Good morning, dear members. I am Shivam Maheshwari, Compliance Officer of APL Apollo Tubes Limited. We welcome you to the 39th Annual General Meeting of APL Apollo Tubes Limited. Along with us, we have our Vice Chairman, Shri Ashok Kumar Gupta, and other board members, other panelists, and Shri Deepak Goyal, Director, Operations, and Shri Chetan Khandelwal, CFO, who have joined either physically or through VC facility provided by the CDSL. In accordance with the relaxation provided by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and SEBI, our company is conducting this AGM through the WebEx facility provided by CDSL without the physical presence of the members at a common venue. All members who have joined this AGM through the VC are by default placed on mute mode by the host to avoid any disturbance arising from background noise and ensuring a smooth and seamless conduct of the AGM.
A remote e-voting facility was provided to the members to cast their votes electronically on all the resolutions set out in the notice, commenced at 10:00 A.M. on Monday, September 23rd 2024 , and ended on 5:00 P.M. on Wednesday, 25th September. The company is also providing e-voting facility during the AGM to enable members to cast their vote who have not voted through electronic e-voting. During the proceedings of AGM, members may raise query through the chat box facility provided by CDSL. Depending on the nature of the query, they will be answered either immediately or through registered email of the shareholder later. If any member faces any technical issue, kindly contact helpline numbers of the CDSL as provided in the notice of AGM.
Since our chairman, Shri Sanjay Gupta, could not be present due to other unavoidable engagements, it is proposed that Shri Ashok Kumar Gupta, Vice Chairman, be elected as the Chairman of the meeting. Therefore, now I request the host to initiate polling on the scene so that members present may express their assent to the proposal. Host, please start.
Poll has been opened, sir.
Good.
Participants-
It is noted that the members present have consented to the proposal, and hence it is declared that Mr. Ashok Kumar Gupta is elected as the Chairman of this AGM. Now, I welcome Shri Ashok Kumar Gupta, sir, to the meeting. Sir, as the requisite quorum is present, I request you to kindly chair the proceedings of the meeting.
Okay, thank you. A very good morning and namaskar to all our loyal and dear shareholders, our enlightened board of directors, my colleagues, and ladies and gentlemen. A very warm welcome to all of you present today at this AGM of your company. Before we formally proceed with the meeting, I'll request the compliance officer to conduct a roll call for the panelists who have joined through VC.
Thank you, sir. Neeru Abrol ma'am, please do the roll call process.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Neeru Abrol, Independent Director. I've joined the meeting from my residence in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi. I have received all the related documents, and no one else has accessed this meeting apart from me. Thank you.
Thank you, ma'am. V.S. Jain, sir, please do the roll call process.
I have received the agenda paper. I can see all of you very clear.
Thank you, sir. Rajeev Anand, sir, please do the roll call process.
Okay, thank you. Good morning, everyone. I am Rajeev Anand, attending this meeting from my residence, my room. There is no one else in the room except me. I have received all the relevant papers and agenda items for the meeting.
Okay, sir. Kamath, sir, please do the roll call process.
Of APL Apollo Tubes Limited. Papers in good time. I can see and hear all of you loud and clear. Thank you.
Okay, sir. Asha ma'am, please do the roll call process.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Asha Anil Agarwal, Independent Director of APL Apollo Tubes Limited. I'm attending this meeting from my residence in Andheri, Mumbai, and, I got all the relevant papers on time. Thank you very much. And there is no one present in this-
Thank you.
There is no one present in this room except me. Thank you.
Thank you, ma'am. We have Abhishek Lakhotia, sir, representative of statutory auditor, Deloitte. Please do the roll call.
Yeah. Hello. Yeah, good morning, everyone. I'm Abhishek Lakhotia, auditors from Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP. I'm attending this meeting from my residence in Nehru Place, and no one has accessed this meeting besides me. Thank you.
We have Sarvari Shah, secretarial auditor. Please do the roll call process.
