty small in terms of, say, about INR 5,000 crore in the country, but the growth rate is pretty high.
We imagine the growth rate to be close to 15%-16% CAGR, and that's the wave that we intend to ride with introduction of our own biologicals and with tie-up of this R&D company, Kimitec.
So how will be the margin then with this new product coming in? If you can give us some sense on the margins as well as what will be revenue contribution to the overall revenue in next three, four years, how do you see that adding up?
I'm not looking at this getting monetized for sure in next financial year, so, that would be about few, couple of years down the line. But certainly, these products are non-generic, super specialty, and have a significantly higher margin. My imagination is their margins will be much higher than our current gross margins.
Got it. So got it. And sir, just last one more question. So, will you revise your guidance, considering the current market scenario? So will you revise your, your initial guidance was a double-digit growth. So, so will you say that, based on the Q3 numbers, you will revise your guidance to, low, higher end of the single digit, or you will continue to guide on the, double-digit growth that you earlier guided? And how will you guide on the, in FY 25? Can you give some sense on that?
Revenue growth is expected to be a single-digit growth. We are not expecting it to be a double-digit growth. We are certainly committed to the improvement in gross margin and EBITDA.
Okay. Sir, giving guidance for next year, FY 2025?
So, yeah, we are still evolving that, you know, and, pretty hopeful because the monsoon forecasts are coming good. We have some very beautiful launches coming up in herbicides category, in, even in insecticide category. So I'm pretty hopeful that we'll have a double-digit growth.
Got it, sir. Got it. So that is the only, that's only my question. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Resham Jain from DSP Asset Managers. Please proceed.
Yeah, hi. Good evening, team. I have two questions. First one is just on numbers. If you can give the Dahej site revenue, and last quarter you had an EBITDA loss of INR 5.5 crore. What would be that number this quarter?
... You see, this quarter is again, EBITDA loss is around INR 5 crore.
And revenue?
Revenue is only INR 3.75 crore.
Okay. In fact, your actual EBITDA growth is significantly higher than the reported one, if I compare like-for-like, because the revenue is not there.
Absolutely.
Understood. Okay. And any progress, sir, on the Dahej side in terms of our own product we are already doing, but the whole purpose of doing it for contract manufacturing, are you seeing any traction there? How far are we from winning any contracts? If you can give some color on this, that would be helpful.
Yeah. So, contract manufacturing right now, not in near future, but our own product development has moved forward, and we are developing more number of products in our R&D laboratory.
Okay. In terms of your own products, given that there is a lot of pressure on generic molecules, how are you seeing and how are you selecting incremental products in the new facility?
Yeah. So, we have set a criteria of the minimum contribution from products which for product selection. And based on that, we are selecting the products for the research. Once the products are established in the R&D laboratory, then we take them for commercialization. So we have analyzed based on the products being sold in India right now and also exported from India, and looking at the product selection from that perspective. Currently, I cannot share which products we are working on. As and when the products get commercialized, we'll come back with more information.
Yeah, that's fair. And another question is on you have earlier invested in a drone company, IoTech, and now you're invested in KisanKonnect . And I know these are small investments, but it seems you are looking at newer areas, newer ventures. Will this be like a minority investments, or eventually you have plans to to have a larger control over this company? How are these agreements in all these incremental investments, or these are just like investment into new, new areas and eventually you will divest it?
These investments we feel are relatively strategic in nature in terms of creating a agri-technology ecosystem. So while, the drone company provides us access to the first approved agriculture drones in the country, which are now a motorbike, mounted and, easily accessible to the farmer in the deeper hinterlands, KisanKonnect provides us access to progressive vegetable farmers who are trying to service, Pune and Mumbai consumers, bypassing or cutting the middleman and the channel in between. These progressive farmers could be, you know, right grounds for, creating a critical mass of our new introductions in terms of, A, understanding the product, and B, advocating the product. So we look at this as a strategic investment, and, as of now, as we speak, divestment is not on cards and neither is taking control of these ecosystems. We would want-
Understood.
startup ecosystem to allow these organizations to thrive on their own while creating mutually beneficial opportunities and synergies.
