Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Patanjali Foods Limited Q1 FY 2025 earnings conference call. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as on date of this call. These statements are not the guarantee of future performance and involve risk and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sanjiv Asthana, CEO from Patanjali Foods Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you very much. Good morning. Welcome, and thank you for joining us today for Patanjali Foods Limited's call to discuss the results of Q1 FY 2025. I'm joined by the company's CFO, Mr. Kumar Rajesh, along with Mr. Priyendu Jha and Mr. Chintan Kotak from the IR team. The team from our investor relations advisor Strategic Growth Advisors is also here. We have uploaded the results collateral on the stock exchange as well as the company's website for your reference. Please note that the call we will be referring to on standalone financials. I'm pleased to share that we've begun this fiscal on a favorable note with strong growth and profitability metrics. During Q1 FY 2025, the revenue from operations stood at INR 7,173 crore.
The total EBITDA stands at INR 435 crores in the quarter, which is 105.2% growth over INR 211.99 crores in Q1 of FY 2024. On a sequential basis as well, if we exclude the adjustments related to the pre-redemption of preference shares as per Ind AS, the Q1 FY 2025 EBITDA had 4.8% growth from the quarter ending in March 2024. Our PAT nearly tripled to INR 262.91 crores on year-on-year basis, while the PAT margins stood at 3.65%. In the edible oil segment, after subdued performance for multiple quarters, there were signs of recovery, since second half of FY 2024. The uptrend continued during this quarter, too.
The segment recorded healthy margins of 4.35%, which is better than the standard margin range in the segment of between 2% and 4%. The performance of the food and FMCG segment, FMCG segment, was also in line in quarter one of FY 2024. The segment contributed 26.77% to the total revenue, which is at similar levels in contribution in Q1 of FY 2024. The performance details of the respective segments are covered later. The revenue from wind turbine power generation segment during Q1 FY 2025 stood at INR 14.33 crores. The company fulfills nearly 20% of its energy requirements from renewable sources. A major highlight of the quarter was the initiation of the process of acquiring the home and personal care business of Patanjali Ayurved Limited.
The Board approved the evaluation of the acquisition during the quarter, and later, on first of July 2024, it approved the acquisition of Patanjali's Home and Personal Care business on a slump sale basis at a cost of INR 1,100 crore. We are waiting for the CCI approval on this, as well as the shareholders' approval. I believe it is a milestone transaction which aligns with our company's desire to be a powerhouse in the FMCG space. This strategic expansion will help us improve the stability of our margin profile and open various avenues for future growth. Patanjali Foods has a proven track record of successful acquisition and subsequent business scaling, and we believe that the successful execution of this acquisition will create incremental value for our shareholders. Speaking about the macro environment, we see that the monsoon has hit the country evenly.
We are optimistic for this to continue. With our already strong presence in hinterland, the company is positive about the rural demand moving northward in the coming quarter. There is a steady urban consumption also, propelled by higher disposable income and a growing preference for premium products. Additionally, increasing health consciousness and evolving consumer lifestyles have further fueled the demand for premium FMCG products. Moreover, the expansion of e-commerce and quick commerce has provided an additional impetus to the sector. Overall, as a company, we continue to execute on our strategic playbook by driving operational excellence, delivering innovative and premium products, and expanding our distribution footprint to build the foundation for high profitability and sustainable growth and create value for our shareholders. Distribution expansion and new product launches as per evolving consumer preference continue to be our pillars for growth.
Innovation and premiumization is the driving force behind broadening our array of products to serve both the value and premium segments of the market. These strategic growth drivers collectively aim to strengthen our market position and sustain growth in the FMCG market. Coming on to the details of the segmental performance. In the edible oil segment, the company booked a revenue of INR 5,330 crore. EBITDA of the segment was INR 231 crore, as compared to the EBITDA loss of INR 99.61 crore in the Q1 of FY 2024. The revenue from edible oil was on the lower side due to downward pricing pressure during the quarter. Further, there was a slight dip in the demand for edible oils.
This happened mainly due to the unfavorable weather conditions and multiple regions witnessed adverse effects of the intense heat waves, which impacted the edible oil sales to a large extent. Despite all this, the segment performed robustly with high gains in profitability. This is mainly because of the stable price regime in the market and active strategies of price risk mitigation that we pursued. We continue to see an improvement in sales of branded edible oil, which constitute around 79.54% of the edible oil sales of Q1 FY 2025. Premium oil range under the Nutrela brand continues to grow year-on-year basis. The first quarter of FY 2025 saw both upward and downward price movements in the cash markets. Specifically, we observed a price correction of approximately 10% in April, followed by a steadier movement in May and June.
