Thank you, Gyanendra. Good morning and welcome to the Rallis India Limited Q1 FY 2026 audience conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will remain in the 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 the operator by pressing the star, then zero on your touch-tone telephone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. Ladies and gentlemen, we have with us today Dr. Gyanendra Shukla, Managing Director and CEO, and Ms. Subhra Gourisaria, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to mention that some of the statements made in today's discussion may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risk and uncertainties. A detailed statement in this regard is available in the results presentation. I now invite Dr. Gyanendra Shukla to begin the proceedings of the call.
Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thanks. Good morning. Just wanted to check if people can hear us.
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Okay. Great. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today on our Q1 FY 2026 earnings call. As mentioned, I have got alongside with me Ms. Subhra Gourisaria, our CFO. Let me begin the discussion by getting into industry landscape initially, first of which I will discuss Rallis statistical events. The global agrochemical market is showing early signs of recovery after two challenging years of degrowth since 2023. Inventory levels have normalized, and the sharp decline in prices, particularly for generic products, has largely come to a halt. While recovery is progressing at its slower pace in Latin America, APAC, and Africa, these regions are gradually stabilizing. The fifth shift reflects a broader improvement in global demand dynamics and potential turning off for the industry. In India, market segment sentiments are improving on the back of early and broadly favorable monsoon, high reservoir levels in supporting crop industries.
The estimated crop production for 2024/2025 stands at 254 million metric tons. That is a 6% increase over previous years. FL also has expanded across key crops. In crops like paddy, rented by 7%, 730, 4.5%, groundnut 51%, pulses 12.6%, and corn cereals about 17%. Field reports indicate a shift in cotton selling patterns driven by better price realization through the issue of illegal RRBT crop. Though the issue of illegal HTBT cotton remains, the low carryover stocks opening a space for inventory replacement and the possibility of modest price increases. The Indian agrochemical market holds a cautiously optimistic outlook. Coming to Rallis specific developments, we had a robust Q1 performance on the back of strong volume growth and double-digit growth across businesses.
Our revenues to that time were INR 57 crore, 20% up over previous year, and profit after tax at at least INR 95 crore versus INR 48 crore of previous year. Both the crop care and seed business showed strong performance that are up 15% and 38% respectively over previous year. We witnessed double-digit volume-led growth of 13% in crop care, 23% crop care in B2B businesses. The data for the quarter is to that, at least INR 150 crore. It is higher by about 57% compared to the same quarter last year. Tax for the quarter is to that, at least INR 95 crore compared to the INR 48 crore reported during Q1/25. Getting more specific about the individual businesses, starting with the domestic crop care business, crop prices are relatively better, particularly in crops like maize, oilseed, cotton, and millet.
Alongside, broadly favorable monsoon is the primary growth driver for the business. Input prices were relatively stable during the quarter, which in turn resulted in better margins for the business. In terms of product categories, I had been indicating herbicide as one area which is growing faster, driven by the labor dynamics in the country, and has performed well for us. As for our strategy, we have been strengthening the herbicide portfolio. During this quarter, we have launched six products in the herbicide category, namely Alato, which is a paddy herbicide, Penflow, again a paddy herbicide, and DGV, which is a non-selective herbicide among them. Also, a new product, Dodrio, which is a fungicide for paddy seeds, Blythe and Master Gold fungicide for grapes and fig plants, and an insecticide for cotton will fill the portfolio gap.
During the quarter, we have launched nine products in the crop protection business, including in the B2C business. Soil and plant health business is up by 33% in line with our strategy. As mentioned earlier, the seed business continues to be a responsible effort for long-term growth, and we will continue to invest in this segment. Our strategy is focused on driving growth by placing greater emphasis on developing differentiated products. Also, we are exceedingly enhancing our front-end capabilities with customer centricity at the core. At the same time, we are working towards building a more connected and agile organization by leveraging digital and artificial intelligence initiatives. These technologies will enable us to scale efficiently and strengthen our engagement with those customers and farmers, bringing us closer to their evolving needs. Talking about crop care, B2B business revenues is to that, at least INR 2.03 crore of pitch.
Export is higher by 75% compared to the similar period last year. We have grown in volume mainly from nitrogen, Thiophanate methyl, and Hexaconazole. Our contract manufacturing (CSM) business was impacted by phasing, but it is on track for the full year. In terms of our key products, Metribuzin continues to face challenges in Brazil and the U.S. Pendimethalin operated at a low capacity, but we are confident on the long-term prospects of the technical. Metribuzin and Hexaconazole exhibited steady traction in the U.S. and Southeast Asian markets respectively. Our B2B segment is focused on accelerating long-term growth through building and strengthening global customer partnerships, focusing on key markets including the U.S., Brazil, and Japan, and expanding our product portfolio that includes contract manufacturing (CSM) formulations. We have made encouraging progress in initiating new relations with global majors as some of our technical products and our contract manufacturing segments.
