Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Kaveri Seed Company's Q1 FY 2027 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions at the end of today's presentation. Please note that this conference call will be recorded. Joining us today on the call, Mr. Mithun Chand, Executive Director. Before we begin, I would like to mention that some of the statements made in today's call may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risks and uncertainties. For a list of such considerations, please refer to the earnings presentation. I would now like to hand over the call to Mr. Mithun Chand. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good afternoon and welcome everyone to our quarter one financial year 2027 earnings conference call. We hope you have had a chance to review the presentation of our results, which is also available on our website. I would touch upon the operational financial operations of the company and then open the floor for Q&A session. Revenue from operation was at INR 815 crore as compared to INR 945 crore. EBITDA was at INR 285 crore as compared to INR 332 crore. Operating margin stayed at about 35%, the same level as last year, slightly above. Net profits were at INR 271.3 crore as compared to INR 316 crore. The cash on book stands at INR 267 crore.
Coming to segment-wise revenue breakup, non-cotton revenue was INR 601.57 crore, and cotton revenue was at INR 213.43 crore. Cotton stayed at the level of last year. Major highlights. El Niño got a weak monsoon and quarter one had one of the shortest sowing windows of recent seasons, with less rain through the quarter. Farmers bought fewer premium and high-value products. Our new cotton products did very well. They now make up 37% of our cotton sales, against 22% last year. This is a big jump in single year, and it shows the farmers are choosing our newer hybrids, despite challenges from illegal cotton and reduced sowing acreages. Our new single-cross maize hybrids are doing well. They now make up more than 20% of our maize sales.
A bigger share of maize now comes from our newer and better products, which gives a stronger base to grow from once maize sowing returns to normal. Maize was slow this quarter because of the deficiency in the rain. Karnataka is our main maize market and only about a fifth of the land had been sown by mid-June. Rain returned in July and we expect maize demand to pick up in quarter two financial year 2027. We launched two new hybrids paddy products, KRH7344 and KRH7227. In their very first season, they brought in 62% of our new product sale. This is a strong start for our new rice products. Our export business grew close to four times, from INR 1.1 crore to INR 5.79 crore. Demand from overseas markets is clearly building, and this is an area we will keep pushing on. Operational highlights.
Operating margins held steady at about 35% through the quarter. In cotton, the company has built a strong base in the northern markets of Haryana, Punjab, and Rajasthan. Hybrid rice stayed our largest non-cotton segment at INR 247.07 crore in a quarter which the rice sowing area in the country was lower. Selection rice revenue grew marginally to INR 159.07 crore, holding up despite poor rain in the rice sowing areas. New bajra hybrids now make up 65% of the bajra volumes, up from 61%, with volumes sustained through the season. Vegetable seed revenue was at INR 15.08 crore, with few new varieties going into the coming season. If rainfall improves during quarter two financially, we expect transfer lower demand. The growth story stays intact.
We are working on new variants across all seed segments, and we will keep raising the share in maize, vegetables, rice, and cotton. I would now open the floor for question and answer session. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and then one on their touchtone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Again, to register, you may press star and one. Your first question comes from the line of Rushabh Shah with BugleRock PMS . Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi sir. Thanks for the opportunity. If I see your numbers in the last 10, 11 years.
Sorry, can you be a bit louder?
Yeah. If I see your financials in the last 10, 11 years, we have reached a profit of around INR 300 crore in 2015. After that, we were building a non-cotton business, our vegetable business, and which we have grown to a significant size. But still we are not able to cross that peak profit in the last years. Is it because we couldn't get any hit hybrids like Money Maker or ATM? What kind of challenges we are facing, and what do you think we can achieve in the next, let's say three to five years?
Rightly observed. If you see from 2014, 2015, the profit remained in and around that INR 300 crore in most of the years. But if you see the product mix, wherein the cotton was contributing around 80% in 2014, 2015, and the margins were pretty high there. Coming back to this current season, if you see the mix has changed, wherein cotton only contributes close to 20% and 80% is non-cotton segment. Even cotton margins shrink to much lower than what we used to have, even though we were able to maintain those margins at a 35% EBITDA for the first quarter. Leaving apart this year, if you see in the last years, we were growing in non-cotton segment and we were declining cotton.