Palm oil showed no divergence between futures and physical markets. Conversely, a 7% divergence was noted in soya oil, primarily attributed to a decline in the futures prices. During Q1 for soya oil, the basis movement was negative, which favored physical stock, leading to deliberate reduction in hedging activities. Conversely, the basis movement for palm oil remained nearly neutral, where we maintained an average hedge volume of 30%. We recognize that the oil market is sensitive to price movements, thus we have varied sound risk management strategies in place. Our hedging decisions are based on robust fundamentals and technical research. We optimally leverage opportunities by establishing new subaccounts for strategic management positions. Furthermore, we achieved natural hedging by continuously adjusting our positions in response to market dynamics.
Further, to overcome the inherent price sensitivity of edible oils, we are aggressively expanding our footprint in the oil palm plantation business. The oil palm plantation sector has an important opportunity for Patanjali Foods to attain lasting success. In the first quarter, we increased our cultivated land further to 75,661 ha. Rapid agricultural expansion are being executed in collaboration with the farmers at large scale. We are conducting farmer training and exposure workshops in the new areas. Coming to the Food and FMCG segment, we achieved revenue of INR 1,953 crores, in line with the performance of the same quarter in the previous year. The quarter-on-quarter revenue declined by INR 751 crores, primarily due to the drop in the food business for various reasons.
There was a spike in the year-end to INR 2,148 crores in the previous quarter, which was a year-end inventory build-up by the distributors. During the quarter, the segment recorded an EBITDA of 184.05 crores at a margin of 9.42%, compared to EBITDA of 360.77 crores on a year-on-year basis in Q1 of FY 2024. The EBITDA margin is aligned, but there was decline in the food business. In biscuits, soya protein and nutraceuticals, there was increased better performance and increase in EBITDA as well. I'm specifically coming to the foods business to give greater clarity on, convert that into two parts.
The Foods business margin was 19.6%, driven by 52% of Indian foods, which are high margin businesses that we have. This is where. This was in Q1 of FY 2024. In Q1 FY 2025, the consumer staples rose to 70%, temporarily lowering the margins. Recovery is expected in the next quarter with increased sales of higher margin products. Q1 of FY 2025, the revenue was INR 1,351 crores. The consumer staples categories was INR 946 crores, where the margin typically is between 3% and 4%. The Indian food sales dropped to INR 405 crores from INR 662 crores, affecting overall margin due to the high inventory and seasonal factors. This margin is expected to stabilize at 11% next quarter as high margin products recover in Q4.
In the biscuits business, the quarterly revenue grew by 9.41% year-on-year to INR 381 crore versus of last year, versus INR 417 crore in Q1 of FY 2025. The premium range of our health biscuits and Patanjali tea continues to exhibit encouraging results. The margin increased from 10.1% to 19.1% in Q1, mainly due to reduced inventory costs in the raw materials, both in terms of the wheat and palm oil, and the sugar prices were softer. The freight cost efficiency that was attained on account of the operational efficiency, due to and the new solar installation that we have in the energy cost saving.
In the soya chunk categories, the Nutrela sales, we observed steady growth of 4.37% to 7,746 metric tons during the quarter. Nutrela maintained a healthy margin and continues to grow and drive its business. The nutraceuticals achieved a run rate of INR 14 crore during the quarter, which is on the higher margin trajectory. We are expecting to close the year with between INR 100 crore and INR 125 crore in FY 2025, where complete restabilization of the business that is being worked on. In the nutraceuticals, it's a reworking of the strategies that are being worked out alongside the other strategies that the company is working on. The company remains resolute in its dedication to enhancing its brand building initiatives. Various endeavors have been carried out for Nutrela, Mahakosh, and Sunrich.
The brand teams engaged in active campaigns during IPL, while reaching a viewership, a high viewership of several crores over the TVC . As part of strategy for risks related to supply chain, the company has also initiated a dedicated supply chain there for key commodities like wheat, spices, guar gum, et cetera. Acknowledging the best HR practices at the organization, we were also recognized as the best employer by the Golden Globe Tigers HR Awards in Malaysia during the quarter. With this, I conclude my opening remarks, and the floor is now open for Q&A. Thank you very much.
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 handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Bharat Shah from ASK Investment Managers Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good morning, Asthana Ji.
Good morning.
Two questions. One is on the food business that you referred to. So what I could understand, correct me if I'm wrong, biscuit business, both in turnover as well as margins, have improved, has improved. Also, that is the case with the Nutrela business. Both top line as well as margins have been in sync with our plan. What you referred to as the food business and what you subsequently explained, I could understand that you are looking at it in two parts, Indian or specialty foods, Indian ethnic kind of foods, and the consumer staples. So which, what are these two activities that you are referring to? Can you please explain each of those two parts?
What are the underlying products that you are referring to? And what is affected, like in March quarter, where margins were kind of low, compared to traditionally what margins we have enjoyed and what we think we need to have? Compared to that, the March quarter also was weak. June quarter also has been weak. So if you can explain what has led to this. And finally, what is the outlook on both of these activities in the food business so that one can get a better picture ahead? You referred to something about 11% margin, but I couldn't fully comprehend.