We are also actively working on expanding formulation partnerships with international players to strengthen and diversify our portfolio. These efforts are aimed at building long-term resilience and enhancing our strategic positioning. Specific initiatives are underway to drive growth both by onboarding new customers and by deepening engagement with existing ones. These efforts are expected to significantly improve capacity utilization in our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in the Dahej Chemical Zone. We are confident that this business will deliver meaningful contributions to both our top line and bottom line in the coming years. That summarizes our update on the chemicals front. Talking about the seed business now, revenue has significantly jumped by 38% to at least INR 3.05 crore versus Q1 of the previous year. Despite the reduced cotton acreage and HTBT cotton expansion, our business, not cotton, has done very well.
However, we have challenges in maize and paddy due to supply constraints. Our Seed-Say sales, which is based on AI and ML forecasting abilities, is helping with optimal placement in the market. In terms of the long-term strategy for the business, we are on the right path with sharpened portfolio choices and driving sustainable profitability with measures being taken across the value chain. In conclusion, I think the near-term outlook for business, driven by better farmers' sentiments and positive demand for both domestic and export markets, liquidation trends need to be watched across both crop and seed segments. We are confident and optimistic about the overall growth prospects in the medium to long term. That concludes my opening remark. Now I'll hand it over to Ms. Subhra Gourisaria, our CFO, for a detailed analysis of the financials. Subhra, over to you.
Good morning, everyone. I'll walk you through the financials, and after that, we can start the Q&A session. Our revenue stood at INR 9.57 crore as against INR 7.83 crore for the same period last year. The CAC is INR 95 crore versus INR 48 crore for the previous year. Importantly, the growth was led by business volume growth across the businesses. EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 150 crore against INR 96 crore for the same period last year. In terms of crop care B2C business, it had a good growth of 13%, whereas SPS business is up 33%. Our trade inventories also have been satisfactory during the quarter. We believe sentiments have improved with broadly favorable monsoon and better crop prices. Moving on to export business, demand recovery has improved. Price fall has largely stabilized, and an early price recovery is also seen in some products.
We're working on expanding our customer base and our portfolio to build a more resilient business. As far as seed business is concerned, our revenue has trimmed up by 4 with 38% growth over previous year. We made calibrated placements considering the inventory levels, and I'm hopeful that our liquidation trends will be favorable. Our efforts continue to be directed towards driving focused execution both at the front and the back end, which includes portfolio optimization and looking at driving cost efficiency and simplification across the value chain. As mentioned by Dr. Gyanendra Shukla, we launched nine products in crop care B2C and protein and seeds. The reorganization has been completed for SMM teams for crop care B2C, B2B, and seeds business, which is expected to enhance operational agility with revised business processes. We continue to be relentless on improving working capital efficiencies both for fixed and working capital.
We do have a very healthy cash and bank balance as of 30th June as well and continue to have no extraordinary debt borrowings. We also are included in capex investment and NVSR direct funds total capex investment within the range of INR 100 crore, mostly related to plant upkeep and maintenance, R&D, and capital solar plants. Finally, we are implementing various initiatives and are driving towards achieving consistent and variable and profitable growth. That concludes the opening remarks. We can now start the Q&A session.
Thank you.
Sure.
Before we start Q&A, I think some of you would have also heard about the news from Subhra, right? Because all of you probably, many of you have been connected with her. She is moving on for a larger responsibility in another group company, right? She has been a great service to Rallis India, done a fantastic job of overall managing business strategy as well as financials of the company. I want to put on the record all the appreciation for all what she has done. I think she's been a fantastic person, great business partner to me. You're going to miss her for the session. It doesn't mean she's going away. She's just 20 minutes away from the place, I think. I'll continue to reach out to her for her advice on the strategic matter. Thank you, Subhra, for all your great work you have done.
I wish you all the best. You may go on to a larger company within the group. That's a testament of your abilities and recognition by the group of your capabilities. Thank you for all the work you did for us.
Thank you.
We can move on to Q&A now.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the attached telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use their handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. We take the first question from the line of Rahul Singh Bajoria from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. This is Prashant from Elara Securities. Congratulations on a good set of numbers, and congratulations to Subhra as well for your new role. My first question is, how much is the top line from the nine new crop protection products and 14 new seed products that we have introduced? Am I audible?
You have another question as well?
Yeah. The next question is to Mr. Shukla. Sir, how has the cost structure altered now since the time you have taken over the reins? I mean, for example, how much was the fixed cost earlier as a percent of total cost, and how much is it now? Same for variable costs also.
Okay. Do we take one by one, or do we have six?
One by one would be better.
Okay. The first question is to contribution from new products, nine new products we have.
These products have got recently launched, and I don't think we can give you a precise number. Having said that, the transfer cotton, I think we are aware that we had some gaps in the calculation loss and we launched new products. I would say that most of these products are showing good traction, including the production plan that we have for the subsequent year.
I just want to.
The right way to look at it is IPI. It actually measures that it is moving in the right direction in terms of revenues on the new launches.
