Good afternoon, everybody. Myself, Anoop, Company Secretary and Compliance Officer, welcome all the members and members of the Board of Directors to this thirty-first annual general meeting of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited. In compliance with circulars issued by Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Securities and Exchange Board of India, this meeting is being conducted through video conference or other audio-visual means. I shall now introduce you to the directors who have joined this meeting. Dr. Pawan Goenka, Lead Independent Director, is attending the meeting from Mumbai. Dr. Goenka is also the Chairman of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. Also, as there is no permanent chairman to the board at this point of time, Dr. Goenka, who is the Lead Independent Director, would act as the Chairman of this meeting, pursuant to the terms and conditions of appointment of Lead Independent Director.
Mr. Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director of the company, is attending the meeting from Mumbai. Mr. Shanghvi is also the Chairman of the Risk Management Committee. Mr. Gautam Doshi, Independent Director, is attending the meeting from Mumbai. Mr. Doshi is also the Chairman of the Corporate Governance and Ethics Committee, Audit Committee, and Stakeholders Relationship Committee. Ms. Rama Bijapurkar, Independent Director, is attending the meeting from Bangalore. Ms. Bijapurkar is also the Chairperson of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee. Mr. Sanjay Asher, Independent Director, is attending the meeting from Mumbai. Mr. Rolf Hoffmann, Independent Director, is attending the meeting from Montenegro. Mr. Sudhir Walia, Non-Executive Director, is attending the meeting from Mumbai. Mr. Shailesh Desai, Whole-Time Director, is attending the meeting from Mumbai. Mr. Aalok Shanghvi, Whole-Time Director, is attending the meeting from Mumbai. Mr. C.S. Muralidharan, Chief Financial Officer, has also joined this meeting from Mumbai.
We also have representatives of SRBC and Company LLP Statutory Auditors, KJB and Company LLP Secretarial Auditors, KD and Company, Cost Auditors of the company, attending this meeting. All the members attending this meeting have been placed on mute by default to avoid any background noise during the meeting. All the books, records, registers, as required under the Companies Act 2013, and relevant documents referred to in the notice of 31st annual general meeting, are available for inspection electronically during the meeting. As per the requirement of SEBI regulations and Companies Act 2013, remote e-voting, voting facility was made available to the members from August 24, 2023, to August 27, 2023, to cast their votes on each of the resolutions set out in the said notice of 31st AGM. Mr. Chintan Goswami, partner of KJB and Company LLP, and fai ling him, Mr.
Alpesh Kumar Panchal, partner of KJB and Company, shall act as the scrutineer for e-voting process. After all the resolutions are, as per the notice of thirty-first AGM are placed, the floor will be open for shareholder questions. With this, I now hand over the proceedings of the meeting to the chairman of the meeting, Dr. Pawan Goenka. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Anup. Dear shareholders, good afternoon. I hope you all are doing well and enjoyed witnessing the successful landing of Vikram on the moon. I welcome you all at this thirty-first annual general meeting of the company. I also welcome my fellow board members. The company has taken adequate steps to enable shareholders to participate in the meeting through video conferencing and to cast their vote by electronic means.
We have a requisite quorum present to conduct the proceedings of this meeting. I would like to inform the shareholders that if any time during the meeting, due to technical issues, the connection from my side is interrupted, Mr. Gautam Doshi shall chair the proceedings till my connection is restored. In case Mr. Desai, Mr. Doshi's connection is also interrupted, then Mr. Sudhir Walia, Director, shall chair the proceedings of the meeting. I now request Mr. Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director, to share updates on the company's performance and business.
Dear fellow shareholders, on behalf of the Board of Directors, I welcome all of you to the 31st AGM of your company. I hope you and your family members are doing well. I shall begin by sharing key trends of the global pharmaceutical industry. Following a rebound in global medicine use in 2021, after the pandemic, growth slowed in 2022, and spending inched up from $1.42 trillion to $1.48 trillion. Global pharmaceutical spending is projected to grow by a CAGR of 3%-6% between 2023 and 2027, and to reach total market size of approximately $1.9 trillion. The growth is expected to be primarily driven by the introduction of novel medicines. This will be offset by the loss of exclusivity and the lower costs of generics and biosimilars.
Regional spending and volume growth trends will continue to diverge, with developed markets growing at a slower rate than emerging markets. I will now share highlights of Sun Pharma's business for the financial year 2023. I'm happy to report that we had a good year with strong performance across multiple parameters. All geographies did well, recording double-digit growth, while profitability improved despite rising costs. Our global consolidated revenue grew by 12.6% to INR 433 billion. EBITDA grew by 12% to INR 116 billion, with margin of 26.5%. Adjusted net profit was up by about 12.8% to INR 98.6 billion. Excluding exceptional items, return on capital employed was maintained at 16.5%, while return on equity improved by about 1% to 15.9%.