But by seeing the current season, which is a very challenging season for us, this is the first time where we are seeing this type of season where across India, we are seeing monsoon deficit till June 15th, which has disrupted the cropping patterns and the farmer choices. That's making an impact. This is one of the year where we should not take into consideration. But coming back to if you see the portfolio levels, compared to the other levels, even in this tough conditions, we were able to do well. With the products what we have and with the research what we have spent in the last years, and the hybrids which were developed, the research are doing very well, and they are very encouraging. It's just one off an year, and this should not be a benchmark for the performance.
Okay. The second question is, we are entering into the export market for quite some time, and we have grown in that area also. Are we facing any challenges in those regions? Because in one of the calls, I remember you said that gaining farmers' trust even in India, we are an Indian company which took so long. Are we facing such kind of challenges in the export market? The second part of the question is, in exports, maize and rice are two big crops, and we had talked about Philippines, Vietnam or Thailand to grow our export business. We had sent some samples for trial. We got good results, and it could be around INR 100 crore revenue in the few years. What is happening on that front, if you could just let us know.
We are growing in vegetables. We are growing in export market, and the conditions here and there remains almost same. I mean to say that in terms of farmers' choices, they will see the performance and then only they will adapt it. In few countries, we need to give trialing as well. That trialing we have completed in Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia there. Now we are sending material there. We are getting good sale there, and still we stick to that growth in export market. Reaching INR 100 crore in vegetables shouldn't be a difficult in the coming time.
Okay. And sir, we have done a tremendous job in the past years to build a non-cotton portion of the business. My question on the cotton business, as we know that this business does not have significantly lower margins than the non-cotton business. Have we lost focus on, let's say, are we giving less importance to this business? Because there are many factors like illegal seeds, capping of prices from the government, and we haven't come out with such new hybrids in the last many years in the cotton business. Just to add on the part, in the last two years, we have seen we have huge inventory, around INR 1,200 crore of inventory we have. On that front, could you please let us know something?
Coming back to the cotton question first. Yes, cotton, we have lost market share in the last seven, eight years. I will just correct you. We have developed many hybrids in the past three, four years. If you see the growth in Northern India, we have grown even though if you see the overall sale as a flattish one, but we have grown in Northern India. We have almost like doubled in Northern India in terms of cotton with a small base. But those are all new hybrids, and we are doing very well. When you come down to Gujarat and Maharashtra, the rainfalls were very low, scattered rainfall initially, and then the illegal BT. These all has impacted to some extent. As I said that this is one of the year where we should not take as a benchmark.
We are very confident with the new cotton hybrids, and even in the sale, you have seen the contribution of the cotton hybrid, newer cotton hybrids. We are fairly confident that we will go back to our market share, what we used to have earlier, and we are very confident about cotton. Even though the margins are lower, but the market size is very big, and we can't ignore cotton as such. Cotton is a very big market, and we are very strong in those markets. We are working, and we will be working in cotton segment also. Coming back to inventory, yes, compared to last year, we have roughly INR 200 crore of more inventory when compared to last year. That is because we anticipated a good season and good growth this year.
Because of the El Niño effect and the delayed rains, scattered rains here and then, that has impacted the sale. But anyhow, that's a part and parcel of the business. We will manage the inventory, and the inventory is pretty much stored properly. We will be reducing our productions next year. We will not take up the production what we have taken up this year. That's a continuous process. We are monitoring it. No worry as of now to maintain the inventory. It's for the holding time, what we have.
And sir, just a follow-up on the market share part, loss of market share in cotton. We had lost market share in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Rasi is a market leader all over India also. Just wanted to know what is helping them to gain more market share. Is it better farmer connectivity or are they of a better brand? Just wanted to know.