I think one other thing I would like to additionally comment is that these are launches for Kharif. Season has just begun. What we're trying to communicate is that we said herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and new seeds are important. We have launched out of nine products in crop protection, three are herbicides, two are fungicides, and one is insecticide. We are covering broad spectrum of portfolio. All of you may remember that we did talk about doing some strategy work with one of the Big Four agencies. This is all execution part of that strategy to say, how do we bring products, new products, and how do we phase out old products, and how do we then start scaling up?
I think this conversation will be good probably in the month of October when we have a half-yearly reserve, what has been the volume, where we have positioned, what has been customer experience on these products.
Sure. Sir, on the cost structure part.
Cost structure, again, Prashant, I think what we're talking about is that where we take the fixed cost conversation first. Fixed cost, our endeavor would be to invest in the right places. I think we covered some of the digital investments we are doing. How are we looking at the span of control and driving efficiency? We have indeed looked into the various levels that we had to collapse some of them. We are also going to make investments wherever required. I think on an overall basis, we look at how do we so that we operate at minimal increase over the fixed cost way so that we start driving getting operational efficiency to scale. In terms of variable cost, I think again it's a question of when the plants start getting to be utilized.
A lot of efficiencies start coming in because while the variable cost in terms of utility, power, and even to some extent contraction manpower, we start seeing scale-related efficiency. I think our bigger focus will be on how do we drive growth, which will ultimately help in reducing both fixed and variable costs.
Now, first, you have highlighted earlier also. I just wanted to get a sense on how much savings or whatever target we had set out for, how much have we achieved on that?
There is a different way that we look in management information. I can say the numbers are lower in terms of they've started showing it lower on a YOY basis, which is where you're seeing the margins improving far more than gross margins. We are ahead of our internal target, I can say.
The road we had set out for, how much have we achieved on that? I know it's a recurring thing every year, but whatever target we had set out for, how much have we achieved on that?
We don't have a target per se to say that, have you not gone to the market to say what is the target? This number will keep moving depending on the investments we are making. As I said, we are in line with our target.
Sure. Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of B&K Securities. please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity and congrats on a very strong selection number as well. Congratulations to Ramon for a new role. The first question is on cotton, our big hybrid, which probably has performed extremely well during the season. About four years back, I think we had some 20,000 packets, and probably we must be touching a couple of million now if you could throw that number. Historically, we have seen that in a period of, say, three to four years, usually the sales seek out, unless I think we have a product to replace the existing product, there could be a possibility of stagnation and then decline. What are your thoughts on this? Thank you.
I think, Rohit, we have placed more than 1 million packets, and I think we are hopeful that the liquidation will be near or our sales return will be near zero in line with the earlier years. We've also developed fall-on hybrids too bigger, and while we don't talk about it, many of them have also started showing good improvements. In fact, this year we will take some of the highest production for cotton. I don't think that there's any concern as of now at least for the next two to three years.
Sure, that is one thing. Our second question on the export business. Domestic we have done well, exports also we have done well. Is it because of the lower base of last year when the export market was impacted because of the inventory destocking issues? The export number probably will still we need to watch out for incrementally given that China still is a strong player in the global system. Just your perspective on this one.
On export, look, nobody knows how these tariffs and everything will evolve. Let's keep that question for a later stage and how these tariffs are settled. I would say tariff situation has been positive for some products, negative for some products, but overall it is stable. Anybody who's in the export business generally would have benefited from we have been talking about inventory levels reducing and all. In our case, it is a combination of recovery in the market as well as the addition of new customers.
Plus, a few of our products have also been some early purchases, which has happened, which may impact Q2 revenue.
Sure, that is excellent. Thanks a lot and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Vishal Dudhwala from Trinetra Asset Managers. Please go ahead.
Hello, all of you.
Yes.
Yes, sir.
Good morning and thank you for the opportunity. I have two quick questions. First, given the early monsoon and strong product placement, how are channel inventories looking specifically for herbicides and seed products? Are secondary sales keeping up, or do you see any risk of building up in cotton?
I can take this question section by section. Cotton this year has been a soft year for North, and there has been again a pitch for it in what we call illegal HTBT cotton in central part of India, particularly Maharashtra. Cotton crop also is significantly down compared to last year. Given that we had a limited inventory, I do not see much risk in cotton. We also had a little bit of shortage of rice and maize because of the processing challenges every company had to face in the month of April and May. At this point of time, on seed, I do not see a large risk. Herbicide season will extend from, so far it is pre-emergence, now it's getting into early fourth and fourth. A lot of crop is still getting planted. I think all the way till July and crop getting planted.
At this point of time, we have tried to factor in a lot of risk related to seed and herbicides. Fungicide and insecticide is something which is late in the market. This year, because the monsoon came early, there was also a request from the trade early to place. We have also placed the product. Here on, a lot will depend on how insect pest and disease pressure builds up. It's too difficult to say, but yes, given that commodity prices by and large, so most of the crops are good, grains are good, we would certainly need some rain-free period for the farmers to spray. It has been too wet sometimes, right? Rain never comes in what we call custom order. Those are the things we don't control. That's part of the business we are already. We try to factor in as much as possible with those things.
We've got your point. The second one is on the digitalization. How do you like planning due to our real-time analytics, like improving when selling and the monsoon demand forecasting?