Understood. Those are enablers for your existing business in a way, if I put it. Okay. And, lastly, sir, obviously, last two years, what we have seen is that, you have continuously improved in terms of, gross margins and, overall EBITDA margins. And when I, when I look at, the, overall, competitive landscape where, things are seen things are not as good as, what you have done. So, and, you have also mentioned initially that, you have launched several new products over the last few years. They are also contributing. So are you seeing any of those products scaling up, to, kind of, slightly larger, revenue pool, or you are seeing them like INR 20 crore-INR 30 crore and stopping there?
How are you getting that confidence of scaling up any of those products? If you can give examples, that would help.
See, the scale-up is certainly the opportunity of the market as well as the power of the technology that we introduce. So for example, in last financial year, we had introduced a Japanese insecticide by the name Decide, which found opportunity in chili and other sucking pest crops, crop opportunities. Now, chili incidentally, over the last few years, has been significantly on the uptrend, both in terms of acreage, in terms of sucking pest problem, and in terms of the commodity prices, which made chili an attractive investment, opportunity for the farmer. And our product, Decide, had a perfect fit in controlling a spectrum of insects troubling the crop. Now, going forward, we are going to launch a very powerful insecticide, again, in horticulture crops. We are going to launch a herbicide in soybean and groundnut.
We are looking at obviously scaling up these products to a larger proportion and have a better speed as well.
...Okay, understood. Great, sir. Thank you very much, and all the very best. Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, before we move to the next question, a request to the participant, please restrict your questions to two per participant. If you have any follow-up questions, please rejoin the queue. Next question is from the line of Rohit Nagraj from Centrum Broking. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity, and congrats on a very good set of numbers. So first question is in terms of Q3, revenues. So you mentioned that, south contributed, significantly to overall revenues. And what we understand is that, the reservoir levels, particularly in south, have been, relatively lower than that of, the other areas of country. So will there be any challenge in terms of higher returns coming in Q4 or might be in Q1? What is your sense on this? Thank you.
Returns, you are saying, goods return, material return?
Yes. Yes, sir. Right.
Yeah. So I, I've shared in past also, you know, at Dhanuka, we work very closely with our channel, and we keep a very close watch on the momentum of the business, of our products and the crops. We regularly clean up the channel of any unsellable stocks. We are not expecting any returns in Q4, you know, disproportionate or excessive or anything.
Sure. That's helpful. Sir, my second question is again on the Dahej facility. So during the first nine months, what was the revenue, what has been the EBITDA? And even on depreciation front, we have moved to almost INR 13 crore this quarter. So would that be a continuous run rate hereafter based on the CapEx that we have done? Thank you.
In terms of depreciation, this quarter, the overall depreciation is only INR 13 crore. It's not INR 30 crore.
13, 13. I meant 13, 13.
Right. So you see, so what is your question about depreciation?
Will this run rate be INR 13 crore incrementally, given that till the time we do not go ahead with phase II expansion for Dahej?
Yeah. Till that period, it will remain, not a little, reducing every quarter-over-quarter basis.
Fair enough, fair. And just first nine months, I mean, we have started the plant in Q2, so what has been the revenue till now, and what has been the EBITDA?
You see, till now, the revenue is only INR 3.75 crore, and in terms of EBITDA, cumulatively is around negative INR 11 crore.
Fair enough. That's all from my side. Best of luck, sir. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Rohan Gupta from Nuvama. Please proceed.
Yeah, hi, sir. Good evening, and thanks for the opportunity. Also, congratulations on the recent improvement in margins. Sir, my question is basically on this Kimitec, the LOI which you have signed up with that company. What are the future expectations from this? We are looking at in areas of bioproducts. So what are the USP Kimitec can bring in in India? And you are also talking about setting up a separate R&D in the country for Kimitec. So, will this be in a similar what you are putting in the existing facility, R&D facility in Ahmedabad, or is it separate line of the R&D lab you are talking about, sir?