So basically, if you see in the last four, five years, I don't think they have increased the market share. At the most, they have maintained or declined in terms of the market shares. The cotton market also slightly declined in the last three, four years. Illegal cotton has also gone up, smaller players also coming up. So in terms based on the hybrid performance, their hybrids are doing well, and they are accepted, they have grown. But these are all old hybrids there. We have not seen any new hybrids that have taken market share in the last three, four years.
Okay. Thank you. I 'll get back in the queue .
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Disha Garg with Samco Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Good evening.
Yeah.
Sir, as the season was not that good, have we also got hit on our margin, which for a particular crop, which is compensated by other crops. Is there any-
Sorry.
Crop where we-
Sorry.
Is there any crop where we got a low margin versus last year?
No. If you see the margins, in fact, expanded. Even though the sales declined, the EBITDA margins have slightly expanded. If you see the other expenses like the salaries and other expenses were up compared to last year in terms of the percentages. But in terms of the gross margins, it is up by 2%-3%. In anticipation of a good season, we deployed many people across, and we couldn't sell as that has slightly impacted our margin. But in fact, we would have done more margin than last year if all the seasons were good.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Himanshu Upadhyay with Steadfort. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. I had a question on subsidiaries. In one of the recent calls, we stated that our subsidiary also sells seeds, and if we have multiple hybrids, launching all hybrids through Kaveri is not viable. Out of, let's say, four or five hybrids are there, one or two can go to subsidiary. But I could not understand why all cannot be sold through Kaveri, and why not choose best two, three hybrids and put our entire efforts and its focus behind doing them, rather than diversifying our energy across multiple products and multiple places through subsidiaries or all that. Some clarity on that will be helpful.
That all depends on the company's strategy, how they do it. For us, if you take Kaveri as such, Kaveri focus only on those hybrids. Even though subsidiaries are there, we are competitors in the market. They operate as a different company, the team is different, all the efforts are different. Only the research is Kaveri, but all are independent companies and independent subsidiaries. Those are all competitors in the market. We are putting our full effort across all hybrids, and whatever sale is booked in the subsidiaries are also our independent sales.
I could not understand, but the benefit of that strategy, because many companies, let's say in FMCG or any other agrochemicals also when we see, companies have multiple products for the same issues and multiple brands also which get sold through the same company. Why does this strategy is more helpful of selling through subsidiary and competing with our own subsidiaries. Some thoughts on that will be helpful. That is what I am trying to understand.
The business of FMCGs and seed is altogether a different business. Because seed, the farmer only picks up by seeing the performance of the hybrid. India has got many climatic conditions. Each hybrid performs differently in each segment. There are very few hybrids which are successful across all zones. When we have me-too hybrids, we need to discard one hybrid and market only one hybrid. The discarded hybrid will go to the subsidiaries, which operates independently, and we get market share. For example, if you take this year also, the hybrids, what we sold in, for example, if you take cotton hybrid, we have sold around 10 lakh - 12 lakh packets in subsidiaries.
That's another added advantage for the Kaveri Seed Company, wherein the cost and everything, the research cost and the production cost will be beneficial for the Kaveri Seed as we may not be able to market all those hybrids. It's all me-too hybrids, basically. Some hybrids perform differently in different segments, so they take advantage of that. If you want to do in one company, we need to discard those type of niche market hybrids, which we don't want to do. Again, that's what I was saying. Again, that depends on the strategy of the company.
Okay. One more thing.
One more thing, I'll just add on to that. Even an Indian farmer usually tries different products. He will not go for one go. For example, if you have 10 acres of land, even though he's very much, I want to say, used to one hybrid, even in that way, he tries other three or four hybrids of different companies or other same company.
When we see the new cotton products or any, let's say, bajra new hybrids, the new product would mean launched within three years, five years, or what is the duration or how
Basically three years.
Okay.
It will launch in the last three years.
Okay. So whatever is launched in three years, we say new product.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yes.