I think these tools are built, so their ability to forecast builds over a period of time when you start building the data. Most of these tools are in what we call the second to third year of their introduction. The first year it was a trial and now they are all being implemented. We certainly see value. At the same time, we also see some, as we learn new things, we will go on improving these tools. I have a long-term belief in these tools. We'll continue to invest. They certainly help.
In terms of planning.
I take some human bias out of decision-making.
In terms of planning, it's going to help us in SG level forecasting. I think we have spoken in the previous calls about splitting the portfolio into A, B, C. We're looking at how do we dynamically manage stocks by using this in SAP BigStream. We're going to extensively use it to do portfolio segmentation and decide the right stocking strategy.
That's it from my side. I'll wait if it's due for the next question.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of S. Ramesh from Nirmal Bang Equities Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much, and congratulations, and wish Ms. Subhra Gourisaria all the best for a new assignment. If you look at your seed performance, that has been a key driver in this quarter, and the margins are also led by the seeds. We already achieved EBITDA, which is much higher than last year's full year EBITDA. Where do you see the overall relative share of seeds and crop care over the next three quarters in terms of the impact on margins? How do we read the long-term big picture over the next two to three years in terms of seed business? Are we seeing seed kind of turnaround to give you a little more stability in terms of the earnings over the fourth quarters? Will we continue to see the trend kind of sag after the first quarter? How do you see that?
Let me address the long-term side. We have very clearly articulated our long-term strategy in those three segments and using our existing assets to spread them out and also continue to not only domestic, also continue to expand global customer base so that we can also take advantage of the assets we have got. The strategy doesn't change. We are going to pivot on customer centricity, and we are building tools. As we speak, we keep testing new ideas so that whatever we launch on a larger scale is acceptable to the customer. All of our businesses are of scale, and all of them require a minimum cost. From here on, on what I see, it's very, very difficult to say which will go up and which will go down. All three are very, very important for agriculture: the portfolio installment, plant health, seed as well as crop protection.
All of them will not have the same trajectory. Some will do better than our expectations. Some may not do better than our expectations. Our overall strategy remains to start growing our revenue in double digits. If we achieve that, we'll start getting into a situation where our operating leverage becomes very, very important. We are able to add a higher share of incremental revenue to the bottom line. That's how I see it. If percentages are really ambiguous goals, yes, I do aspire and I keep talking about it. I want to grow high double digits, and that's where putting all our resources. A lot depends on how things pan out.
Yeah. Just one more thought on your FY 2026 outlook. When you see the gross margins actually showing you year-over-year improvement, and this quarter you have seen the operating leverage help you in terms of margin improvement, when do you see the gross margins improve on a sustainable basis? Technically, on cotton, structurally, there are some challenges, which is actually hampering the cotton aggregate. How do you see that impacting the long-term routine cotton crop protection chemicals and the seed business?
I think the important thing to understand is that, yes, if you say next two, three years, cotton is going to be very, very important. We are developing a robust pipeline in case of other three important crops for us, which is rice, paddy, and maize. Some of those products are being introduced this year. Maybe at the end of the season, I can give you some idea in terms of what is likely to get a better trajectory and what is not likely to get. For the coming two to three years, the cotton is going to be a significant contributor. Having looked, the cotton has challenges, but cotton is grown on 12 million hectares. Out of that, I know earlier, I mean, now people are saying in Maharashtra, 25% of the cotton has become illegal HTBT cotton.
Out of 12 million hectares, you leave 20% - 25% area out. We have to develop a product for the balance of the market and compete hard. As and when government approves new technology, we transition to new technology.
On the outlook of gross margins, how do you see?
See, gross margin depends on the product mix. I don't think, you know, we have a plan. Our aim is to, if not better, at least maintain the level of gross margin we have been delivering. The new products we are launching, some of them will give us higher margin, but that turnover has to change. Will it make much of a change this year? We will see. Obviously, the whole effort is to improve profitability of the gross margin in the next year.
Yeah. It's really more on operating margins. I think the business needs to start growing in terms of scale so that we are able to absorb the fixed cost. While gross margin will be influenced, as Dr. Gyanendra Shukla said, one by the product mix and also by the segment mix depending on exports grow, seeds grow, and B2C business grow because each of them are a different business model.
Wonderful. Thank you. I'll join with you and wish you all the best.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Abul from Individual Investor. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Am I audible?
Yes.
Yes, sir. In fact, can you provide an update on the current demand trends for acid phase?
Acid phase demand, I think, is more or less fixed. It primarily gets used in Brazil, U.S., and India. These are the three key markets. We have seen some revival of acid phase, but we are yet to see significant margin improvement on acid phase because it all goes to Brazil, U.S., and all. I think while volumes are there and we also have started using our plant and exporting, we are also getting registration of a new formulation, which is a disposable granule. I think once that happens, we will start seeing not only higher volume and margin improvement. At this point of time, I can say it is better than last year.
All right. How do you see the medium to long-term outlook for acid phase?