Our global specialty revenues recorded a strong 29% growth to reach $871 million. Its contribution has more than doubled from 7% of consolidated revenue in 2018 to about 16.2% in FY 2023. Sun Pharma's India business sales were at INR 136 billion, up by 6.6%, and accounted for about 32% of overall revenue. Excluding contribution of COVID-19 products in previous year, the underlying business performed well with about 10.2% growth year-on-year. Our India business growth was in line with the industry growth, driven by leading presence in chronic segments and strong brand equity with doctors. As per AIOCD AWACS March 2023 data, our market share remained constant at 8.3% on MAT basis versus the previous year.
Given the distribution and doctor reach of Sun's India business, we continue to be the partner of choice for global pharma companies for in-licensing of innovative products that can be potentially launched in India. We undertook India field force expansion in FY 2023, adding 10% to our existing strength. The force expansion has helped us declutter our portfolio and expand our presence in Tier Two and Tier Three towns. Sun Pharma is the largest pharmaceutical company in India and is ranked number one in terms of prescription, with 12 different classes of specialties. Sun Pharma's leading position in India and its brand equity will help to leverage the benefit from the growth in the Indian pharmaceutical market. The Indian pharmaceutical market size is estimated to reach about $35 billion-$39 billion by 2027, recording a 7.5%-10.5% compounded growth.
Demographics and lifestyle changes, rising per capita income, growing incidence of chronic ailment, increasing access to modern medicine, and improving health insurance coverage will be the key driver of this growth. Revenues in the U.S. grew by 19% to INR 135 billion and accounted for approximately 31% of our consolidated revenue for FY 2023. Growth was driven by specialty sales in the U.S., which continued to gain traction. Generics business in the U.S. continued to face price erosion, and there was additional impact of import alert at our Halol facility imposed in December 2022. However, we were able to partly compensate for these headwinds in the U.S. generics through new launches and market share gains.
U.S. is the largest pharmaceutical market globally and expected to grow at about 2.5%-5.5% CAGR to $763 billion by 2027, with the growth driven mainly by innovative specialty product. Sun Pharma has presence in both the generics and in innovative segments in the U.S., and is well positioned to exploit growth opportunity in the U.S. market. Grew by 17% versus previous year in emerging markets. Growth was recorded across multiple markets in local currency terms. Sun Pharma operates in emerging markets and is one of the largest Indian companies operating in these markets. Overall pharmaceutical spending in emerging markets, including India, is estimated to grow at 5%-8% CAGR to $487 billion-$518 billion by 2027.
The rest of the world business grew by around 11% for the year. We spent approximately INR 24 billion on R&D, which accounted for about 5.5% of sales. We continue to invest in building a R&D pipeline for both the global generics and the specialty business. Let me now update you on our specialty business. Over the past decade, Sun Pharma has invested towards building global specialty business as a new revenue stream, for the company. While specialty is a part of global pharmaceuticals, it has different dynamics as compared to our existing business. Sun Pharma has marketed approximately 26 specialty products across markets, and I'm happy to report that global specialty accounted for 16.2% of our global consolidated revenue in 2023. Our therapy areas of focus within the global specialty include skin care, eye care, and skin cancers.
Some of our key products are as follows: Illumya, which is used in treatment of adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy. As per World Psoriasis Day Consortium, psoriasis affects 2%-3% of world's population, thereby making it a widely prevalent condition. Illumya belongs to the most advanced category of treatments available for treating psoriasis, namely IL-23 inhibitors. It's marketed by Sun Pharma directly in several markets, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan. This is the largest product by revenue in our global specialty portfolio. Winlevi is a first-in-class topical androgen receptor inhibitor approved by U.S. FDA for the topical treatment of acne vulgaris in patients above the age of 12. Based on global burden of disease data, acne affects 9.4% of world's population.
Sun treatment for acne, Winlevi, is the first FDA-approved acne drug in nearly 40 years with a first-in-class mechanism of action. Our product, Cequa, is indicated to increase tear production in patients with dry eyes, an inflammatory disease that affects more than 16 million people in U.S. alone. We have launched Cequa in India recently to expand our commercial footprint and bring global specialty portfolio to the home market. Following are the highlights of our global specialty business for FY 2023. During the year, Sun acquired Concert Pharmaceuticals. The lead asset of Concert, deuruxolitinib, has successfully completed global phase III trial, including in the U.S., for the indication of treatment of alopecia areata. Company launched Sezaby, phenobarbital sodium injection, in the U.S. market, which is for the treatment of neonatal seizures.
SEZABY is the first and the only approved product in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of neonatal seizures in term and o f preterm infants. Besides deuruxolitinib, which has completed phase III study, as discussed above, Sun Pharma Specialty R&D pipeline comprises of following products: Our marketed product, Ilumya, is also undergoing phase III clinical trial for arthritis. Another candidate, AM2, has completed global phase IIb trial as a potential treatment for knee pains in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. SCD-044 is in phase II clinical trial as a potential oral treatment for atopic dermatitis and moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Finally, our glucagon-like peptide-one receptor agonist, GL0034, has completed phase I clinical trials. Early clinical data demonstrates marked weight loss and good tolerability.