Hello, everyone. This is Sarvari Shah from Parikh & Associates, secretarial auditors. I am attending this meeting from Mumbai, and no one is there in the room except me. Thank you.
Jatin Gupta, sir, the scrutinizer of the meeting, please do the roll call process.
Good morning, I'm Jatin Gupta, scrutinizer of present meeting, and I'm attending the meeting from my residence in Delhi, and no one other than me has the access to the present proceedings.
So roll call process is done.
Thank you, Shivam. Now, gentlemen and ladies, I would like to introduce the panelists. First of all, I would like to introduce our esteemed director, Shri V.S. Jain, sir, who has joined through VC, and also through VC are Madam Neeru Abrol, who is also the Chairman of the NRC, Mr. H.S. Upendra Kamath, Madam Asha Anil Agarwal, who have also joined through VC, Mr. Rajeev Anand, who has also joined through VC, and physically present with me in this room are Mr. Abhilash Lal, the independent director, and Mr. Anil Kumar Bansal, who is also the Chairman of the Audit Committee and Stakeholder Relationship Committee, and also, we have our director operations, Mr. Deepak Goyal, and our CFO, Mr. Chetan Khandelwal, and our compliance officer, Mr. Shivam Maheshwari, in this room. I welcome all the panelists who have joined physically as well as through VC.
Other directors of the company are not present here today because of their other preoccupation and travel arrangements. As you would have noted, the statutory auditor, the secretarial auditor, and the scrutinizers, they all have joined through VC. I note that the quorum is present, and also note the presence of mandatory participants, including independent directors, auditors, et cetera. Requisite quorum is present. The meeting is therefore called to order. Now, I'd like to say a few things about the company. But before I say anything, I would like my directors, my colleagues on the board, to say a few words. May I request Mr. Jain sir? Jain sir, would you like to say a few words, sir, to the shareholders?
I would like to say only one thing.
Sure.
This company values the shareholders' stake in the company, and they take care of all the stakeholders, whether they are employees, or they are sellers, or they are consumers, or they are the shareholders. We are concerned about everybody, and if there is any concern in the mind of anybody else, we would like to hear from the shareholders and take appropriate actions. Thank you.
Thank you very much, sir. We go to your words, sir. Thank you so much, sir. We have one of our oldest board members, Madam Neeru Abrol. Madam Neeru, we'd like to hear you as well, if possible.
I have completed nine years with the company and seen it growing well in terms of revenue, profits, shareholders, and its performance. Operations have been wonderful, the way the profits are growing. I know we are going to reach the limits what we set for ourselves. Maybe our expanding output is accepted by everyone and new and you know, attracting. I feel that the company is going to, you know. Next year I complete 10 years, but it's going to go on and on. I wish the company all the best, because they are taking care of shareholders, the values, the way they take care of clients, the way what suggestions we give to the company, whether in terms of compliances, whether in terms of auditors, let's say, the way the auditors are covering all the areas.
So I think it's done very wonderful, and very happy to be part of this board. Thank you. Thanks a lot.
Thank you, Neeru. Very well said. Beautiful words. Thank you so much. May I, Mr. Rajeev Anand, if you could please elucidate your views?
Yes, sir. Thank you, Chairman Sir, for giving me the opportunity. I am probably one of the newest independent directors who has joined this board. Very happy to join this elite board and company. Heard all good things about the company and, like Neeru said just now, and prior to that, Mr. Jain said, values and ethics are at very high, taking care of the shareholders and all the stakeholders in the organization, doing all the right things and all the, the way the company is growing, the way the profitability is growing, the way the shareholder values are going up.
I think the good times are ahead, and I wish this organization all the very best, and I'll continue to work with full zeal and full interest to contribute as much as I can from my past experience. Thank you.
Thank you, Rajeevji, for your beautiful wishes, good wishes. Thank you so much. May I request, Madam Asha Anil Agarwal, who is in Bombay, the rain-fed Bombay, to say something?
Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. I have been associated with the APL Apollo Tubes Limited as independent director for last few months only. When I've gone through the annual report, I read one sentence which says that: "Being the best is great," and APL is number one, being unique. I know it is unique under the leadership of Sanjay Gupta Ji, Ashok Gupta Ji, and the senior management, Deepak Goyal Ji, Chetan Khandelwal Ji, and everyone present here and not present there. It's noted that APL Apollo enjoys about 55% market share in business space, and is about to take off into higher league by adding more products. Independent directors and CFO and CS visited plant at Raipur, Chhattisgarh, in the month of March this year, and we were glad to see that the company focuses on innovation.
It concentrates on market creation and is firm in making its green operation. They plan to make it greener in coming years. The employees were well trained and very well satisfied and full of zeal and dedication. The company is continuously on the path of growth, which demonstrates resilience and robustness. This is the model of the business. As the country is becoming more enabling country for entrepreneurs, prospects and potentials of APL is extremely bright. I am hopeful that the investors are happy to see the growth of company with the quality of business, with which it is translating into better financial outcome. I am glad to be part of this company, and glad to see V.S. Jain sir, and convey my regards to V.S.
Jain sir, Anil Bansal sir, and Abhilash Lal sir, who will not be seen from the next meeting. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, ma'am. Ma'am, your good words were like a bright sunshine in a cloudy weather of the economic uncertainties we are facing.
It's raining very badly since yesterday. But it's a good sign. Raining means [Foreign language] .
Very true, ma'am. Thank you so much, ma'am. We have our very senior director, Mr. Upendra Kamath. Kamath, your words, please. Wisdom, please.
Chairman, sir, thank you for this opportunity. I am associated with APL Apollo Tubes for now less than a year, but then I have known this company from a distance as a banker. From a very humble beginning under the leadership of the dynamic Sri Sanjay Gupta Ji, today the organization grown into a behemoth. We are in the right space. Indian economy being the fastest, you know, growing economy globally, aided by the spurt in infrastructure, real estate, and construction. We are in the right place. This is my firm belief. Under the leadership of Sri Gupta Ji, APL Apollo has emerged as a largest player in the structural tubes space.
Financials of the company are progressive, compliance culture in the organization is par excellence, and innovation is a way of life. I am sure, with the economy booming, APL Apollo being in the right space, will go to places, and in future, continue to grow leaps and bounds, and reach the pinnacle of glory. Happy to be associated with APL Apollo Tubes Limited, and I'm sure, in the coming years, we will see better times, good times ahead of us. Thank you.
Thanks a lot, sir, for your kind appreciation and your pearls of wisdom, and for your nice wishes. We will surely try to fulfill them, sir. We have with us, sir, Mr. Anil Kumar Bansal, who is also the Chairman of the Audit Committee, and he's one of our oldest colleagues on the board. I'll request him to please share his experiences and his thoughts.
Thank you, Chairman, sir. It's indeed a pleasure, I thought to be here in person, when the last AGM is happening, today, and it's very well organized here, and indeed, a journey of 10 years walking along with this company is an experience and memorable to me. I saw this company when they were sitting in the previous office, and with every passage of time, they grew in all spheres. If it was finance, it was management, it was creation of assets, they were far, far ahead of time.
Compliance, of course, at a cost, as I always said, when they employed the best of the audit companies firms to show up that there is no lacuna in any manner, and whatever suggestions were given by the board, by the auditors, by the shareholders, it was very well accepted, and they were compliant. So I am indeed grateful. Sanjay Gupta Ji is not only an industry leader, but he has created this company to an institution. So my congratulations to him and the coming generation, Rahul and Rohan, are equally, you know, involved in this building up. The old colleagues, like Deepak Goyal, who has been elevated now from the CFO, has done. He has put his heart and soul. Chetan has joined, taking forward.