See, I think when I look at long-term forecasts, I think we cannot, so acid phase is a great product for us because we have a pre-work and we have customer base. The way I see the role of acid phase in Rallis India is one. Our domestic business, this product remains a very, very important product. We have customer relationships, which have started with acid phase across countries, particularly in America. Our opportunity is to really continue to add new products in those relationships and reduce our reliance on acid phase.
Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. That's it from my side.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of [Abhijit Attallah] from [Port of Securities]. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Amirul. Good morning. Will it be possible to share a breakdown of the crop care revenues between the domestic business and exports?
we did INR 449 crore in crop care and INR 203.4 crore in B2B business.
Okay. Sorry. So 449 is total domestic or just B2C?
Total B2C. We now call it B2C, including soil and plant health, domestic and crop protection.
It's about 13% growth over last year.
Okay. Yeah. Just the export number piece, how much did that do? I believe last year it was INR 132 crore in one share.
It was not 132. It was more than that. This year, the number is 203. Here we found exports, domestic, and what we tend to, so we call it B2B now. It is including domestic and international sales, contract manufacturing, and export business.
Okay. This is up 23%. You're on mute.
If I can give you a further breakup, our domestic institutional business has also grown, including export. We have some contract manufacturing (CSM) orders which probably will get executed later on.
Thank you. Within the seed business growth that we've seen, 38%, how much of it would have been driven by cotton versus the rest of the portfolio?
Cotton, I would say, is a large contributor, followed by paddy and maize. We also have entered into another category called no research rice, and that also has contributed, though on a smaller scale and some tight credit, about INR 10 crore. That's another category we think in the future we'll be able to grow. There has been, I would say, bagra availability has been less. We had equalities. Bagra marginally down. These are current estimates. You know we still have to reconcile returns and everything else. That's why I keep looking at the number in October because by then, at least return adjustments have taken place.
Sure. Just finally, on the breakdown between volumes and prices, if it's possible to share some color for both the domestic and the exports pieces.
I think I mentioned that the volume growth is quite global across most of the businesses. I would be giving a difficult to give a specific split, but as I said, the growth is driven by volume, especially in seeds. We have had 20% + volume growth.
If you really look at the broad strategy, the way I see it, I think they've given you a split of domestic crop care and export. In terms of percentage on a smaller base, export has grown more than domestic, but domestic has a higher base, and I said it's grown 13%. Seed obviously is a good growth, but a couple of it, a lot of it is also early planting and everything else. Some of these things do moderate as we move to quarter two.
Okay. I think year on year, erosion in prices has kind of been arrested now, right? The prices are not declining anymore year on year.
By and large, I would say.
In fact, year on year we've had a quart sit. Year on year, some of the quart sits rates have gone up.
Okay. Got it. Thank you so much and all the best.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of [Saurabh Chen] from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the effort, Srinpea. I hope my voice is clear.
Yeah, we can hear you.
Sure. I wanted to know your views around the recent news flow, which is suggesting there is some sort of shortage on the specialty fertilizer side from China. I wanted to understand, you know, have you benefited from this in the quarter that has gone by? Any of these shortages from China, how does it change your strategy? What kind of expectations you will have from this segment in the future?
I think what we are referring here is more of a bulk fertilizer. We are not into bulk fertilizer. In fact, our business is more beyond bulk fertilizer. There are multiple segments there. Yes, that crop nutrition area is currently in the media. At this point of time, I do not see any significant shortages. I think government must have carried forward some inventory, and a lot of it is also getting produced from some of the urea domestically. By and large, I haven't seen a lot of media news on the shortages in all.
I thought there was also some news flow connecting water-soluble fertilizers, and a lot of that segment is also getting impacted. I was just curious to know your standing on there.
At this point of time, I think our water-soluble fertilizer business also started very recently, so we're going to allow not at this point of time. In fact, when bulk fertilizer becomes challenging, that's an opportunity for water-soluble fertilizers to grow because they're requiring lesser amounts of organic agents.
Sure. That is helpful. The other question I had, can you throw some more light on your progress on the contract manufacturing (CSM) business in particular? You know, some more understanding on that business would be very useful to us.
manufacturing (CSM) business is a long-term business where you keep cultivating new customers. At this point of time, because of confidentiality reasons, we cannot give you a specific detail. Yes, we continue to some of the things we talked about in the past, we continue to work with those customers. A lot of it is related to how their registration progresses. Seeding up, I keep saying that we haven't still cracked the INR 500 crore manufacturing opportunity yet.
Okay. Sure. Do you have any targets in mind when you think about this business? What percentage of revenue this could form in three years or anything?
I think that is the most difficult one to predict because a lot of these conversations happen. There's also a change in market dynamics, so it's very difficult to divulge any details at this point of time.
Sure. Have your conversations been more around these patented kind of products, or is it going to be more on this space?
CSM could be a combination of patent and unpatent as well. It could also be around formulation for some of the materials. It's always a mix.
Thank you so much, and I'll get back in the future.
Yeah.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Manish Shah, who is an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Sir, my question was regarding the exports. The figure was INR 203 crore. What was the figure last year?