The R&D that we have set up in Ahmedabad is synthetic chemistry R&D, which is working for Dahej chemical unit. The LOI, which we have signed with Kimitec, is around looking at biological opportunity in the country. In India, we have opportunity on the front of biological nutrition, like phosphorus solubilizers, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, zinc solubilizers, secondary nutrition solubilizers. These are the plant nutrition product. Then there are biological stimulants, which influence plant growth, plant flowering and fruiting. And then there are biological control products, which protect the plant from insects and diseases. So these are the various biological opportunities which we wish to work upon with Kimitec. Kimitec is a Spain-based R&D organization which has tied up with various other multinational companies for offering biological control products in developed markets, and Dhanuka will be their chosen partner for the Indian market.
So it will be only for the Indian market, or you also will be start manufacturing for their global requirement or any kind of such arrangement can be set up where you will be manufacturing for their global operation? And if any size, if you can give that Kimitec does globally in terms of revenues and all.
In India, the market size of biological control, biological nutrition, and biological stimulants is about INR 5,000 crore, with a CAGR of about 15%, varying between 15%-16% for all the three categories. We see this as a growth opportunity, given that the government has a lot of stress on organic farming, subsidies around urea and DAP, non-availability of urea and DAP, soil health, and residue level consciousness in the consumer in general.... We are looking at the growth coming significantly from the Indian consumption itself. Then, of course, there is opportunity for doing R&D for global markets and also manufacturing for global markets, and these are some of the discussions underway, will take shape in a couple of weeks.
Sir, we have done decent volume growth in nine months of close to 9%-10%. Any idea, sir, how, what was the industry growth for this time frame?
Industry volume growth at best has been small single digits to at par.
Okay. Sir, just last from my side, and I'll come back in queue. Sir, we have launched multiple products in last 1 year, in 4-6 quarters. Any of those products have crossed INR 100 crore, I mean, club, or have been included in the INR 100 crore club? Your revenue contribution or innovation turnover index definitely has improved significantly in the current year. So I'm assuming that this has been primarily driven by the new product launches. So just want to know the product which has done well and has crossed, has been included in the INR 100 crore club.
Rohan, I would just share the products which have done well. So for example, Decide has done really well. Zanet, which we launched recently, has done really well. And Defend and Implode are two other products. Defend is a paddy BPH insecticide, and Implode is our maize herbicide. These two products have done extremely well. And these new products have actually pulled the overall performance of the organization, because we are able to reach out to the farmers with these new products really aggressively and promptly. And our upcoming introductions would also be driving that growth, I believe. In terms of any one product doing substantial or differentiated revenue, I would say Decide is one such product which has done extremely well and holds very high hope for the next year as well.
Okay, so that's it from my side, sir. Thank you so much for answering all the questions.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Darshita from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you for the opportunity. My first question was with respect to the gross margin contribution. Vinoji, if you could quantify how much gross margin expansion was due to product mix?
Gross margin expansion, as we have already communicated, it is mainly because of the change in the product mix, and secondly, the significant drop in the raw material prices, which were not passed on to the consumer fully.
Right. I just wanted to understand how much, if you could quantify, the gross margin expansion due to product mix?
I think due to product mix, overall gross margin in the range of around 300 basis points.
In the range of how, sorry?
200-300 basis points.
Okay, okay. Got it. And, with respect to, Dahej, for FY 2025, we had given a guidance of around 80-100 million odd, sorry, INR 80-100 crore of business coming from, Dahej. But do we stick to that guidance, or is there any change there?
Yeah. Looking at the current situation in the technical market, there are significant headwinds. So, we'll be revisiting that commitment and revising it slightly downwards.
Got it. Okay. Just last question with respect to Dahej again, that, I think bifenthrin we've already started manufacturing or providing commercially. Any update on the same with respect to lambda-cyhalothrin? I think that was another product that we wanted to set up a line for.
Yeah. So lambda-cyhalothrin and some more products in the laboratory are almost at completion stage. So once they get commercialized, we'll share some updates.
Sure. Okay. That's it on my side. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of S. Ramesh from Nirmal Bang Equities. Please go ahead.