Shiva, my young, cost accountant, also is doing well. But every sphere I've seen this company growing, my fellow directors, senior directors, management, and of course, Ashok Gupta Ji is piloting this company from everywhere. So my best wishes, sir, for moving forward, and thank you very much for inviting me here.
So thank you so much, sir. Thank you so much for your words, sir, and particularly bringing out a younger generation in the group. Our thanks especially to you for that, sir. Now I request my wise and very critical colleague on the board, who is always nudging us towards more and more corporate governance, Mr. Abhilash Lal Ji, to kindly say his pearl of wisdom.
Thank you, Ashok Ji. Good morning, everyone. As Asha Ji just pointed out, I will be demitting office at the end of today's AGM, as I complete my two terms of five years each. And, I can only thank all of you for giving me the opportunity of getting on to what has been an extraordinary ride. I think in 10 years, we have seen this company break new ground everywhere in terms of innovation from what was originally called just a commodity product, like pipes. I think we have pioneered the way to find new uses, new manufacturing techniques, new distribution techniques, et cetera, and of course, new materials and finishing technologies.
So today, you know, what is amazing about this company is that we, in terms of our agility, in terms of our ability to come out with new products, thinking on our feet, I think we behave like a startup, and yet we are an established company, given our compliance, governance, operating procedures, et cetera. So I can only thank... I'm not going to name in case I miss someone out, but I can only thank everyone.... from the chairman, board, from the management, the auditors, the suppliers, our die-hard customers, and of course, all our shareholders for our continued faith and support in all of this. So I'm very confident that as I take leave today, I can look back on these 10 years with a tremendous amount of pride, and I'm sure that we are leaving the company in more than capable hands.
We'll see even greater things as we go ahead. So thank you everyone for this opportunity. Pleasure being associated with all of you, and I shall continue to follow your progress with interest. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Thank you so much, sir. No leave, sir. We will need your guidance continuously. One director who is not here. There's no chance, sir. And, sir, with this, I would like to now brief my members about the performance of the company in the year 2024 , and what we intend to do in the days to come. As you all know, India's growth story has been, is, and will be promising. And to a large extent, we remain insulated from the economic instability in different parts of the world, whether it's because of war, the tension, the trade tension, or the inflation, or the interest rates. India, by far, has been protected. Our GDP continues to grow seven, seven and a half percent year after year. Our CapEx in infrastructure and in social, social economic schemes has been continuously improving, increasing.
This gives a big stimulus to both infrastructure as well as manufacturing. Ultimately, manufacturing is the soul of all operations in the country. And we in APL Apollo, being one of the largest manufacturing company in the country and one of the most prominent player in its own segment, have a lot to gain because of these developments. As a market leader, the structured steel space in India, APL Apollo continues to excel in its performance year after year. This year as well, all our key performance parameters have witnessed an improvement. I'm happy to share with all of you that we had a dream, long time, for some time, to cross the milestone of 2.4 million tons of sales in a year.
I'm happy to share with you that this year we achieved that dream and recorded a sale of 2.6 million tons in 2023-24. As you know, fulfillment of one dream gives birth to another dream. So now we are dreaming of doubling it from 2.5 to 5, and this is a journey we are embarking upon now. Last year, our operations revenue increased by 12% over the previous year. This is higher than the industry average. Our EBITDA was also our highest at 1,192 crores, which was up from 1,022 crores in the previous financial year. As a result, the net profit increased by about 14% to 732 crores from 642 crores in the previous year.
Not only the revenue or the profitability, which is improving, even the EBITDA per ton, which is a big challenge in our industry, improved this year, even though marginally. I'm happy to share with the shareholders that prompted by this improved performance, the management has proposed highest ever dividend of INR 5.5 per share to all the shareholders, and in this journey, I would like to place on record the monumental contribution of our visionary leader, Sri Sanjay Gupta Ji, and his very capable management team. Sitting with you now, of course, are Deepak Goyal and Chetan Khandelwal.