If you compare base, it was about INR 160 crore, INR 165 crore. Yeah.
Quarter on quarter, sir?
Quarter on, I have given you quarter on quarter only.
No, quarter. No.
Preceding quarter.
We said INR 206 crores broadly, which was INR 150 crores in the previous year.
I'm telling you Jan to March quarter now.
What are the numbers for Jan to March quarter?
Jan to March was the lower, I'll tell you.
I know.
Yeah, I can tell you the numbers. Give us a minute. Jan to March was INR 182 crore.
182 crores.
Yeah.
Has the pricing increased from the January to March quarter from the English quarter?
Year on year, it has increased. We are not seeing it quarter to quarter, but yes, some of these technicals are showing an uptick.
Okay, ma'am.
Thank you. Thank you for your answer.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Bhavya Gandhi from Dalal & Broacha. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, is it possible to quantify the CSM business contribution for full year or maybe for quarter last year?
For confidentiality reasons, whether because the customers are, we have limited customer base, the number will reveal their numbers. We may not be able to see it.
Okay. On the business model of contract manufacturing (CSM), is it like cost plus margin, or how is it like if you can throw some light on that front as well?
It varies. In most cases, margins are protected, but the business model varies depending on customer to customer.
Okay. At least can you share the geography of the customers? Are these Indian customers, Japanese customers? Whom are we targeting? At least some broad-level guidance if you can.
Two of the key technicals which we everyone speak about, one is in Japan, one is a U.S.-based customer. At the same time, we have Indian customers with whom we are working to also have a few more partnerships even with big entities in the pipeline.
Okay. Thank you. What would be the revenue potential of the nine products that we've launched? I mean, what is the broad target that we are setting up for these new product launches? Are they better margin products compared to the existing product market? What would be the margin differential compared to the existing products? I understand that you mentioned about 15% IPI, but purely from these new nine products that you've launched, what would be the revenue targets that you're looking for?
I think maybe today is not the right time to give you all the details. I guess a lot of it is calibrated. We said all the products, quite a few of them are herbicides, two fungicides, and one insecticide. All of them are into broad categories with multiple uses and multiple crops. The other thing is that we also have to start working on each of these products unless it is some products that are specific to rice, so they'll only go to rice. Fungicides and insecticides can go on multiple crops. They're introducing them now. Let's have this conversation in the month of October. At that point of time, we'll be able to give more color on this because they are supposed to be a large contributor with higher margin because they're all mixture products.
Okay. What would be the margin differential compared to the company-level margins if you can provide something on that front?
Let's wait till October.
Sure. Just one last thing. I mean, what could be the long-term steady-state EBITDA margin guidance if you can provide? I think on cost front, you've done the phenomenal cost optimization and all. Now it's largely on the gross margin and product mix. If you can just provide some numbers, steady-state EBITDA margins on a long-term basis.
Long-term, what we have been saying is that we wanted to come to 500 basis points steady improvement from where we were, right? Now, obviously, quarters and quarters will change, but directionally, we would like to operate in the range of 15% - 25% EBITDA margin over a period of time.
Fair enough. Okay, that's helpful. Thank you so much. That's it from my end.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Chintan Modi from Haitong Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Sir, my question is with respect to gross margins. This quarter, we have seen almost, you know, comparing to the historical trend, there is almost 200 basis points of decline. Considering that, you know, we had a good mix also of seed business, which is typically a high margin business, could you explain what was the reason for that and how should we see that going ahead?
One, obviously, positive is what we touched upon, seeds. The negative was B2B business. Exports in terms of gross margin is lower, and hence, I think within the segment itself, there would be some negative. For instance, cotton within seeds makes lower margin compared to the overall portfolio. Secondly, I think what we look at is not necessarily gross margin in terms. We look at gross contribution. Apart from raw material, there are various other costs, including power and labor. We look at gross contribution at that level, and for us, the gross contribution is on the right track.
Understood. It was largely a function of mix, you would say, rather than any other raw material cost increase. Okay. Coming to the employee cost, that was also quite, I mean, well maintained despite the growth in the revenue. You think that, you know, this current base of employees and the cost structure that we have, broadly will continue for the full year and will be able to deliver the similar kind of trend in growth?
To answer your larger question, I would say that the rates will be in a similar direction, but I think we'll also make investments in fewer areas. A few special talent, a few senior talent will continue to get recruited. I think employee cost, you can say, it will be in a similar direction, but not necessarily we can do Q1 into 4 and arrive at a number.
Okay. Third question is slightly from a longer-term perspective. Now, we are into multiple businesses. Seeds, we have B2B, we have exports also, domestic also slightly, and B2C where we have the conventional agrochemicals plus the soil and health. Now, I wanted to understand, like, let's say from a next three to five-year perspective, which according to you is more lucrative and where you can see a lot of opportunity playing out where we have kind of more competitive advantage compared to the peers?