Okay. In cotton, when we have seen the new products growing at a very quick pace, are we getting some pricing premium also in those products, or the price remains subdued only for those products also? If they replace the older ones, okay. I think they would be replacing, that's why their share is continuously increasing, even when our revenues in cotton and some more have not increased. How is the pricing and the profitability for these products or the newer products? Some thoughts on that.
In cotton, the MRP is capped. But in terms of the realizations, we are almost in the top three segments of the cotton seed where we realize higher than many other companies.
Okay. One more thing, with later rains coming, do we see any hybrids or any change in the cropping pattern which might benefit for a shorter duration crops, let's say, vegetables, which generally have a three-month type of timeframe? Any product or any place where we can benefit?
Not much. For us, vegetables are a very smaller segment, even though that might come this quarter. But it's a very small segment which may not add up much for us. For us, Karnataka is a major state where still we are waiting for the rainfall, and now the tanks are getting full now. In that segment, in Karnataka, what we believe is that we have not lost sale. It can come again in terms of maize. That is a positive point, what we see is that we can get back Karnataka sale. Other parts we may not get back, but in Karnataka we can get back. The other thing is that now with the excess rains and the heavy rains in the last couple of weeks, most of the tanks are full in most of the parts.
We are leaving the southern part, like Karnataka or Andhra or some parts of Telangana. Northern India, mid part, the tanks are full. In that way, Rabi might be a bit encouraging this year. If you see the maize price, in the start of the season, it was only INR 16-INR 17. Now the maize price is also around INR 27-INR 28. Even most of the Rabi comes from maize crops. Maize should pick up in the second half.
Okay. Let's say the exports last year, how much was to Bangladesh and what is the outlook overall for the exports and especially to Bangladesh where you are making special efforts.
I don't have the exact split per state as of now, but definitely from last year we'll grow at least 25% compared to last year as overall exports.
Okay. I'll join back in queue for further queries.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Dhruv Saraf with Bowhead India Fund. Please go ahead.
In Q1 numbers, if I compare the seed revenues of other large companies such as Bayer, such as Advanta. Their maize seed revenues almost grew by 20%+ , while we had a 40% decline. Can you help me pin down why this big difference in performance?
Basically, they are very strong in the other parts of India. They are strong in the southern parts of India, especially Karnataka, Andhra, Telangana. These parts we have received lesser rainfall. That is one of the impacts what we have seen. If you see last year, 25%-30% of sale came from Karnataka last year in terms of overall maize scheme.
Okay. Right, sir. Even we are strong in areas like Madhya Pradesh as well, where the acreage has grown.
Yeah.
Were we not able to perform well in those markets? Because the numbers are quite divergent. Ours is - 14%, them is + 20%. I am just trying to understand, apart from Karnataka, the other reason.
There are mixed views in some pockets. For example, we have grown in Rajasthan. We have grown in other parts of Northern India. But not in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Bihar. Especially in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, we are not able to do well.
Okay.
If you see the overall acreages, Madhya Pradesh is the one where we have seen a huge increase in acreages.
Yeah.
That we were not able to capture. That's the only area where we were weak. But whereas if you take Maharashtra and other parts, it remains the same or it came down. The major increase was in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. In Rajasthan, we were able to capture, but in Madhya Pradesh, we were not able to do that.
Sorry, is it a problem that we don't have a product, let's say, for those geographies or?
Yes. That's the main reason.
Okay. Understood, sir. Secondly, you spoke about the fact that rainfall has picked up in Karnataka, and maize acreage, which was down 15% at the start of July year-on-year. If you look at the cropping now, maize acreage is down only 4% year-on-year, as of the latest government data. Do you expect to cover up a large part of your sales in Q2 and in Q2's Kharif?
Basically, if you see Karnataka now, even now, in some parts of Karnataka where the maize goes in, still the rains are not there. But the dams at Tungabhadra are getting full now. In the last couple of days, the maize seed is going up. But in Karnataka, usually they have a habit of sowing maize across the years, during the entire year. Whatever we have done last year in Karnataka, still we are confident that we will do, but it will be in quarter two or three, I guess. We just need to see.