But apart from that, we have a large team working behind the doors, including Anubhav Gupta, other senior leaders, C.K. Singh in manufacturing and in sales, and in HR, and in marketing, who are tirelessly working to face the challenges faced by the both our economy as well as our industry, to make sure that year after year, we achieve our objectives. While APL Apollo has achieved these results, I may like to inform you that many other companies in this sector are struggling. They're struggling, particularly because of volatility in steel prices. As you know, China has not been doing very well, and this is resulting in subdued result, steel prices in China as well as throughout the world, including India. This kind of changes in the prices affects any industry, particularly steel or particularly pipes, where 80%-90% is raw material cost.
I must compliment the senior leadership team for having achieved these results despite this problem and not only my team, I'll also like to thank the board members, including Vinay Gupta Ji, who is not here with us now, Rahul Gupta Ji, and of course, I mentioned Jain Saab, Bansal Ji, Abhilash Lal Ji, and other directors who were present with us last year. To enable us to achieve this, they have been giving us time to time, advice, mid-course correction, indicating to us what is going to happen in days to come, to make sure that despite the difficulties, we achieve our results, but as I mentioned, we don't stop here. We continue our journey. We continue to expand. From two point five, we have to reach five.
And in that direction, I'm again happy to inform all my members, all my shareholders, that apart from the eleven pipe plants we already have, we are setting up three more. This is the largest we have set up in any one year, any time in the past. Three new plants, one in Siliguri, one in Gorakhpur, and one in Ahmedabad, three different parts of the country. This will take our total footprint to fourteen plants. In my knowledge, this is perhaps the largest by any steel pipe company in the world outside China. And I think this reflects the daring and vision of our leader, Sanjay Gupta Ji. And again, this will take our capacity with this expansion of three new plants and some brownfield expansion to five million ton in days to come.
Recognizing the good work done by the management and as well as the good performance in the previous year and the prior years, I'm again happy to share with you that the credit rating agencies have improved the rating of your company to double A plus stable. Good rating. I think this is a wonderful achievement. I don't know how many of you may be knowing, at one point of time, we were double B plus. And... or triple B minus, maybe. From triple B minus, we have achieved double A plus. It's a big journey. You understand the importance of this improvement. But not only on the sphere of performance, but even on the, in the sphere of sustainability, we continue to strive. I must again share with you that we are following a four-pillar strategy: innovation, market creation, distribution, and sustainability, ESG.
Here again, I am happy to share with you that APL Apollo Tubes is the first company in India to successfully develop one meter by one meter square tubes. No one in India makes this. In fact, there's hardly anybody who could be making even half meter by half meter. But we are making this, going to make these tubes, which are currently under trials. This will be used primarily in large projects like hospitals, railway stations, airports. Again, I am happy to share that for these large tubes, varying from 300 to 1,000 millimeters square, we have already received 45 new inquiries. This is a big, big news, new market we are creating for steel pipes.
On the sustainability front, we are happy to share with you that we have scored 40 points on the DJSI index, which means we are among the top 15% companies in the country on sustainability. And this, we are the only company in our sphere of steel pipes to have achieved this. We have signed a PPA agreement with Blu Pine Energy for a 62-megawatt solar plant in Chhattisgarh to supply renewable energy to our own plant in Raipur. Again, a first by any... If not first, one of the first by any company is we have started using electric vehicles instead of diesel vehicles to transport our material. This again, reduces the carbon footprint in the country. You are all aware that India is experiencing a construction boom. There is a big order position with the real estate developers. The inventory is getting sold fast.
Infrastructure spending is increasing. Retail customer construction is also improving. This is the area in which APL Apollo works and benefits. And because of this improved demand, our own operations are also getting improved. Again, I am happy to share with you that our average net working capital has reduced from five days to one day, perhaps the only one in the world. And this is despite having invested 2,680 crores in augmenting capacities over the last five years. The company has a negative debt equity, means no debt, and net cash balance of 18 crores. And our market share remains intact at 55%. As you know, we have recently set up our plants in Raipur and Dubai. I'm happy to share with you, both the plants, the operations are ramping up at very fast speed.