So Bharat, you'll allow me a couple of minutes to explain, because this is a very important question. So I will explain. There are two categorizations in the foods business that we have. One is that we refer to as Indian foods, which includes like cow ghee, which include like chyawanprash, honey, medicated juices, and specialty products, which typically fall in that category. The second business is Consumer Staples, which are in general tend to be lower margin businesses, where it includes rice, atta, pulses, wheat products, you know, dry fruits. It includes spices. It includes... There's a whole list, besan, suji, maida, sugar, salt. So these are very large category that we have, which comprises of the consumer staples. So this is how it comprises.
We have further segregated for the clarity of, of everyone here on the call as to how sequentially it has moved over, on year-on-year basis, and, sequentially on, you know, the previous quarters, how this has moved and what exactly were the reasons, you know, for this change in the margin, you know, dropping, on this, business, for this particular quarter, and why it's a, it's an aberration which is going to get, sorted out, quickly. So overall, I'll explain that, in Q1 of 2024, our Specialty foods were INR 706 crores, and the Consumer staples were INR 646 crores. The total revenue on that was INR 1,352 crores.
In Q4 of 2024, our Indian foods were INR 662 crore, and Consumer staples had a big spike to INR 1,486 crore. In the Q1 of 2025, which is the current quarter that we're discussing, the Indian specialty foods was INR 405 crore. There was a substantial drop of nearly 257 crore, and consumer staples was INR 945 crore, which was almost a drop of INR 541 crore. So there are two reasons for that, those drops, and then I'll come to the margin construct as well. So one is that the year-end inventory build up, typically by the distributors, and retail, you know, segment that is there, which typically had driven the prices up substantially.
So consumer staples, while it's an important category for us, both in terms of the revenue and the margin that it generates, it is not that it is being pushed aggressively, but there was a high demand period that we saw in the Q4 of 2024, where we saw that, you know, the, the, there was an aggressive buying which was happening on various accounts. You know, basically, you know, there was a, there was an expectation of the shortage. There was an expectation with the retailers and distributors of building up their inventories. There was an aggressive buying, which we saw across the spectrum, which pushed up the sales to INR 1,486 crores. This, during this quarter, I'm explaining staples first, then I'll come to the Indian foods. The drop that we saw, it was after the inventory overhang.
The heat was very high in this quarter under discussion, in the Q1 of 2025. There was high sales inventory that I've already explained. The inventory overhang was there. So it basically, the business came closer to normalized run rate of, I would imagine, in the consumer staples. And while I don't want to put my, you know, sort of put my numbers out to say this is precisely it will be, there can be variation of 10%-15%. But typically, I would imagine that going forward, this business would have a run rate of anywhere between INR 900 crores- INR 1,100 crores. And, you know, occasionally there may be windows in which this may drop, and occasionally there'll be windows in which it will go up.
This also, consumer staples, is another dimension on the margin side, that, in certain quarters, because of the purchase cost of the inventory, there may be variations. It will not be massive variations like edible oil, but typically we will tend to have variations which can happen. So depending on the cost of inventory that you hold, depending how the market is willing to price it, there may be variations of anywhere between 200 basis points-300 basis points. Then we can clearly witness a change which can, which can occur in the consumer staples as well. So for example, in, in, this quarter, the margin that we made on the consumer staples was 3%. We made about INR 28 crore on the consumer staples business.
Now I'll come to the and this was versus a very high margin because we had a low margin, margin construct that we had in the in the Q1 of last year. The margin was closer to 10%, and that gave us a margin. And in the previous quarter, this margin was closer to 6% in the Q4 of 2024. Now I'll come to the Indian food specialties, and so I'll come first to the why the drop of INR 257 crores happened. We saw a large drop in the ghee business of INR 161 crores. We saw the herbs business declining by INR 70 crore, INR 70 crores, and the other, there is a marginal decline of INR 26 crores.
Ghee, we have gone to the drawing board because it is the aberration is a little larger. One reason which is being explained and worked out is on account of the large buildup that we had in the year-end, and the inventory, which typically tends to get evacuated over next, typically between 30 days to 45 days. It took took a lot longer on account of exceptional heat that the North India witnessed and several regions of the country. Herbs, on account of, again, pretty much the reason explanation is on the heat side, and likewise, we had some other minor drops in Chyawanprash and honey, et cetera, which is not significant, so minor order. So this was INR 257 crore. We believe that this course correction will happen pretty quickly in this quarter itself.
We've already seen the green shoots of recovery in the month of July, and I'm expecting that we will see, you know, this coming back to normalized basis as we move forward in this quarter. Coming to the margin construct on the business. Because of this drop, the margin in this quarter for the Indian specialty foods is 15.8% margin. We made INR 64 crore on a base, a sale of INR 405 crore. We, in the previous quarter, the same margin, which is Q4 of 2024, was INR 138 crore, was at a margin of 20.8%. So the higher, you know, the fixed costs, the advertising costs, the certain other elements, because of the lower sales revenue on the Indian specialty foods, because it went up, that is the reason.