Sure. So, sir, now in terms of you entered Q1 with a 14% sales decline.
I want to just.
Yeah, sure.
I will just correct. The sale in Karnataka, we might be able to recover, but the sale in other parts for the Kharif that is already lost. But whatever we have done-
Yeah
some Kharif in maize that we might recover in Karnataka.
Great. Sir, if I then want to look at the full year for this FY 2027, you ended Q1 with a 14% sales decline. Do you expect to, let us say, close this year at last year's sales level, or will you have that - 10%, - 12% decline still by the end of the year? What is your view on that, sir?
Definitely the margin will be lower than what we have shown in the first quarter because we are expecting some spillover there and the second year, second Rabi should be good because of the maize prices. It should narrow down. But to what extent, that we need to see.
Got it.
It should not go up, but definitely, the gap will narrow down.
Understood, sir. Sir, just one last question on cotton, sir. You spoke about in our previous interaction, we spoke about that this year there was an expectation that the illegal seed could come down. But the illegal seed has again gone up this year. Do you see further threat or, let's say, do you see this becoming an even bigger problem going ahead? What were the reasons why the illegal seed went up, while our expectation was that it would come down?
Basically, it was because of monsoon. As the season gets prolonged, as the monsoon gets delayed, the farmer compromises on the seed. If you see Northern India, which was earlier than the monsoon, we were able to do well. But whereas in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, these are impacted a lot, especially for us, Gujarat are impacted a lot this year.
Okay. Sure. All right, sir. I'll get back in with you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Karan Talwar with DAM Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Can you hear me?
Yeah.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Sir, thank you for taking my question. Sir, just two from my end. Firstly, you highlighted that there is a chance that we may recover sales in Karnataka. If you could just quantify how much we have done last year versus how much we have done till now, so that we can just have a sense on what is the scope of recovery here. That is number one.
Last time in the Kharif, we had done close to 2,600 tons in Karnataka. This year, we have only done 1,500 tons in Karnataka. We are down by around 1,100 tons- 1,200 tons only in Karnataka.
And you're confident that-
Which is close to INR 40 crore -INR 60 crore of sale.
I'm sorry?
Which is close to INR 40 crore-INR 60 crore of sale.
We remain fairly confident that there's a chance that you may still be able to recover the-
As of now, we are pretty confident because we don't see any alternate crop coming there.
Understood, sir. Secondly, while you've given some color on margin, if you would like to throw some light on how we should look at the overall revenue growth for the year.
As I said, I just answered an earlier question. For the rest of three quarters, it should not come down because as we see the Karnataka sale coming in the next three quarters, and Rabi should be well because of the maize prices and because majority of the contributor is made in the second half, in the next three quarters. So the sale will be higher than the last year, three quarters, and the revenues will narrow down from this level. But to what extent it will cover, that we will see.
Right. Just one last from my end. Sir, any new hybrids or any performances of any field trials that you have been doing across crops that you would like to highlight?
We are doing across all crops. If you see our results also, majority of the contribution, even in maize, rice or bajra, or even in cotton, it is all the contribution of the new crops. We are very bullish in the start of the year. We thought all the hybrids will do well, but unfortunately, the season has not come up as anticipated. But okay, that is fine. We are in a business where we are prone to these type of monsoons, but that is fine. This one of a year, a tough year, but overall, we see a very good growth and we are pretty confident of our hybrids, and we see a good growth in the coming years. We are not worried about in the medium or longer-term period.
Right, sir. Any color on how our product pipeline is also shaping up?
It's excellent when you compare the product pipeline. If you see in the last eight, 10 years, the product line, what we have right now is one of the best in the last 10 years. Unfortunately, that is not turning up in the sales because of the various reasons, might be season or something else. But definitely, that will definitely come up, and in the next two or three years, that will definitely reflect in the revenues as well.
Right. Thank you so much, and wish you all the best.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, if you wish to register for a question, you may press star and one. Our next question comes from the line of Viraj Kacharia with SiMPL. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, am I audible ?