We presented this promising phase I data in the ADA conference in San Diego, U.S., held in June 2023, quick to start enrolling patients in phase II trial during 2020. We continue to focus on improving manufacturing efficiencies and optimizing cost. At year-end, Sun Pharma had a strong net cash position of about $1.5 billion. Let me now share overall outlook of your company. All our businesses are well-positioned, and we expect high single-digit consolidated top-line growth for FY 2024. The expansion for global specialty business is expected to continue. Our R&D spending is expected to be about 7%-8% of sales in FY 2024, with an increasing share of spending in specialty R&D. After providing insight into the company's business, I would like now to share the information on shareholder initiative taken by us. During this year-...
company walked the extra mile in reaching out to long-term shareholders whose details were not updated with us and who have not been claiming their dividend for a long time. As an outcome of the company's proactive approach, unclaimed dividends for more than 7,000 shareholders were processed by the company voluntarily in a one-time exercise. We will continue to take various measures in the best interest of shareholders. Sun Pharma's dedicated workforce has been instrumental in attaining our organizational goals. We have faced several challenges in recent years, including pandemic-induced disruptions and an information security incident in March 2023. Our employees have ensured that operations remained on track during those disruption threats. We are grateful to our board of directors for their continued guidance and support.
Your support to us as shareholder is of vital importance, and we hope that you will continue to repose your confidence in us in the future. Thank you.
Thank you, Dilipbhai. May I now request the company secretary and compliance officer to speak on certain statutory aspects?
Copy of the annual report for the year 2022 to 2023, along with the notice convening this thirty-first annual general meeting, has been emailed to the members of the company. These documents are also made available on company's website. As such, the notice of thirty-first annual general meeting is being taken as read. The statutory auditor's report on the standalone financial statements for the financial year 2022 to 2023 does not contain any qualifications or modified opinion or adverse remarks. Hence, it is being taken as read. The secretarial auditor's report for the financial year 2022 to 2023 does not contain any qualifications or modified opinion or adverse remarks, except a comment in which, in the opinion of the board, is self-explanatory. Now, I shall read out the relevant para of the secretarial audit report.
We report that the UDI and the date of issuer certificate annexed in the annual report for FY 2021-22, issued under Regulation 34, read with Schedule 5, Para C, Clause 10, Sub-Clause 1 of SEBI LODR Regulations, was incorrectly mentioned. It is clarified that there is no change in the contents of such certificate, and such certificate was issued without any qualifications. Over to you, Dr. Goenka.
Thank you, Anup. I shall now read out the resolutions for the items set out as ordinary business in the notice of this annual general meeting. Item number 1, adoption of standalone financial statements. Resolved that the audited standalone financial statements of the company for the financial year ended March 31, 2023, and the reports of the board of directors and auditors thereon, be, and are hereby received, considered, and adopted. Item number 2, adoption of consolidated financial statements. Resolved that the audited consolidated financial statements of the company for the financial year ended March 31, 2023, and the report of the auditors thereon, be, and are hereby received, considered, and adopted. I now move to item number 3, declaration of dividend.
Resolved that pursuant to the recommendation of the board of directors at their meeting held on May 26, 2023, the final dividend of INR 4 per equity share of INR 1 each on 2,399,334,970 equity shares of INR 1, each...
Rupees 1 each, amounting to INR 959,73,39,888.80 for the financial year ended March thirty-first, 2023, be, and is hereby declared, and that the same be paid to the equity shareholders whose names stood in the register of members as beneficial owners as the close of business hours on July twenty-eighth, 2023, as per the list provided by NSDL and CDSL in respect of shares held in electronic form and as members in the register of members of the company. I shall now move to item number four, relating to reappointment of Mr. Sudhir Walia, who retires by rotation. Resolved that Mr.
Sudhir Walia, having director identification number 00005561, who retires by rotation under Section 152 of the Companies Act 2013, and being eligible, has offered himself for reappointment, be, and is hereby reappointed as director of the company, who shall be liable to retire by rotation. I shall now proceed to the two items of a special business. Since the resolutions for these items, along with explanatory statements outlining the objectives and implications, are already provided in the notice of 31st AGM, they are not being read out. Item number 5, ordinary resolution for ratification of remuneration of cost auditors. Item number 6, a special resolution for appointment of Mr. Rolf Hoffmann as an independent director of the company for a period of 5 years. Item number 7, a special resolution for appointment of Mr.
Aalok Shanghvi, as a whole-time director of the company and approval of the remuneration payable to him for a period of 5 years. Item number 8, ordinary resolution for material related party transaction between Taro Pharmaceutical USA Incorporated and Taro Pharmaceutical Incorporated, Canada for financial year 2023-24. Now we will take up questions from shareholders. We will respond to all the queries at the end after all shareholders have had their turn. Those shareholders who are registered as speakers for this AGM will be permitted to express their views or ask questions for a maximum of 3 minutes each. Since we have a long list of registered shareholders, I request you to please adhere to the time limit of 3 minutes. In case the shareholder is not available at the time, the next shareholder in the queue will be allowed to speak.