So broadly, going forward, the plan is as follows: We would segregate, you know, for the better communication, more transparent communication, that how the Indian foods, Indian specialty foods, how they are performing and how the consumer staples are performing. Our focus is on both. It's not that we are doing one at the cost of the other. Certainly, we want to make sure that the higher margin business of Indian foods does way better. And, but equally, we are focused on consumer staples, because not only we find it of strategic importance to us, it also gives us a very healthy basket for distribution and retail side, which we are able to push and work through. So this was broadly, the long answer to your short question. I hope, the, it... s ort of, I've been able to explain, you know, what you asked.
No, thank you, Asthana Ji. Just a follow-up on that. Essentially, what I understood was that other than biscuits and our proteins, the Nutrela business, and nutraceutical business, the rest of the food is either the ethnic specialty, which is a higher margin, and the staples, which are low margin, single digit margin kind of business. So, two things happened in the quarter under consideration, June 2024. One, that the mix was adverse. It was more loaded in favor of the staples. And secondly, because of the adverse and reduced turnover of the specialty ethnic foods, the overall margin further suffered because of the negative operating leverage. Second, what I...
Correct me if I'm wrong, what you are saying is essentially both the mix and the margin therefore should come back pretty quickly. Is this aberration due to inventory buildup? Is it the strong heat wave which affected categories like Chyawanprash and others? Is that what my understanding correct?
Absolutely right.
INR 900 crore-INR 1,100 crore turnover per quarter you mentioned. So what you're talking about is ethnic Indian, specialty, and would have normalized INR 900 crore-INR 1,100 crore turnover, because I couldn't fully comprehend that.
I will explain that. But what I was saying is, I was talking more for the consumer staples. The normalized revenue base should be anywhere between INR 900 crore-INR 1,100 crore. It could be in some quarters, it could go higher, in some quarters it could go lower, because that is very supply demand driven and stock, I mean, depending on how the stocks are moving. The normalized turnover of the Indian specialty foods should be typically in the range of INR 600 crore-INR 700 crore, is the broad ballpark range that we are expecting, which we want to grow sequentially.
I see. And, margin, just to reiterate, what we have discussed many times over the calls, normal, biscuit margin should be 15% or, 15%-17% range. Our business, I think, is 17%-19% range. Ethnic Indian food that you referred to, would have what kind of margin profile? About, 15%, 16%? What kind of margin profile one should-
Slight correction. The biscuits margin have steadily increased. So, you know, this quarter was, you know, some benefit came on account of the raw material. Typically, we are saying that the biscuits margin will be in the range of about 12%, and they would steadily increase as the volumes grow. And second is, Nutrela is 16%-18% margin is, that depends on soybean prices, but 16%-18% margin is a registered number. We broadly have seen that, you know, without change, typically it tends to keep that margin. In the specialty food segment, our margin profile is 15%-16%, within the food category. In the consumer staples category, the range, while this quarter it has dropped, otherwise we are steadily maintaining between 4% and 6%, but typically it will be between 4%-6% we should be able to manage in the consumer staples category.
Okay. Thank you, Asthana Ji. One last thing. On nutraceutical, of course, compared to last year quarter, turnover looks very low. But as was discussed in the last call, I think we are, we have revamped our nutraceutical strategy, so sequentially it has improved. But would you like to highlight what are the steps and what is the direction in that business in which that business is headed?
Yes, absolutely. So, in nutraceuticals, what we have done is that, we are having a complete revamp in terms of the packaging. The go-to-market strategy of, both, you know, through the new channels like D2C and e-commerce. The target this year is that, while last year was, you know, we went through ups and downs significantly, but, new product launches we have done. We've done six product launches, recently. In the last quarter, we launched, gummies, we launched, you know, new, sort of variants of the, our vitamin powders, that we had, we launched those.
We, you know, came out, in terms of working on the, the channel I spoke about and looking at ensuring that, you know, we achieve our target ballpark range, what we've set for INR 125 crore of revenue this year, at 25% margin is what we should achieve. There is a reasonable confidence, because of the cost base and as we increase the revenue, this margin will keep on improving. Potentially certain margin products are way higher, but, on a blended basis between low margin, high margin, products in nutraceuticals, we are targeting 25% of margin. And, this year, we will, at the end of the year, I'm reasonably confident that we should have between, anywhere between INR 100 crore-INR 125 crore of, revenues coming out of nutraceuticals. It's early days, but it is showing a definite trend towards upward trend, and we are progressing in that direction satisfactorily.
What kind of longer term growth rate we should assume on this business? From INR 125 crore in the current year onwards?
So we should expect 25% of growth, because once the momentum gets established, because of all the changes that have happened in last two quarters, and, well, we should expect between 20% and 25% growth rate that we are targeting in nutraceuticals range. Because one of the key drivers of that will be, you know, both not only the domestic market, but the export market as well.