Yeah.
Just a couple of questions. See, as you said that, if you look at our financials over a very long period, the mix has changed from cotton to non-cotton. Now, if you look at this particular quarter, despite cotton share increasing and margins are lower, our gross margin has increased. Is it largely because of share of new products in each of the category improving further, or was there an element of price increases? I mean, if you look at it two, three years back, we had seen a very material increase in cost of production for seeds. Is it normalization of that or is it share of new products increasing? Any colors in this?
Rightly observed. In fact, if you recollect last call also, we said that the cost of production is lower than compared to previous years. So that has added up. In fact, the realizations of most of the crops are down when compared to last year.
Okay. But if you still compare it to the-
We had an advantage in terms of the cost of production. That has contributed for the increase in the profitability. And if you see, the cost of production is down by 2% - 3% compared to last year. Even though we realize lower at the dealer side.
What do you mean by we have an advantage in cost of production?
What I mean to say is that, if you have realized INR 100 last year per product, this year the realizations are down by 2%-3% compared to last year. The cost of production, even at this lower realized rate, the cost of production is lower than last year. I mean to say the cost of production is 4%-5% lower than last year, and the realizations are 2%-3%. Even in that stage, we are able to maintain that 3% growth in terms of the cost of production.
Right. Do you see further-
I do not know whether I was able to communicate it properly to you or not, but the realizations were lower by 2%-3% than last year.
No, I got that.
In terms of the manufacturing from the channel.
Okay. Do you see scope for further normalization in cost of production? Compared to say, INR 25 base, do you see scope of further normalization in the cost of production? Not just for us, but everyone in the industry.
Yeah. It is normalized last year. When you literally talk of the next year, we may not take up the production what we have taken up last year because we have huge inventory, so the production will be very minimum for the next year. The cost of production, what we have incurred last year should be more or less same for the next year.
Okay. Second question is, see, if you look at maybe 2020, we had tried to shift a little towards cotton. We had some good success in maize and rice. There was quite a volatility in sustaining the sales because the regional contribution was quite high amongst the southern states, say for maize and same for rice for us. If you look at the current year, even I understand the season is bad, but in a down year, most of the volumes have gone back to the leader or the top two players, right? If I have to look at next three, five years kind of a horizon, how should we understand, one, the regional concentration and the seasonal concentration for the non-cotton portfolio, say maize, rice. How do you see that evolving?
If you see, we are not regionally concentrated. If you see cotton is in different states, maize is in different states, sunflower is in different states.
Yes.
Rice is in different states. So we are across India, but the only issue is that India is a vast country. We need to have suitable hybrid for those segments. In Kharif, we are pretty strong in Karnataka, Andhra, and Telangana. In Rabi, we are strong in Bihar, U.P., and some parts of Maharashtra. Madhya Pradesh we are slightly weak. Those hybrids we need to launch, and we have hybrids in Madhya Pradesh also, but they are all pretty new, so we couldn't do that. That's one of the reasons. But if you take other crops, if you take rice, even in these tough conditions, we are able to grow in rice with a big market share. We are one of the largest players in rice.
Okay. Got it. And similarly in terms of, say, maize or rice, especially maize, if I look at on an annual basis, last year we did something like INR 4 00 crore of sales. How would the product portfolio be distributed, say Kharif, Rabi, and spring?
Last year we have introduced some products in spring. Earlier we were not that big in spring. The results were good in spring corn. That's just last year we had done some sales. In Kharif, I said we are pretty strong in the southern states, and in Rabi we are strong in northern states. Now the hybrids are on the pipeline, hybrids which are there. We are considering both Kharif and Rabi. Most of them are single-cross hybrids. We will be catering to all the markets in India now. But most of the hybrids are new. It will just get more visibility at the farmer level. That's the reason it will take some time. But otherwise, in terms of the portfolio, in terms of the pipeline, in terms of their performance, we are pretty much bullish.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Praveen Potnuru, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hello, can you hear me?
Yeah.