Dubai is particularly giving us very encouraging results. At Raipur, the third complex for Super Light Tubes, we are going to make Super Light Tubes in Raipur, which has also started operations. Our operations are prioritizing energy efficiency, and we are aware of our responsibility as a sustainable and responsible company. We are committed to reducing total energy, energy consumption, and in that direction, we have reduced our energy consumption per ton of pipe produced. We have also reduced our water consumption by 6% decrease year after year. As I mentioned to you, things are going pretty bright for steel pipe sector, and we are well placed to make use of it with our increasing capacities. You are all aware of the large increase in railway network, Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, whereby most of the railway station in the country are being modernized, made new.
Because we make the largest sizes of steel sections, we get an advantage. I'm happy to share with you that most of the new railway stations or modernized railway station will have steel pipes manufactured by APL Apollo Tubes. Not only in railways, but so also in airports. You know, airports are coming in almost all the Tier Two cities and maybe new airports, even in Tier One cities, metro cities, second airport. Here again, in a large way, we are participating. Our pipes will be seen, and we, as you know, engrave APL Apollo in most of the pipes. So sometime when you go to airport, don't be surprised just to see one of the pipes having APL Apollo on top of it.
Oh.
I saw one.
Great.
And not only in again, airport or railways itself, as you know, our government has announced a Jal Jeevan scheme, whereby water has to be supplied to all the nook and corner of the country. Here again, for making the water tanks, we are supplying structures. For transporting the pipes, water, we are supplying pipes. So in all the government schemes, we are participating actively and, of course, benefiting out of it. This is giving us a lot of opportunity, but of course, the challenges are also no less. But challenges we are facing more globally rather than from within the country, and globally also because there are many concerns, particularly in China, of growth, which impacts the rest of the world, and also of conflicts in some part of the world.
But I can, I can assure you all that your company and your management team and our leadership is quite capable of dealing with these challenges, and year after year, we will continue to achieve the targets we have set for ourselves and shared with you, and in this journey, I'd once again like to thank. I request my colleague, my shareholders also to join me in thanking all the directors, particularly those who may be retiring this AGM, Mr. V.S. Jain, Mr. Abhilash Lal, Mr. Anil Bansal, and I request my colleagues to stand up and salute these directors for contributing so much with their efforts.
Great, sir.
Further, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our four new directors: Mr. H.S. Upendra Kamath, Madam Asha Anil Agarwal, Mr. Rajeev Anand, and Mr. Dinesh Kumar Mittal, who could not be present today, who come with deep knowledge and rich experience in diverse areas. You perhaps be knowing, Mr. Upendra Kamath is a distinguished banking professional with a career of over four decades in the Indian banking industry. Madam Asha Anil Agarwal is a former Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax in the Indian Revenue Service. Sir Rajeev Anand has been the Chairman and Managing Director of Goodyear, one of the large successful corporates in the country, a leading tire manufacturer. And Mr. Dinesh Kumar Mittal comes from an IAS background. I am sure the guidance of these new directors and their touching us and guiding us will help us a lot in achieving our results.
I'll also take this opportunity to express our gratitude to all the stakeholders, particularly our employees. Today, we have a strength of over 5,000 employees in this company, and it is their hard work and labor, working in the plants 24 hours a day. The managers, the administrative staff, it's because of them that we are achieving the results month after month. But it's also because of support we receive from the government authorities, the regulatory authorities, from our customers who have faith in our products, who have faith in our services, who have faith in us, our suppliers, our associates, because of whom we are able to achieve the heights which we plan to. With these few words, I'd like to thank all of you for hearing me patiently, and I'll request the compliance officers to continue the proceedings. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. The register of directors and KMP and their shareholding, as maintained under Section 170 of the Companies Act, and the register of contracts as per Section 189, are made available for inspection by the members on the website of the company. There is a link available on the login for inspection of documents, which can be checked for assessing the above documents. May I, with the permission of the members, take the notice dated twenty-third August 2024, containing the thirty-ninth Annual General Meeting, along with Board's report and its annexure as read. Annual report and notice are available on the website of the company and also of CDSL.