Those who have not registered themselves as speakers but have any queries may write to the company and the same shall be suitably responded in due course. We shall now call out the names of shareholders one by one.
We call out the names of the shareholders who are registered as speaker shareholders. When a name is called out, the respective shareholder may switch on the video and unmute themselves. The first speaker shareholder is Mr. Satish Jayantilal Shah. Okay, the first speaker shareholder has not joined this meeting. The second speaker is Mr. Gaurav Leeladhar Rozatkar. The second speaker has also not joined this meeting. The third speaker shareholder is Miss Smita Bharat Shah.
Hello! Hello.
Yes.
[Foreign Language] madam?
[Foreign Language] । Please start.
Thank you. [Foreign Language]
Yes, we can hear you.
[Foreign Language]
That was the fourth speaker, Mr. Bharat Shah. We go to the fifth speaker, Manas Banerjee.
Good afternoon everybody, respected Chairman, present board members and my fellow online shareholders. Myself Manas Banerjee joining the VC AGM from Kolkata. I convey my sincere thanks to our company secretary Mr. Anoop Deshpande and his full team for registering my name as a speaker and AGM. In all aspects, financial year 2022-23 was a good year. Our company delivered robust double-digit growth in revenue and profitability and further strengthening our market leadership. Congratulations to the board members for this. Now I have some observations. Number one, sir on Mohali plant, when we will be able to restart the supply from that plant. Next query sir, on Revlimid , sir do you think it is a nice lucrative opportunity or is it a lot diluted?
Next, sir, would you just provide some color on why we have seen an increase in debt in the balance sheet. And finally, how should we see Taro's performance for the financial year 2023, if you give some light in this matter. I already supported all the resolutions by remote e-voting. Thank you for patient hearing and have a nice day. Over to you, sir, for next proceedings.
Thank you. Our next speaker number 6 is Mister Badri Vishal Bajaj. Mister Badri, you can unmute yourself please. Mister Badri, can you hear us? We are not able to hear you if you are speaking. We move to our next speaker. We may come back to Mister Badri, if he is available. Our speaker number 7 is Mister Manoj Kumar Gupta.
Hallo.
Yes, Mr. Manoj, we can hear you. Go on.
...Good morning. My name is Manoj. Good afternoon. My name is Manoj Gupta. I join this meeting from my residence, Kolkata. I have a great respect and regard for Mr. Dilip Shanghvi, and I wish to God to give him more success and to take the company on new heights under his leadership. Sir, what's your future plan? I thanks to the company secretary and his team to help us to join this meeting through VC. I thanks for your CSR work. Sir, how much, when the Taro merger will be complete? Today in the media that you are going to merge the Taro. So what's your plan in that regard? Sir, Jan Aushadhi , where government is focusing to inspire the generic medicines. So what's your view in this regard?
I strongly support all these resolutions to hope that company will touch the new heights under your leadership in future. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Our speaker number eight and nine are Mr. Vijay Mimani and Mamta Mimani. They both have not joined the meeting. We go to our next speaker. Speaker number ten, Mr. Santosh Kumar Saraf.
Hello? Huh! Namaskar, one minute.
Yes, Mr. Santosh.
Ji, one second, I'm turning on the video. Please, give me time.
Okay.
Honorable Chairman, can you hear me, madam?
Yes, I can hear you.
Okay. The camera is not on, is it?
Yes.
Camera is on, madam?
Yes, your video is also visible.
Okay.
You can go on.
Honorable Chairman, directors, officials, and employees, I, Santosh Kumar Saraf, greet you all. I hope you are all in good health. Sir, two questions. One, to maintain the company's growth, what steps should be taken for it to remain the same, please tell me, sir. One, sir, to stop insider trading, what steps have you taken and what steps should be taken, please tell me, sir. One, for women empowerment, what steps are you taking? Because the population of our country is 50% female, sir. Our Modi ji has always said that it is because of female power that we have reached the moon, sir. I understand that because of female power, Sun Pharma will also reach great heights and give maximum, sir. Sir, what steps should be taken for renewable energy? Please also tell me this, sir.
Lastly, I want to ask that what steps should be taken for our recycling water, sir? Lastly, for the financial year 2023-24, I convey my best wishes to all the directors, employees, and officials. I pray to God that the financial year 2023-24 be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous for all of us. Lastly, I thank those employees who, because of their hard work and dedication, have brought our company this far. I pray to them, that you continue to work with the same dedication, so the management will give us very good dividends, give results, and give to you as well. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat. In the future, hold the BC meeting. If you do it physically, madam, make sure to keep the BC option so that we can express our feelings towards our employees. Namaskar, Jai Hind, Jai Bharat.
Also, thanks to the moderator for providing good service.
Thank you, Santoshji. Speaker number 11 is Aparna Sarkar. Aparna has not joined the meeting. Speaker number 12, Mr. Bimal Kumar Agarwal.
Hello? Hello. Hello. Can you hear me?
Yes, Bimalji. Yes, we can hear you.