Thank you for taking my question, sir. Can you mention again how much is the cash on the books and what is the expected cash on the books by end of quarter two? About how much cash outflow we are going to expect for buyback, if there is any.
One thing, we have a cash of close to INR 265 crore-INR 270 crore as of 30th June . By this next second quarter ender, there may not be a much significant cash increase, maybe INR 20 crore-INR 30 crore plus. Close to INR 300 crore, not much. But coming back to buyback, that is again a board decision. We will see whether if the board recommends we will do and what amount they decide that we will let you know once it is finalized with the board.
Yeah. That answers my question. Thank you. My second question. For the last ten years or so, we did not see much growth in sales or profit. It is close to inflation only. How do we see our future for, let us say, next five years or ten years? What would be the drivers?
I have answered this question at the start of the call itself, but anyway, I will answer once again. I said that from the last ten years, it looks like we remain same there in terms of the revenues and profitability. But the product mix has changed and the margins in the cotton have shrunk by more than 15%-20%. Like earlier it was 35% in terms of the EBITDA, now right now it is only 15% in terms of EBITDA. Even in the tough conditions, we were able to shift our focus to non-cotton crops and we were able to manage the margins. Going forward, we see growth in both the segments, cotton and non-cotton segments, as we have very good hybrids in the pipeline.
This year, we thought of a good growth this year, but unfortunately we could not deliver that because of various reasons, mainly monsoon. But going forward, definitely we are confident that we can deliver both revenue growth and profitability.
What would be the contribution from exports look like?
In the next three years, we said five years. In the last three years, we said that five years we will reach INR 100 crore, but in the next three years we will reach INR 100 crore, both in terms of vegetable seed.
Would it be margin exclusive?
Margin-
Would that be margin exclusive?
It will be in line with what we get now. It should be in between that 25%-30%.
Okay. Thanks very much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Dhruv Saraf with Bowhead India Fund. Please go ahead.
Mithun sir, if I look at the presentation, you spoke about two new products in hybrid rice which almost were like 53% of your sales.
Sorry?
62% of your sales. KRH7344 and KRH7227.
No, 62% of the sales is the new products. New product contribution.
Yeah. Out of the INR 247 crore of hybrid rice, 62% came from new products, right? That is what it means.
Sorry. This is only for the new product. 62% hybrid rice.
Yes.
This is only for the new products, not for the entire portfolio.
Okay. So, okay. My question will not stand because I was about to ask you that 62% of the sales would come from new products. It is not that case. Right. So fair.
No.
What would be the contribution from these products? Would it be like 10%, 20%, 30%?
It should be below 20%, 20%-25%. I will give you the exact number. But majority of that is the previous old hybrids. But these are the new hybrids in different segments where we see a lot of potential in that.
Okay. Are they replacements for 468 or are they like in a different market altogether?
No, they are also in a different market. Most of the new launches are in a different market.
All right, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Chandramouli Jagannathan, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Earlier you were kind of-
Sorry to interrupt. Chandramouli sir, your voice is very muffled. If I can request you to use the handset, please.
Yeah, I'm using the handset. Can you hear me?
Yeah. This is slightly better.
Sir, earlier you were kind of saying that you will do about 18%-20% for the next two, three years. I know unfortunately this year you are going to have loss due to the weather condition. Otherwise, your target is on intact the coming years because of the new thing.
Yeah. There still we maintain that 18%-20% going forward. 15%-18%, that is what we said. Still, even though this year a bad year, but with the line, with the pipeline and the hybrids what we have and with the new launches and the performance of the new launches, definitely in the next two to three years, definitely we will be able to recover that. In the longer or middle longer term, we are not worried about that. This year, slightly we are down compared to previous year and we have not maintained our expectations. That is only one off year for us.
You mean to say that the next two, three it will continue to grow?
Yeah. Definitely.
From the last year level.
Yes.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question and answer session. Thank you for joining the call. For any other information, please be in touch with Rama Naidu from Intellect PR on 9920209623. On behalf of Kaveri Seed Company Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.