The auditor's report, issued by Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, on the financial statements of the company for the financial year ended 31st March 2024 , do not contain any qualification, observations, or comments or other remarks, and hence are taken as read in pursuance of the relevant provisions of the Companies Act two thousand and thirteen. There are no qualifications, observations, or comments or other remarks in the secretarial auditor's report for the financial year 31st March 2024, issued by Parikh & Associates, company secretaries. Now, with the permission of the chairman, I take up the agenda items. Item number one: to receive, consider, and adopt the annual financial statements of the company, both consolidated and standalone for the financial year ended March 31st, 2024 , and the reports of the board of directors and the auditors thereon.
The proposed resolution is placed before the meeting to be passed as an ordinary resolution. Item number two: to declare the final dividend of INR 5.50 per equity share, that is around 275%, for the financial year ended 31st March 2024 . The proposed resolution is placed before the meeting to be passed as an ordinary resolution. Item number three: to appoint a director in place of Shri Sanjay Gupta, who is liable to retire by rotation and, being eligible, offers himself for reappointment. The proposed resolution is also passed before the meeting to be passed as an ordinary resolution. Item number four: to appoint a director in place of Shri Ashok Kumar Gupta, who is liable to retire by rotation and, being eligible, offers himself for reappointment. The proposed resolution is placed before the meeting to be passed as an ordinary resolution.
Item number five: rectification of remuneration payable to cost auditors of the company for the financial year 2024-25. The proposed resolution is placed before the meeting to be passed as an ordinary resolution. Last item, number six: to approve alteration of Articles of Association of the company to increase the limit of maximum number of directors of the company from 15 to 20 directors. The proposed resolution is placed before the meeting to be passed as a special resolution.
So while the members are hopefully putting their votes to each of the resolution, some of the members have some queries. I see some, members may be having some queries in the chat box. Some of the members have also pre-registered their names to speak. May I now request the host to please unmute the member who has to speak first. The video may also be enabled with his permission. I will request the speakers to speak in a confined time, a few minutes, so that each one of us can have an opportunity to speak. Host, you may please, unmute the members, speakers who want to speak. We have got request from Ankur Chanda, Sarbjit Singh.
Host, please confirm whether they are available or not. Host?
Sir, Mr. Ankur Chanda is not available in the meeting.
Okay.
Sarbjit Singh?
Sir, just checking.
Ashok Kumar Gupta?
Mr. Sarbjit Singh is also not available in the meeting.
Ashok Kumar Gupta? Gagan Kumar?
Sir, Ashok Kumar Gupta, Gagan Kumar, also not available.
Gagan Kumar, Raju Verma?
... so Mr. Raju Verma is also not available.
Manjit Singh, NS Chauhan?
I'll just check with Mr. Manjit Singh.
If these members are present, please speak or raise their hands.
Sir, Mr. Manjit Singh, Mr. N.S. Chauhan, also not available.
Kaushik Sahukar, SK Arora.
Sir, both of them are not available.
S. Visal akshmi, Vinod Motilal Agarwal.
No, sir, they are also not available.
Okay, we have certain members who are present, so we open it for everyone. Any other members who want to speak and or ask a question, please ask. Any of the shareholders, any queries?
Sir, we have opened the Q&A box. If any member wish to ask their queries, they can write their queries in the Q&A box.
No, you can even, if anybody wants to ask directly without writing also, they can ask.
I have enabled hand raise option. If a member just open their hand raise, we will unmute that member, sir.