Good afternoon to everyone. First of all, I thank the company secretary, his team, management, staff, and the shareholder. As chairman already answered my question, I won't take your time much, and I have also already supported all the resolution. What is the land bank we got as of now? Any new plant we are putting up? That only I want to know that's all from... And always keep the meeting VC, so anywhere from anywhere you can join. The directors also don't have to come from their support base of business. They don't have to come. It saves quite a lot of money and always keep this VC meeting, because now Santosh Saraf also said that, "Keep it VC only." That's all from me. Thank you very much. Again, I thank the company secretary and his team. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Our next speaker, number 13, is Mr. Gautam Nandy.
Am I audible?
Yes, you're audible. Please go on.
Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, respected chairman, board of directors, and my online fellow shareholders. Myself, Gautam Nandi of Kolkata, very old equity shareholder of your company. Sir, firstly, I'd like to give thanks to your secretarial department for sending me annual report along with notice and necessary joining link through email well in advance.
So special thanks to our respected company secretary, Mr. Anup Deshpande, and his whole team of your secretariat department, for rendering good services to our minority shareholders. Sir, you are organizing your annual general meeting through video conference, and I find it's a grand success. Sir, I am very pleased to receive your wonderful annual report, which is very attractive and also very, very informative. Sir, accounts and performance, annual report, Chairman sir. Chairman sir, total company details. Sir, I find very good performance in every segment, even in this challenging year. Now, the situation is still very tough. Every company is suffering so much. Still, you are paying very good dividend to our minority shareholders. Sir, I am very happy, sir. Sir, your CSR is also very, very good. So please keep it up, sir.
Sir, I'd like to know: what is your roadmap for the next 3-4 years? Sir, are you going to launch any new product in this year? Sir, do you have any expansion programs in near future? Sir, one request, if situation permits, please arrange a factory visit in the coming winter season, at least for our speaker shareholders. We are eagerly awaiting for the visit, sir. Or sir, please arrange accordingly, including to and fro tickets. So please consider, sir. Another thing, sir, please provide speaker serial number with your link, which you are sending to us well in advance. This is very, urgent for us, sir. Sir, I have requested for the hard copy of annual report. You have already sent to my registered address, so thank you again, sir. Sir, please do something for our, at least for our speaker shareholders.
This is nothing but a token of love, sir, so please consider, sir. Sir, I am very proud to be a shareholder of your company. I have full trust with our strong management, sir, and I so, along with my family, have already casted a vote in favor of you through my e-voting. Sir, looking forward with a positive outlook towards our company, with higher profit margin and some dividend, one is to one bonus and return. Sir, may God bless you, sir. Stay safe, stay healthy. Thank you very much, sir. Gautam Ranjan from Kolkata, signing off, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next speaker, number 14, is Mr. Kaushik Sahuakar.
Hmm. Hello? Am I audible?
Yes, you're audible.
Yeah. Thank you. Good afternoon to everyone. First, I am honored to have the opportunity to address you all today, and would like to express my gratitude to the board of directors for allowing me this chance to express my view. First off, I salute the board of directors of our continuing VC mode of meeting, thereby allowing pan-India participation. Sir, I request you to continue this trend. I am satisfied shareholder of our company, and I must commend the management for the remarkable efforts in creating wealth of the shareholders, more particularly, for minority shareholders. However, I'd like to raise a couple of concerns. My primary concern pertains to the utilization of saving on account of VC mode of meeting.
I believe it will be prudent and fair to allocate a portion of this saving to the welfare of the shareholders fund, more particularly among speaker shareholders, who actually participate in AGM as speakers. Considering their valuable contribution and active involvement in the meeting, it will be a gesture of recognition and appreciation to distribute a small memento on the occasion of festivals. So you have kindly provided me the breakup on expenses on account of physical meeting and on account of VC mode of meeting, if possible. I humbly request the board to consider my proposal, and explore the possibility of implementing this gesture. By doing so, I firmly believe that it will reinforce the positive rapport between the company and its shareholders, and contribute to overall well-being of the corporate family.
My next concern, how has the Sun Pharma product portfolio evolved over the past years? Are there any notable new product launches or development in the pipeline? What is the company approach to the product innovation and development, especially in terms of addressing unmet medical needs? Does company manufacture any drugs for skin rashes and also for urinary infection, if any? It will be appreciated if you can share the name via email or a call. My final concern is, the company has been hesitant in supporting individual in need, including myself. I have shared my credentials in past and followed up persistently, but the company has not heard my request. Should not any differently abled person be a part of sales activity? I appeal for support in certification work, including Form 15 CB.
Your assistance would mean a lot to me. If I can't get help from such a reputable company like Sun Pharma, then whom can I turn to? I'm reciting my credentials after our meeting in the hope of receiving justice and proactive consideration for desired help and support. I want to clarify that I'm not seeking handouts or free money, nor any sympathy. I value my independence and self-reliance as a chartered accountant myself, and I hope you can understand and respect, and respect my desire to maintain the independence. Thank you for considering my request, and I firmly believe that with your support, I can make significant contribution to our organization and have a positive impact on society. I eagerly await your response and sincerely appreciate the time and attention you have provided me today.