Thank you, Asthana Ji.
Thank you very much. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to all the participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Dhiraj Mistry from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Good morning, sir. Sir, first question is on cost line items. So there is, in this quarter, there's a lot of volatility where other expenditure, depreciation, interest have reduced by 15%-20%, and employee cost has increased by almost 50%. Can you give rationale for that, and what can we expect on a steady state business?
Rajesh Ji, I would give it to our CFO to answer that question.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Dhiraj Ji, just I would like to explain. The employee cost has been increased due to the allocation of cost on account of ESOP, which was earlier also in the previous quarter, it was allocated for one month only, and this quarter it was allocated for full three months, and it amounts to near about INR 30 crore. That's why it has been increased, employee cost.
Depreciation and other expenditure, reason for the drop?
In case of depreciation, basically, in the last quarter, we have done the year-end exercise, and, in the year-end exercise, we have just impaired certain closed plants to the tune of near about INR 30 crore. That's why, this has been reduced. This quarter, this is the first quarter, so hence it is not required in this quarter. Further, the other expenditure basically reduced in the ordinary course of business because of reduction of sales.
Okay, okay. So can we expect, for depreciation and employee costs, this quarter run rate should be maintained for, another, three to four quarters?
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Depreciation is near about INR 58 crore-INR 60 crore. This is a normal, subject to some addition, some additional depreciation due to addition in the fixed assets or some retirement of assets. That is very minimal amount of retirement. So run rate is near about INR 58 crore-INR 60 crore, and employee cost is obviously will be maintained.
Got it. Got it. And, Asthana Ji, can you run me through if I... Sorry, if I missed out this. So what could be the EBITDA for food business, biscuits, Nutrela, and nutraceutical for this quarter?
So, nutraceuticals is marginally negative, and because it's still not covering the cost. The biscuits business is INR 81 crores of EBITDA, and Nutrela is INR 16 crores. Food, as we talked, the consumer staples and Indian ethnic foods together is INR 92 crores, and the total is INR 184 crores.
Got it. Got it. Okay, okay. Okay, that's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you, Dhiraj.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Piyush Bangar from Vijit Global Securities Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Very good morning, Mr. Asthana. I have a couple of questions around palm plantation. Am I audible?
Yes, we are audible. Yeah, please go ahead.
Okay. My first question is: How much land procurement sites we have right now, and out of which, how much land we have already acquired?
So in terms of the allocation of land, which is, you know, subject to the government saying that this district or otherwise you have to do, we've got very large, 600,000 ha of land that is available to us. In across northeastern five states, Arunachal, Tripura, Mizoram, Assam, and Nagaland. Similarly, if I include Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, and other, some few minor states, the total land available is 600,000 ha, of which we acquired 75,000 ha that we have planted already. So the issue is not in terms of how much land really is made available, because that is available.
The way palm plantation business works is that, you know, how you're reaching out to the farmers, how many farmers are getting converted, you know, how much of nurseries have been produced to be available to give the saplings to the farmers, and, over a period of time, to be consistently working to ensure that the farmers continue to plant and, sort of, you know, bring their land under the oil palm cultivation. Now, this particular thing, this year is a year of, you know, substantial change. We are anticipating that, while, you know, the target is 25,000 ha, we will see that how it plays out, because it's subject to the farmers coming on stream and doing it.
So from 75,000 ha we will certainly move closer to closer to 100,000 ha in next 3 quarters-4 quarters, and thereafter, it will continue t`o expand at a very rapid fire pace. And that is what the status in the land part is. We have 42 nurseries. We have all the available saplings, the seedlings, which are available in terms of giving to the farmers. And you know, there's a you know, palm oil sort of, you know, construction is going on at Arunachal Pradesh. That's completed almost.... Yeah, the Mizoram mill is coming on stream. We are expanding our capacity with Peddapuram and Ampapuram. We are scouting for land site in Telangana. We might be expanding our Ampapuram facility to go to Vizag.
So there's a lot of work which is going on, and, it is going to reflect, both in terms of, you know, the numbers that we have in the planted area, as well as in terms of the, you know, the, the broader increase that we'll have sequentially each year in terms of new areas which were already 0-3 years of age, which will keep under, fruiting.
Okay, thank you very much for that. As you said, that we have already planned 75,000 ha, and we will plan about 25,000 ha in upcoming 2 quarters, 3 quarters. Can you please guide how much we are expected to plant in the upcoming 3 years-4 years? In numbers, if you could just say.
Yeah. So target is very clear that we will have at the end of four years, or it could, you know, get extended. We'll have 500,000 ha of land which will be under cultivation. Now, in these matters, giving very precise numbers typically is a challenge because the farmers tend to have their own sequencing of how they, you know, bring it on stream, the way sort of we work. But in four years' time, I think it's safe to assume that we will have close to 500,000 ha of land which will be planted.