Okay, any member who wants to speak, just raise your hands. Any questions are there? I know the performance is so good, the need may not be there.
Correct. He also, he can always ask how much better it's going to be.
So I think it's a typical thing where-
We can see a hand raise from one of the members, Balaji.
Please unmute him.
So, just, yeah.
Other members can also have the courage and raise their hands.
Mr. Balaji, and ask your queries.
Yeah, can you hear me?
Yes.
Yeah, good morning, esteemed board members. Thank you for giving the opportunity. They are striving for new heights on a regular basis. What I understand, promoter company is currently also doing investment in other nearby ventures, like, you know, funding supply chains or, you know, in the market, right, to online. What is the overall strategy? It will be keep as separate verticals then, or we like to integrate sometime in the future, as a single big, you know, organization? Thank you.
Very nice, Balaji. Nice of you to have the courage and ask the question. So you know, like any other organization, we always try to find out areas which give us a leverage, which is in a similar or adjacent sphere. So if you just mentioned logistics, we are a large consumer of logistics, so obviously it makes sense for us to invest in a company which may be involved in logistics. Similarly, we are a large consumer of finance. We have got more than 80,000 customers, and it makes sense for us to invest in a company where this kind of loan or lending is possible. So we are always examining these possibilities. So we are looking at these possibilities.
We are investing, but, mostly in those areas which are related in some way or the other with our, with our main business. Any other question? Any other query, please? So, host, if I see no other query or any questions, we'll continue with our demonstration.
I can see one query in the chat box.
Yeah.
You can open a Q&A box. You will be able to see the queries, sir.
What is it? Can you read out?
It says, "For the last many years, the promoter holding has been falling. What are the future, what are the future plans?
So you see, you would have observed that in many large organizations, the promoter is not really interested in increasing his wealth, rather he is interested in increasing the organization's size, for which you may need, you know, financing. Also, the promoter is more in looking at how the organization can grow and what are the other areas where, you know, the investments are possible. Sometimes the investments are possible from the organization itself. Sometimes the investment has to be done by the promoter from his own funds. And to raise these funds, there is possible that he may have to reduce his shareholding. So I think this all is being done with a view on overall improvement in the organization. Going forward, we do not see a large variation happening in the promoter holding.
Host, any other question or hand raise is there?
No, sir.
Okay, then we'll continue with our deliberations.
Members who have cast, who have not cast their remote e-voting or e-voting during the proceedings of AGM are requested to kindly vote on the proposed resolutions. Once these proceedings conclude, the voting window, as available on your login, will be kept open for fifteen minutes, during which all the members present and have not voted earlier through remote e-voting can cast their vote. Once the voting is over, Shri Jatin Gupta, the scrutinizer, will present his report to the Chairman, and the results on voting will be declared within two working days of conclusion of this meeting, and the same shall be posted on the website of the company and shall also be disseminated to the stock exchange. Now I request Shri Chetan Khandelwal, the CFO, to propose a vote of thanks to the Chairman.
Thank you. Thank you, Shivam. I also thank all the directors, the shareholders, and the management team, and I propose a vote of thanks to the Chairman on behalf of all the members and our spirit. Thank you so much.
Thank you. I hope that uninterrupted video and audio was available during the meeting to the panelists and the members present through VC. Now I request the Chairman to formally conclude the meeting.
Thank you, Shivam. So all the members, again, thanks for patiently hearing us, spending your valuable time with us. Again, my special thanks go to my very learned and guide and teacher, Shri V.S. Jainji, Anil Kumar Bansalji, and Shri Abhilash Lalji, for guiding us throughout these years and taking this company where it is today. I would also like to thank our new directors for having come and participated in these deliberations and guiding us throughout each, in each and every meeting. I'll also thank the auditors and scrutinizers for attending this AGM and CDSL for providing the platform for conducting the meeting. With this, I declare the meeting as officially concluded. Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.