Additionally, I would like to request your assistance in introducing me to your esteemed auditor. As a fellow professional, I believe the expertise and guidance would be instrumental in achieving our mutual goal. Finally, I request I join the other shareholders for site visit, if any. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you. We have our next speaker, number 15, Kirti Shah. Kirti Shah has not joined the meeting. We move to our next speaker, number 16, Jaydeep Bakshi. Jaydeep has also not joined. Our next speaker, number 17, is Surekha Sharadkumar Shah.
Hello. Hello, my name is Sharadkumar Shah. I'm a joint holder along with Surekha Shah. I have already sent my point by email, and it is good afternoon, sir. And especially, sir, what I'm looking that I have sent mail on Saturday evening, and today morning I have received a reply from our company secretary. So I'm very happy because he replied whatever I need, promptly acknowledgement and positive approach. So I'm very happy. Another thing, sir, when MD was talking, Dilip Shanghvi, he also talked about shareholders' worry. What I want to tell you here is that, sir, I have demated some shares of Sun Pharma, which in 2018 and 2019, which I could find out.
Now, again, once again, I started demat work from March 2023, and I found one more share of Sun Pharma. So I requested to give me documents to our secretary on Saturday, and he has attached all the documents, and I'm ready with these all documents, sir. Another thing, sir, you talked about lot of-
Can you speak a little bit closer to the mic?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We cannot fully understand what you are saying.
Yeah, okay. Okay, sir. And, sir, I got one more point. Like we see, you talked about lot of medicines which cure whatever diseases we are happening. But whether we make any medicine, that, whether we have got any medicine which cannot, which stops having any diseases. Because recently what I have done, I have done one blood test, which is normally done after bypass. And lot of doctors have got different opinion, and it came normal. So my opinion, that is something we can prevent. Preventing is better than, doing something at later date. That is my opinion, sir. And another thing, sir, I have sent you an email, and, what is I notice is, see, you are the largest pharmaceutical company, and because of you, all Indians and all over the world, people get medicine. Sir, what is my...
What I found is our INR 44,520 crore is much, much higher than Cipla, Alkem, JB Chemicals, Pfizer, etc. Another thing, what I found, our standalone also is much higher than Cipla. Also our USA revenue of INR 13,535 crore is much higher than revenue from Alkem, JB Chemicals, Pfizer, etc. So it looks like that, you are the largest pharmaceutical company, and, I'm very, really happy with this. Sir, another thing, because of this, we have done a good business, that foreign exchange, what we gained, is INR 4,413 crore. Another thing is that our PAT is INR 8,473 crore. Previous year, it was INR 3,227 crore, which has helped turn PAT higher than the employment cost.
This year's employment cost is INR 8,296 crore, slightly lower than the PAT. So it is really what, in my opinion, always, PAT should be higher than the employment cost. That we run company for shareholders, and then we run company for employees. And, and because the previous year, the employment cost was more than double than of, of the PAT. And another thing, what I've gone through your consolidated profit and loss from, and what I found-
I have got only one point, sir. What I found, sir, is the why our PAT is higher? PAT is higher because change in the inventory, which has helped us by INR 80 crore, exceptional items increased by INR 4,405 crore, and the Deferred Tax has increased, helped us by INR 1,021 crore. What I feel, sir, if same situation remains, then definitely 2023, 2024 will be again, we are in good profit. Only thing, my observation is that our earnings per share has increased from 13.6-35.6. I don't find in this financial year, any increase in the share price. Why a market doesn't respond to our good PAT, that I have not understood. If it is possible, please try to explain me and, whatever point...
I'm really happy with your company secretary, because he responded to me very fast. Thank you. Thank you very much for giving me opportunity.
Our next speaker is Mr. Ashit Kumar Pathak.
Am I audible? Am I audible, sir?
You are audible. Yes.
I have, sir, a brief point. Sir, your opening remarks is very optimistic, and for the prospective of my company, and your standalone revenue is nicely achieved. EPS gone to +7 from -4. Sir, I have some brief views. At present our company's Halol facility status and also Mohali facilities, which issued some U.S. FDA non-compliance letter, and also raw material high inflation, higher borrowing cost, and geopolitical turbulence had any adverse impact, and also intense price inflation in the U.S. market. My company encountered FDA-related issues, such as warning letter, quality control, and manufacturing deficiencies and product recalls in the U.S.
So, some highlights, how I will come out from this, and optimistic demand for skilled workforce, supply chain disruption and pharmaceuticals fraud and clinical trials playing catch up, and data breaches and cybersecurity threats. How we are coming out all these negative parameters? Nothing to say more. I pray to God for your good health and prosperity of my company.
Speaker number 19 is Hariram Choudhary.
Now I'm muted. I'm starting my video. I've started my video also. So I'm starting my speech, Mr. Chairman. My name is Hariram Choudhary. I'm speaking from my home at Santacruz, Mumbai. Mr. Chairman, first of all, I suggest that we have hybrid system for next year also, physical as well as online, because in any season, we can attend all the meetings. Number two, there is a hybrid system in Wipro. There is a hybrid system in my company, where I be director. Mr. Chairman, in the business, we can also attend, so you are out of Mumbai. Like, take my case, I'm in Mumbai. The company office is in Mumbai. So I could attend today because of this VC system. Please keep this system next year also.