Good evening, and thank you very much. The first thought is you have stepped up the dividend payout to about 20% on the nine-month numbers. So given that and the kind of uncertain environment in the business and the, you know, the margin losses you're making in Dahej, is this a payout which you expect to sustain over the next 2-3 years? And, secondly, in terms of the Dahej losses, which are reported at about INR 9 crore-INR 11 crore for the nine months, do you see that run rate continue for FY 2025? And when do you see that breaking even or turn positive?
So, regarding the EBIT from Dahej plant, in next 2 years, 2-3 years, we can expect it to become a better positive. Your first question was around the dividend payout, correct?
Yes, indeed. Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, yeah, we, we will maintain it in the future also.
Okay. So this, Sorry?
Usually, we are doing buyback in one year, dividend, high dividend in second year. So we will try that, as per the approval of the board of directors, we will try to continue the same trend, that one year we will do buyback and one year we'll give good dividend to the shareholders.
... Okay. So going back to the decade loss, two to three years, I mean, in terms of the longer term, it's fine, but in FY 2025, specifically, you- do you see it turning around at least by second half, or this sort of run rate will still continue in terms of EBITDA loss?
You see, our R&D team is working on many molecules. Once it is finalized, then the more clarity will come. So it's very difficult to answer this question as of now, right?
Yeah.
Maybe, may not be.
So in terms of the current Rabi, in current quarter, what is the outlook? Is it going to be similar to third quarter? And how do you see the outlook for the coming Kharif, assuming normal monsoon, based on the kind of, you know, good performance you've shown, year to date when the rest of the industry has been struggling?
So, if you look at the forecast for the current quarter, we are looking at an average quarter, this one. Not really good, not very bad. For the next financial year, the initial forecast for the monsoon are positive, with El Niño effect subsiding. So we are quite hopeful of double-digit growth in the next year. And I think it's with the product portfolio that Rahulji was talking about earlier, some very powerful new products coming up in the next year, we should be able to deliver that.
Okay, thank you very much, and I wish you all the best.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Aditya from Securities Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, could you just talk about the inventory situation? So how is the inventory currently at the dealer level? Is it high or is it at normal levels, considering the uneven rainfall which we have witnessed?
In general, we expect the channel inventories to be relatively high for the industry. However, at Dhanuka, we really continue to pull back any unsold stocks very promptly. We do not have last quarter's carry forward inventories in this month, and we do not expect it going forward also.
Okay. Sir, was there any sales return or inventory write-off in the nine months?
I could not get your question. Could you repeat that?
Were there any sales return or inventory write-off in the nine months of FY 2024?
Yeah, it is very, very insignificant. Normally, we'll say, four, five, less than that. That's it.
Got it. Sir, in terms of pricing, have the prices now stabilized or do you expect further price cuts in some of our molecules?
Your, your question is not clear. It's about pricing, but what?
Are the prices now, end product prices now stabilized or do you expect some further price cuts in some of our generic molecules?
Ah, so this, I would say, is the million-dollar question. If the prices have stabilized. So, yeah, we are yet to understand the price trend of the chemicals for now, and, every few weeks, new global developments create a turmoil in the overall chemical market, production, upstream, and challenges. So while we've seen that prices for some products have stabilized, few other molecules are yet to see their bottom or have larger inventories at the manufacturer's end, in China. Also, consumption in some of the large global markets have not been very good, so there is still a possibility of some product prices coming down. So it's a mixed bag, I would say. Some product prices have stabilized. They've hit their bottom and the way is going forward, up.
But for some other products, it is not the case right now, so it's guesswork only.
Are we confident of, you know, maintaining this double-digit growth which we have guided for next year, considering, you know-
Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. See, the important point here is that our growth for this year is also driven by our specialty products and our branded products. Next year also, including our last couple of years' new launches and some very powerful launches coming up for the next financial year, we are absolutely confident of the delivering double-digit growth with the good rainfalls and high commodity prices, attention towards agriculture, higher disposable income available in the rural stream. We are pretty confident of delivering double-digit growth.
Got it. And sir, just one last question, in regards to our MOI with Kimitec Group. So the scope is purely for the manufacturing, or it is just a marketing arrangement for the India market?
The scope includes R&D, manufacturing, Indian market, and some export opportunities.