Okay. My another question is, we have, you know, major land rights from Northeast region. So do we have any kind of safety issues or something like that?
Sorry, your voice broke. I didn't get your question. On the Northeast, what are you saying?
Okay. I'm saying that, in Northeast, we are facing some kind of instability. So do we have any kind of safety issues there?
No, there's no problem. I think that, it's isolated to, you know, only one state where we don't have any operations. So in general, from the instability front, we have no such problems, and it's going okay. You know, it can take time because farmers and producers are, looking at, in a particular way of how they gravitate. The governments have to be very supportive. So that is there, which is the main reason that, you know, the, the, many a times this control does not lie with us in terms of how fast it will get planted. But I'm reasonably confident that, the number that I spoke about, in four years' time, we should be very close to that number.
Great. Great. That's a good set of numbers. Another small thing which I want to add to this is, how much yield per hectare we are expecting from the plantations?
So typically, right now, what we're getting is about 2 tons of CPO, crude palm oil that we get. And this should go up only because the germplasm that we get, the quality of seeds that we're getting is becoming increasing. So, for example, last year we had 102,000 tons of oil, crude palm oil, that we were able to extract. And if you multiply that with about 5.3x , 5.4x , you will get the FFB, which is typically about 500,000 tons of fresh fruit bunches that we get, we got last year. So this should sequentially improve only because I think the quality overall is improving.
The varieties of the tree that are getting planted are becoming more lesser in height, so they're more dwarf variety. And so I'm expecting that we should certainly targeting that we should get closer to 2.5 tons. Otherwise, in Malaysia and Indonesia, if you go, you know, the fields are giving up to 3.5 tons as well. So some ideal growing conditions like Andhra, etc., we should get closer to 3.5 tons. But on an average, our target is we should get closer to 2.5 tons of crude palm oil, you know, per hectare.
Great. My last question about the palm plantation, that, do we need to open any new factory sites with plant and machinery for this upcoming project? Or-
Yes.
If yes, then how much capital expenses are expected with the timelines?
So, for example, we have got one site which is under construction right now in Arunachal Pradesh at Pasighat Niglok. So that investment is very low because it is 5x for our you know crush capacity, so that investment is about INR 25 crore. We are going to put up a new mill in Mizoram. By next year, little that CapEx will come up. But in terms of the large scale sort of you know CapEx is more back-ended for us, which is going to be in the you know in Assam, in Arunachal, and Telangana, which I'm anticipating that after three years, when the you know the crop size becomes larger, then we'll have a you know a sort of almost I'm expecting INR 800 crore-INR 1,000 crore of CapEx we'll have.
So it's very back-ended in year three and year four is when that capacity will come up. Otherwise, these are smaller expenditures that we have, both in Arunachal and the smaller mills that we are putting up, both as part of an obligation that we have to the state government and the farmer, as well as, you know, so that the fresh fruit bunches which are coming should not go waste. So that we are ensuring that we're putting up smaller capacities in Arunachal, Mizoram in that sequence. And if required, we'll be putting up in Assam as well, but that probably is going to be closer to later next year, not at the, not at this time.
Great. Thank you, sir. For the next question, I'll come up in a few.
Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Payal Shah from Billion Securities. Please go ahead.
Good morning, sir. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I have one question. Can you give some color into Q1 performance for the home and personal care business, which we are acquiring?
So I should not be able to give you that, right now, because that probably is going to come later. I can give you some sense about, you know, about the overall business, is that what exactly does it comprise of? So right now, what we have is that, I'm giving you the annual numbers. I may not be able to give you a flavor of the Q1 numbers, simply because right now it's not available with us.
We do about INR 1,345 crore of revenue annual, last year's number on dental care side. INR 1,345 crore. We did skin care business of INR 725 crore. We did home care business of INR 410 crore, and we did both hair care business of INR 291 crore. So this is the revenue overall that we did on an annualized basis. So yeah, I don't know if that, I've been able to answer your question. I think, this was the annualized answer.
Sir, any details on the Dant Kanti performance, if you have, that would be quite helpful?
Sorry, any which one performance?
Uh, Dant Kanti.
Yeah, so Dant Kanti is, as I mentioned, INR 1,345 crore is the revenue. You know, in terms of the margin, sort of profile, it's quite high. It's close to 40%+. And plus, you know, we've recently launched, you know, sort of new variants in Active Fresh, et cetera, with new brand ambassadors in Tiger Shroff and Tamannaah Bhatia. So the wider on the year, the distribution products are there, and there's a reasonably good response that we're getting in the marketplace. So yes, I think I would be able to give you only this much, and not because we don't want to. It's just that simply that's not available to the level of detail you might be seeking.
Sure. That's quite helpful. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Shirish Pardesi from Centrum Broking. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Asthana Ji and Rajesh Ji. Thanks for the opportunity. Just to continue on the newly acquired business, what I wanted to understand, do you think another 1 quarters-2 quarters, the business will get fully integrated, and what are the steps which you are taking? And meaningfully, but if we are banking on the distribution expansion for the newly acquired business, do you think within three quarters to four quarters we will be up and running fully?