Then I said that, since every year-
Mr. Hariram, your voice is breaking.
Out of Mumbai, we have the get together in Mumbai next year. Number of shareholders are from Mumbai only. Now, the annual report are prepared by the company secretary. I compliment him. About CSR, kindly let us know how much rupees spent to CSR this year, and whether this is more than 2%, who is the chairman of the CSR committee, and who are the members of the CSR committee? So, chairs, I compliment you. And about, annual report, I complimented the company secretary. And, now I suggest that we should dedicated whole annual report to the Secretarial Department . So, this will be better than we can look at it. And let us know whether we are in the volume, whether we are in the data analysis. And in fact, digital technology, we are adopting.
Please let us know also whether we are adopting artificial intelligence. Now, how much amount capital expenditure is done this year and also the last year? So about the. My suggestion is, we will have-
Mr. Hariram. Mr. Hariram, you-
Yes.
You're breaking up. We are not able to fully understand-
-your question.
... Can you switch off your, can you switch off your video?
I can do, please. I can do. Thank you. I absolutely.
Can you please switch?
Thank you. I completed. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Aryaram. Speaker number 20 is Aspi Vamanrao Vasania. Aspi has not joined. We go to our speaker number 21, Vasudha Vikas Tatwe.
Hello, can you hear me? Good evening, respected Chairman.
Yes, ma'am. Thank you.
Respected Chairman Sir, Board of Directors and fellow shareholder, myself Vasudha from Thane. I would like to congratulate our company secretary team for sending me the soft copy of the report well in advance, which itself is clear and transparent. The opening speech given by the chairperson is also very excellent and informative. I would like to ask, what is our attrition rate? Secondly, I would like to ask, which plant gives us highest revenue out of our 18 plants? With this, I support all the resolutions. Thank you very much and wish the company all the best for coming financial years and my best wishes for all the festivals coming during the month of Shravan and Bhadra. Thank you very much, sir.
Thank you. Our next speaker number 22 is Mr. Yusuf Rangwala. Mr. Yusuf, you can please unmute yourself to speak. Okay, there seems to be some technical issue from Mr. Rangwala's side. We move to our next speaker number 23, Mr. Dinesh Bhatia.
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And I also know that how many plants we have in India and out of it. Outside India also how many plants we have, can you give some information? And for ours, our plants here in India, if you keep any plant visit for shareholders, then it would be a pleasure for us to meet you closely. Otherwise I am with the direct resolution. May the company continue to make its progress. All the best, Jai Shri Krishna!
...Thank you. Mr. Yusuf has joined. Mr. Yusuf, if you can unmute yourself.
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Our next and the last speaker number 24 is Mr. Ramesh Shankar Gola. Mr. Ramesh has not joined the meeting. With this, we complete our list of speakers.
Yeah, may I know the questions off the list. I'm going to respond to all the shareholder queries.
Yeah. No, thank you. So I wish to broadly thank all the shareholders for your appreciation of the efforts of the secretarial department, and also the effort of the employees and the directors to run the business in the best possible way. I appreciate the encouragement, and we will continue to make the effort so that we can continue to produce same kind or even better results going forward. There were a few specific questions related to new products that we have recently launched and what kind of market share that we've been able to get. To that, I think generally, whenever we launch a product, we try and ensure that we are amongst the... If not the largest, at least among the top three players in every product that we are in market.
We are able to achieve this in most of the new launches. Specific product by product, I think, if you have interest, we will be able to share the information with you, but I think the secretarial department can share those information with you. There is generally a suggestion for continuing the video meeting or even a hybrid meeting where people- I think that we will definitely consider as an important suggestion. There were questions related to business impact of the Mohali and Halol facility. I think we are continuing to sell products out of the exempted product from Halol. And for Mohali, I think we had shared the update about the current status in our last quarterly call. There are no specific additional information beyond that.
However, we continue to supply from Mohali to many other countries where we are supplying products. There was also a question related to Ilumya, whether how big a product it is. So it's an important product, and we expect it to continue to be an important product, at least for next 1-1.5 years. There were questions about increase in the debt in the books. All of you are aware that we acquired Concert Pharmaceuticals for, I think, close to-
570.
$570 million. For that, we had taken some temporary bridge finance, because money that we had was invested in assets that we could not liquidate immediately. But I think if you will see our quarterly statement, then there is a significant reduction in that debt, and going forward, we will possibly, be end of this year, we should be repaying all the debt by either current cash flows or from the cash that we are holding. There's also a question about the future plan. I think as a part of my readout, I shared with you the overall guidance about the growth of the company, and the focus of the company would be to grow all the businesses and continue to grow the profitability as well as the top line. There were questions related to Taro merger.