Got it. Got it. Okay, sir. Thank you for answering the question.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Dhruv Muchhal from HDFC AMC. Please go ahead. Mr. Dhruv, your line is unmuted. Please go ahead.
Hello?
Yes, please go ahead.
Yeah.
... So, so I was seeing, across the board, we are seeing that, the B2C companies have been reporting reasonably or better margins, gross margins. Probably it is because of the lower technical prices, and the final product prices have not fallen as much. And this is despite the overall broader weaker market and, excess inventory, as you mentioned. So just wanted to understand, is this a temporary phase where probably the final product prices will catch up as to the technical price levels? Or, this is more sustainable that, the B2C players have been able to retain that, portion, a higher portion of the fallen price?
See, eventually, the demand supply economics do catch up. The differentiation here is in terms of how we reach to our channel and how do we service our farmer. So we have been able to maintain our margins because we were able to assess the changed market scenario, and so modify our product mix proactively. This modified product mix eventually led to higher gross margin. Also, we were able to service the market to the best possible demand with the modified product mix also in the middle of the season. And then we were able to leverage on our new product launches and higher commodity prices to reach the right set of crops and right set of farmers.
I would not like to generalize this, yet at Dhanuka, our constant effort is to, being a B2C organization, our constant effort is to maximize the value for the farmer as well as for the organization. So we are happy to say that we've been able to create that right balance, even though the revenue growth has not been very high.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, got it. So probably for us, of course, the new product launches and the mix has done well, but for the industry as a whole, there could be some normalization in this, the improvement in spreads that you have seen, particularly generic side, for the B2C players.
Yes, absolutely. I think so. You know, if our product price is going to be dragged down at the back end, technical prices are going to be dragged down at the back end month on month, then eventually it will reflect on the brand price also. So at Dhanuka, we try to kind of manage that through our services, so farmer or the channel would prefer our prices even, will prefer our products, even though they are high price. And we also continue to cut our tail products so that, you know, we are removing obsolete products, obsolete technologies, and low value, low margin contributing products from our portfolio.
Mm-hmm. Got it. This helps. Thank you so much, and all the best. Thanks.
Thank you. Next question. We have our next follow-up question from the line of S. Ramesh from Nirmal Bang Equities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. So, in terms of the global situation and your own, you know, ability to withstand that, I know it's a bit difficult to take a call on the pricing, but is there a sense you get in terms of any capacity closures, particularly in China? And what is the sense? Because it's a bit difficult to track because there are so many molecules. So is there any sense you get in terms of some of the key active ingredients, where you see some capacity rationalization happening, and thereby, you know, the excess supply being taken out? What is your sense?
No, I don't think so, that we are expecting any supply chain closures in China. We do expect a short-term disruption in view of upcoming Chinese New Year and extended holidays beyond the new year holidays. And, we do expect some disruptions again due to disturbed container movement and ships movement in the Red Sea, and disturbance, on and off disturbance in the South China Sea. Otherwise, we don't see any capacity constraints emerging in short term in China, in actually any of the products.
Okay. Okay. So which means that you continue to expect the excess supply to continue. Is that a correct understanding?
I expect the supply chain to be open and available.
Okay, fair enough. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for the day. I now hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.
Thank you. Friends, as informed earlier by Mr. Rahul Dhanuka, Mr. Bansal, and Harsh, that Dhanuka is poised to introduce some very good new molecules in the coming year. So we are confident that these new molecules, they are eco-friendly, less toxic, safer for environment, having less residues. And in our R&D trials, they have given very much better performance in comparison to the existing products in that segment. So we are confident that with the introduction of new molecules and the existing molecules like Decide, Zanet, Defend, et cetera, Dhanuka will be able to deliver double-digit topline growth in next financial year.
Since we have already given guidance for 200 basis points improvement in gross margin this year, so it will be difficult to basically further any make improvement on the gross margin front, but definitely double-digit growth we will be doing, and we will try to maintain these margins in next financial year also. So with this note, I close the con call. Thank you very much, and thank you for participating in the Dhanuka Q3 results conference call. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Manishji.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much. On behalf of Antique Stock Broking, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.