Are you talking about the HPC business or... Okay. Yeah. So I think, one is that, you know, the timelines is obviously the regulatory approvals, so we'll have to wait. We are hoping that, in the normal course, between in four weeks time, we should be getting that. Maybe four weeks, maybe six weeks at max. It will take, some time for the full value to sort of, you know, accrue. We were estimating that it should add, you know, at least 100 basis, 100 basis points-200 basis points, to the margin construct, with, you know, better distribution efficiency, otherwise. It should take, certainly between three quarters to four quarters for the full integration to happen and sort of to move forward.
Fact remains that, you know, whether it's going to be, whether it is, you know, in terms of the some bit of rationalization or substantial rationalization that we're aiming for at the ground level on the organizational structure that we have in the past days, that we will have a certain degree of, you know, the marketing activities that we could consolidate and, you know, convert that into more structured, sort of way between food and non-food side. So yes, I'm reasonably confident that the integration will happen. It will take its time, but certainly that we will benefit from the next financial year for sure. Hopefully the last quarter of this year, we should start seeing the benefits of, you know, some early sort of benefits starting to accrue to the company.
Okay. Now, why I'm asking this question, historically, I think, if you can help me to understand, our food and FMCG business contribution in the south was lowest. Will this complement, in a medium to long term, or, how one should look at it?
So it will. I mean, clearly that, you know, the, there is a distinct, sort of, you know, that, we need to improve certain regions, where there are a lot of company effort is going on to develop and build that up. So for example, you know, the strength, if I were to sequentially move in different products. So South, we need to certainly work on and, get better. I'm reasonably confident that, you know, the HPC business having wider appeal, I think, we should, see the benefits of that accruing in South. But having said that, it's not that, South, for example, our Ruchi Gold palm oil is the highest selling brand in the country. Most of it sells in South.
You know, a lot of our businesses, like, you know, for example, you know, the biscuit business is expanding very rapidly in southern part of the country. So it's not that it's a one-size-fits-all, but yes, the Indian ethnic foods category, if I were to look at, a lot of them are very, you know, both in terms of the traditional usage or otherwise, but they're more centered in north and western part of the country and central India and less in south. So I think that variation we witness often. But synergies overall, it's not just south, but I think overall, within the country itself, at a national level, it should give us the benefit.
Sure. My second question on the biscuits and segment. You mentioned that INR 417 crore, what we have reported, has grown about 9.4%. Just need to have a little more quantitative aspect. What is the volume growth, and is there any price decrease we have taken in this quarter?
Yeah, I had the volume growth here with me in terms of— So, you know, we haven't taken any price decrease at all. So I think, you know, the broader adjustment has been a lot more in terms of the
Grammage.
The grammage, and that adjustment happened because clearly the price pressures, you know, have been there. Adjusting to the market was a larger, sort of, point that we had. So based on that, we worked, but, overall, you know, it has tended to, it has tended to grow. I'm trying to roll out on the biscuit side. Our volumes have grown both. Our volumes are also growing, consistently, and, we are seeing the revenue growth as well. But the second adjustment has been a lot more on the, more on the grammage side and pack size changes, et cetera, which has tended to help, the biscuits growth.
Will it be at least 200 basis points-300 basis points higher than the revenue growth, in value terms?
Sorry, what was the question? Can you speak a little louder?
No, I'm asking the volume growth, what you reported, 9.4% value growth, the volume would be at least 200 basis points-300 basis points higher than what you reported?
Definitely. No, no, so volumes are consistently growing.
Okay.
So but typically, the volumes each quarter and quarter is growing and, which is there. So to that extent, it's we would say that you know, for example, like, versus a very high pace of growth that we saw, and this quarter was of course one of the slower quarters, typically. I think this now it's going to pick up pace. So typically, I would say that yeah, 2%-3% will be the volume, and rest of it will be coming on the value side.
Sure. My last question, you mentioned that there was a price decline in the edible oil. In the medium term, I would expect the prices are firming up. So if you can help us to understand what are you building in second half? Is there price increases or this price dissolution will still continue?
So it's actually the duty is out. You know, that's something that is happening right now because, and there's a much more macro point, that the world itself is not having too much of surplus oil. These mandates on account of biodiesel, et cetera, which is both in the U.S. and, Brazil and, you know, what we're seeing in Indonesia, they're moving towards B40 next year. So the availability of the edible oil in general for the global markets is becoming lesser and lesser progressively. Whether that reflects back in, you know, the price increase, we don't know.
It looks reasonably stable for the moment, and I'm hoping that it stays that way, because if the prices were to go up, it tends to immediately have an impact on the margin profile, you know, in our range of businesses that's here. Not only just that, but even on the business also. So typically, that's what we are tending to sort of deal with. And likewise, I'm saying that, for example, on the other commodity side, maybe unrelated, but important, very important, that you know, I'm expecting that the wheat, for example, government has come with stock control order, but there is a clear-cut sign that there will be high spike in demand, and the wheat prices will go up.