So as you are aware, I think we've made an offer to Taro to buy out the minority shareholders and buy out the rest of the shares which we don't own. We've also shared with the investors that Taro will respond to our proposal. And as we have any additional information to share with the shareholders about the Taro transaction, we will share that with you, but there is no specific additional update related to... There's some concern about the price competition on the generic medicine. It is a competitive business, and we need to continue to make up for the lost top line and bottom line by new businesses or by improving the market share of the existing product.
I think that's something that we've been able to do, and our generic business in the U.S., to some extent in Europe also, is continuing to grow. There's something about insider trading that I did not fully understand, but, if you wish to, I think we can share specific information whenever we, the secretary department share more information with you. There's suggestions about female empowerment, and I think we also have an ongoing, focus on, increasing the number of female employees and also, creating an environment where, female employees continue to do well in the company, and we are company of choice for females to have a long-term career. Quite a few of our senior executives are already female, but the opportunity is there for us to increase that number.
I think overall, our progress in ESG, which will also have this as an information, is in our ESG report, which may be part of our what you call? It is there on our website.
Sustainability. BRSR.
Yes, sustainability report. You should be able to see everything, including the focus on increasing use of renewable energy, improving, cycling, improving, reducing the power consumption, and various initiatives, so that we can reduce the carbon footprint of our business. Generally, I think, our approach for identifying a new product is a product which can help patient or doctors treat a disease better than the current products are, and that is one of the key reason why we are successful as a, company. I think... There's some suggestions about, employee costs. I think, while our focus is on re-reducing the overall employee cost, not only by, controlling costs, but also by growing the top line. But you should also recognize that we continue to acquire new businesses, and some of the new businesses are in early phases of their development.
So the proportionate amount of employee cost of these companies are much higher than us, so they increase the overall employee cost. But when these products will come to market, they will again help us in reducing the overall employee cost as we continue to leverage the new acquisitions and grow the top line. The general concern about the pricing pressure in the generic business, increasing cost, and, the some additional information related to product recall, which also I think, is too detailed for me to share with you on this call. But, the secretarial department should be able to give additional information. I think cybersecurity was an important learning experience for us, and, I think, it has helped us strengthen our security processes.
And what we are happy is that with the support and the involvement of teams across the country and from different functions, we could continue the normal business of the company and we could achieve the business objective without getting negatively impacted because of the cyber security incidents. Overall, I think the company has made significant investment as well as lot of efforts in CSR activity. Our CSR activity is focused around the health and education. Issued multiple recognitions as well as awards because of the what you call the various initiatives that we have. So I think there's a question related to attrition rate. My recollection is that our overall attrition rate would be less than 10%, but it may be 1% here or there.
Amongst the industry, I think, we have the lowest attrition rate in the pharma industry in India. As per the best place to work, I think, we've been recognized as the best place to work in terms of employee morale as well as the support in the healthcare industry in India. I think I must appreciate the recognition, and also we are happy that we are able to give a work environment where people can continue to create and can contribute and get recognition for their effort. Amongst the various plant, I think there is a suggestion about... I mean, ask question about which is the facility with the largest top-line revenue. So I think we have two plants in Sikkim.
One of these plant, Sikkim Two, has the largest revenue from a single plant in the whole company. Then, I mean, the question related to... We've made significant investment in the US till now. I don't have a specific number, but, we believe that, a large part of the investment has been from the income that we've generated from the US, and, we continue to generate, future growth and revenue out of the US. The details about the plants in India and outside of India, I think, large, we have large number of facilities, difficult to give details, but, if you want specific information, then the, the secretarial department will be, happy to share more detailed information with you. There were multiple requests for plant visits.
I think, like what I have explained to you in the past, pharmaceutical industry, we have a controlled manufacturing environment, and it's very difficult without violating GMP, have unauthorized personnel visit the facility. So I hope you understand the challenges that we face, and it will be difficult to accept that as a request. I think there were also requests about speaker shareholders. I don't know whether from a law point of view, we can treat shareholders differentially. Law permits us to treat shareholders differentially. There was a specific question about the company policy related to differentially abled employ- I mean, people. We don't have yet a policy. We need to discuss this in our internal, work out a policy that we can sustain and live with. I think I have tried to make an effort to respond to all the questions that were raised.
Have I missed anything?
No, I think you have covered everything. Yeah. So thank you, Dilipbhai. Dear shareholders, we have answered the questions and queries put up before the meeting. If inadvertently we have missed to respond to any question, we shall address them separately. The e-voting will remain open till 15 minutes from the conclusion of this meeting. Those shareholders who have not cast their votes yet are requested to do so. I request the scrutinizer to complete the scrutinizing process and then submit the report to myself or the company secretary and compliance officer, being the person authorized by me. The scrutinizer's report and the e-voting results will be submitted to stock exchange within the prescribed time, and it will also be placed on the company's and CDSL's website.
Also, the results will be displayed on notice board of the company at its designated office and corporate office. I thank one and all for attending this meeting. We can now conclude the thirty-first annual general meeting of the company.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. And with permission of the Chair, declare this meeting has concluded. Thank you, everyone.
Thank you. Thank you.