Obviously, you know, structurally, you see all three businesses that are very different margin profile on a growth basis. Seeds tends to be, depending on which crop you are, tends to be a more high margin gross margin business, followed by, I would say, soil and plant health portfolio. In soil and plant health portfolio, also to start relying more on the bulk fertilizer or margin straw, followed by crop protection. Now, within crop protection, also, you know, if you have a unique mixture or patented product, you can make more money. If you're in a generic category, if you make technical, you make more money. If you don't make technical, you make less money. It's always a blend.
My feeling is that the way we are looking at, they're looking at, say, farmers or the paddy farmer, say, in some districts of the U.K., am I able to supply them all what they need from crop nutrition perspective, seed perspective, as well as, sorry, as a crop protection perspective? As a result, we are able to actually optimize the mix of your revenue and mix of profits. That's how we are approaching, and that's what we call customer centricity. How do we get very focused? How do we increase our frequency of interactions with the customer so that we are able to take more care of the needs of the farmers?
Also, one more question if I can. Let's say from a landscape perspective in India, agri typically has been growing at a, I mean, at a slow pace only. The changes don't come much rapid. Are you observing, considering the recent ministry-level changes and some aggression coming in, like this year we are seeing the number of reservoirs that have also gone up, you think that, you know, over the next three to five years, there could be a drastic improvement in terms of the underlying, in terms of agriculture, the trend changing, and which can kind of benefit the agrochemical companies?
Water is a very, very important element of agriculture. Every time there's irrigation potential, farmers will plant the crop, and they tend to use more input because the possibility of getting a higher harvest goes up. Having said that, while reservoirs are getting added, we also see some inefficiencies if they're not filtered and all up from above. I think overall, we need to see what is the net capacity of irrigation getting added every year, including all kinds of methods being tried with the government, right from micro irrigation to macro irrigation. Irrigation has a positive impact. At the same time, we have to see at the net level because some of our existing irrigation projects also become inefficient over a period of time. Yes and no both.
Sure. Sure. Thank you. That's it from my end.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of S. Ramesh from Nirmal Bang Equities Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you very much for the follow-up. In terms of your target for ROC and ROE, when do you see that showing material improvement? If you look at the current year to maintain the current trend in top-line, those have been increasing working capital. On that higher working capital, would you be able to show an improvement in ROC this year? What are the thoughts?
ROC is driven by two factors, right? One is your margins, and secondly is your capital savings. I think Dr. Gyanendra Shukla mentioned that we will strive to achieve 500 basis points improvement in margins. As far as capital is concerned, there'll be certainly investment in working capital to support growth. You would have seen our days on hand has come down. Actually, Gyanendra did not release this quarter, but I can say that the days on hand has come down compared to year on year. We are taking measures in terms of inventory rationalization and relevant pockets, tailwind reduction. We are hopeful that the working capital will be kept under check. As far as CapEx is concerned, I earlier mentioned that we will try to keep it at around INR 100 crore. That part of it we can go behind supporting will sustenance investments.
As in the profitability, I would say mixed improve. The CapEx investments are kept under check, and capacity utilization increases. We'll start seeing an uptake in ROE.
Understood. One last thought before my conclusion is the mandi prices are prevailing below the MSP. This is the case in Rabi and also for the Kharif. Is that something of a concern in terms of the farm incomes, or are we comfortable in terms of the ability to select and place products?
Monday price, again, is a factor of demand and supply. We don't deal with commodities, so we don't want to comment on that. My feeling is that Rallis team has done a wonderful job of managing the receivables so far. We haven't relented on our effort to be efficient in terms of placing and collecting. Even if that means sometimes short-term costs that we have to take, benefits do contribute back. There has been very efficient capital management by the finance team, and I don't see that is going away. Hopefully, that will ensure that we don't get into unnecessary large receivable issues.
Thank you very much, and wish you all the best.
Thanks.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Ritu from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Hi. It's a thankful opportunity. Regarding the new launches that we have done this quarter, nine products, out of which only one product is 93. Is that correct?
Okay. I don't have a specific detail right now handy with me, but FitLab is 93 for sure. Some of them I need to check. Maybe we can get back to you.
Okay. You have only mentioned six products named. If you could name the other three products that you have launched this quarter.
Give us a few.
Yeah, we can provide that link.
Okay.
Because some of them actually might be targeted towards next season. That's the plan for the year.
Okay. So nine products that may be in Q1 and Q2. That is correct?
Yeah.
Our launches have happened, but they are very short launch.
We'll get you the detail. In seeds, we have launched 15 new, 14 new products.
Okay. Understood. In terms of the seed business, I think earlier the cotton seeds used to be roughly around 20% - 25% of the total seed portfolio. How is the need right now for cotton and the Kharif?
Of the total number we have declared for seed, it is about more than 33% at this point of time. It is a significant number for cotton, and I believe it remains significant for, as I said in the beginning, for the next two to three years.
Okay. How much is the paddy for the portfolio?
Paddy and hybrid maize is together. I mean, and seed is on.
Seed is after.
I would say paddy and maize, so it's cotton at the same time. Paddy and maize will be about 40% put together. The balance will be mustard and barley.