So all these elements tend to add, you know, to the pressure on the pricing for various other products also, categories. So, we'll have to see. But broadly, I think this quarter it should remain stable. Thereafter, we'll have to see that how... But then India starts to harvest, you know, the soybeans and other range of oil seeds, winter oil seeds come. So we should be okay for the moment.
Okay. Thank you, and all the best, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Niranjan Jain from Trust Securities. Please go ahead.
Hello, good morning. Am I, am I audible?
Yes, you are.
You are.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So while going through your results, you will show that there is some slight dip in the oil revenue.
There's a lot of-
Not clear at all, I think, yeah.
Yes, sir. May I request you to rejoin the queue?
Okay, cool.
Thank you. The next follow-up question is from the line of Piyush Bangar from Vijit Global Securities Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Okay. So again, I have something around palm plantation only. So, my question is, exactly how we are managing to supply fruits to crushing factories, and, you know, the transportation all around factories, like, what kind of transportation mode we are going to use?
No, so the farmers bring the FFB to the plant to the oil unit, and the responsibility lies largely with the farmers to bring it. We help them, but they bring it to the factory gate.
Okay, so exactly what will be the major mode of transportation? Is it by road or trains, railways?
No, no, no. By truck only. Because these are smaller farmers, typically, they're, which will have 2 ha and 3 ha of, you know, the plantation. So they will hire a truck, if it's very in the close vicinity, a tractor trolley, and they would bring it, but never moves by rail at all.
Okay, great. My second question is, at the palm oil mill, we get mulch as a by-product. W hich is, you know, also, can be used in production of biofuels. So do we have any plans in future to, you know, produce biofuels or something in this category?
No. So we are doing that already. So the husk, et cetera, that is used, it is being used in the boiler, so it's got very high calorific value. And, that is being used, not only at the boilers at our own plant, but also in the refineries, which are close by our own refinery. So we're moving it, toward that. So any byproduct that is there, the biomass that's available, that is, getting used, and where, if we don't have the use, there's a ready market available for that, which will get utilized. So there's zero wastage on that front.
Great! Thanks for the opportunity.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Niranjan Jain from Trust Securities. Please go ahead.
Hello. Hello, now I'm audible?
Uh, yes-
Hello.
I think if you don't speak, if you take off the speaker phone, it'll be much better. It's slightly, echo [audio distortion]
So my question is a little bit simple. What is the reason for increasing the oil margin? Because compared to last quarter, negative is almost INR 100 crore. Now it is almost INR 232 crore. Is there a branded profitability or maybe there is some other reason? And second question is, what is the volume growth in this business comparable to year-on-year growth, year-on-year period?
No, no, there's a. I'll explain that to you. That, just I'll give you the breakup also. So in this, in this quarter, INR 232 crore is comprising of two parts. One is that the refining and branding that we have, that is INR 185 crore, and INR 47 crore is on account of the oil palm plantation business. In the last year, you know, when we had, it was INR -144 crore for the refining and branded segment, and INR 46+ crore in the palm plantation side business. So it was, that's why it was INR -98 crore . So the reasons are both, as we had to witness in the Q1 of last year, so Q1 2024, was that, you know, the prices were extremely volatile.
We had higher priced inventory, the hedges did not work well, and the Indian market was not willing to pay. So that's why there was a INR -144 crore that we witnessed. As I mentioned, during the call also, the prices are much more stable. So when the stability in prices is there, there's a marginal part of it if you're carrying the inventory on a structured basis, because the premium that we have on a branded segment that we have, that allows us to make a con- more regular margin. So as a company, we typically tends to carry, you know, has to buy the products ahead of time, ahead of the sale. We always would like stable market regime to be earning consistent and regular margin.
What about the volume growth? Do you, so any volume growth on the oil segment?
Yes, I'll explain to you. So for example, in the Q1, our volume in the edible oil segment actually compared to the Q4 of 2024, has dropped by 50,000 tons, because this is typically, is about 10% drop, because this typically is a low, low demand season. Then summer months, a lot of demand, for example, you know, goes down and, you know, the marriages are not there. The functions and festivals are not there, so it has grown. So our exact volume, I'll share with you. The Q4 of 2024, we were 638,000 tons of sales that we did. This quarter, we did sales of 574,000 tons.
What about the Q1, FY 2024?
Q1 FY 2024, the volumes were 622,000 tons.
Okay. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Yeah. Thank you very much for this session. With this, we'll conclude the call, and if you have any further queries, you can contact SGNA or SGA, our investor relations advisor. Thank you very much, and everyone, have a good day.
On behalf of Patanjali Foods Limited, we conclude this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.
Thank you. Thank you to all.
Thank you.