Understood. Are we, like, moving forward, our most focus would be on improving the maize portfolio or the other portfolio that we don't have right now, right?
All are important. I mean, today the customer wants new seeds, new products more frequently than what companies were able to do in the past. It is a continuous process. We keep launching products so that farmers, and there's a value to graduate it for the farmers because every new product certainly holds higher potential.
Understood. Sir, this quarter's seed risk we have registered roughly around 26% kind of EBITDA margin, right? I think it's a historical high margin in terms of the seed business. How sustainable is this margin or how can we work with the margin going forward? What is the driver for this?
Majority of our businesses is off-sided towards quarter one, right? Now, obviously, EBITDA margin we are looking at, you're also looking at quarter one cost only. There'll be quarters when there'll be less sales or no sales. Cost will stay. I think in seeds, when I say overall 16% - 20% EBITDA margin on a long-term basis, I see seeds delivering 20% and maybe crop protection at 15%. Somewhere we operate depending on the year this business grows more. That's the target we want to keep in mind.
Understood. Thank you, sir. Thanks for being so cooperative in all of my questions.
Thank you. We take the next question from the line of Dhruv Muchhal from HDFC AMC. Please go ahead.
Thank you so much, sir. Probably a bit of a repeat, but I just wanted to have a better understanding on the ground level pickup in terms of the crops acting with production. I think the first two months of the quarter are generally deflation months, and the later follows the actual ground level. If you can share any details on how is it in line with the expectation? Is it better? Is it worse? So on and so on.
I think seeds we have a better clarity because the majority of the seeds which we planted with the farmer could continue. We're trying to check the channel level inventory. For seeds, we have a better handle, I think. We have a good clarity. Crop protection, I think probably we need a better seed is to get complete clarity because there are herbicides which go early. Obviously, we are done with, say, apple season. I know this happened in April, May, and June. It's very difficult to predict, I think, but yes, we have a clarity on seeds. We have a clarity on some level of clarity on pre-emerged herbicides, but crop is still getting planted. Now the post-emergence herbicides, post-emergence of herbicides will come later, and then followed by insecticide and fungicides. They go concurrently. That's to have some patience, I think, before we can get that.
Sir, probably from some of our takes, we understand there were some price increases in technical which were passed on to probably the channel also, some in June, some in July. Just trying to understand, have these prices sustained? Probably one can infer that from subsequent orders from dealers. Have these prices sustained? Were you able to sustain these price increases, or there has been some recalibration?
I think it's product-specific. It's very product-specific. I think anti-pest prices, for example, continue to be soft. There's been some improvement in metallurgical prices, but no, as you know, the polymer prices have not moved much. It's a product mix. What we report is basically that it's very difficult to get into product.
Got it. Sir, two quick questions. Is on exports, so from exports, the growth is on a low base, but just trying to understand, is the delta more towards U.S. market for you, or it's across regions, so nothing specific to you?
Primarily America.
U.S. and LATAM, yes?
Yeah.
Has this quarter been more towards, I'm just trying to understand, is it because of the pre-buying from the U.S. and all that? Is that the region which is driving this, or it's more?
I think it's seasonal buying. LatAm is buying basically for the planting season, which will begin in September, October. U.S. has been buying for their seasonal needs because U.S. has a very diverse private crop and cloud. I don't think anybody is buying in stocking. I think that mindset has gone away.
Okay.
Yes, people might own some order because you know the war has started, right? There was an uncertainty around movement of, you know, CSM. I mean, movement to CSM. There must be a little bit of it, but that has also slightly died down. I think right now we're back to normal.
Got it. Sir, lastly, if you have a decent cash balance and given your CapEx requirements, probably it will remain, you will continue to accumulate cash. Any thoughts in terms of how do we plan to use it? Probably it's a longer-term thing, but any thoughts that you can share?
The first thing is that money is to continue to do things related to doing current business better. The second thing is related to equity business. I think we are very curious about the opportunities in the marketplace and we object to being better. We want to make sure whatever we do becomes accurate to our income. These are the two primary uses right now.
Okay. Perfect. Thank you and all the best. Thanks.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we take that as the last question and conclude the question-and-answer session. I now hand the conference over to Dr. Gyanendra Shukla for his closing comments.
Yeah. I think, you know, it was a, I would say overall, I mean, all of you know it's an early onset of the monsoon, and the comments of the past sector actually should be seen more on the seasonal basis, which is, you know, a churn basis. We shouldn't read too much into what we call quarters. I think rainfall, there are some rainfall disparities. For example, we have it still as a refusal. It rained north. It has been a low rainfall patch. We'll have more visibility on the liquidity by H1. I think August, September is going to be a very, very important aspect as you know Fed and other things to be watched out. From a cost and other perspective, which is capital management, we continue to be very, very focused.
We continue to drive our business more towards profitability, and we'll continue to take action towards what's that. We are in for a long-term business building. While it is very exciting to say I have delivered quarter, my focus is that get the train moving in the right direction. Then we get into our what we call velocity. Thank you for your time.
Thank you. On behalf of Rallis and Dr. Gyanendra Shukla, I conclude this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.