Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press *and 1 on your telephone keypad and wait for your turn to ask the question. If you would like to withdraw your request you may do so by pressing * and 1 again. We will wait for a mo ment while the question queue assembles. First question comes from Ronak Soni from Equirus Securities. Please go ahead.

Yes. Hi sir. Sir, what is your outlook for, let's say, feed volumes picking up going ahead in the subsequent quarters?

Please can you repeat the question?

Yes. The volumes of the feed business, how will they going to improve, let's say, the subsequent quarters going ahead? Given that there was some volume loss in this particular quarter, how do you see the volume growth rates coming back for the feed industry and for you in general for the next few quarters?

As you can see, we can tell you the quarter wise production and sales.

Quarter I think we have lost around 6,916 MT when compared with the previous year. But when you are talking about the previous quarter, it is 36,300 MT more.

I'll explain to you, I may add to what Shantilata said, that consumption of the feed depends upon the aquaculture situation. See, what has happened is inQ1, it went well. And after that, in the April, May, there was lot of floods and outbreak of disease and all. So the consumption came down. In fact, in the normal course, May month and June month are the peak periods for the main crop for the sale.But however, this year, it was not so. But while saying so, I would also like to add that now the farmers have started stocking again. And we expect that if assuming that the climatic conditions remain favorable and also the prices of glob al shrimp price is also stable a nd definitely, the second crop is likely to be successful, which will run now, we started just now, say, July, August, September, October, these 3-4 months, we'll have good crop, as I said, provided we have these two favorable situations.

Right sir. So any scope of taking price increases or let's say our price cuts given that now that prices have come down and we've been given reports that there could be some subsidies coming in, in terms of electricity for the farmers over there. So any scope o f pricing or pass through going ahead?

So this is just now the government has come now and they have to claim the rules for all these tariffs, electricity tariffs. And also as I explained, the prices of raw materials are very uncertain and they keep fluctuating. We never expected that the whe at flour price will go up to INR 32 today. In some of the enquiries, they are putting INR 32.80. So which was there around INR 28-29 has come now INR 32-33 for no reason. We don't know what is actua lly happening. No calamity has happened as far as the wheat or wheat flour is concerned. But it keeps fluctuating. Similarly, fish meal and also the soya bean meal. So, the prices of the feed, to take a long term view of this and keep stable price is definitely a good procedure. But nevertheless, it happens depending upon that, we are taking whatever the burden of additional for ourselves as of now. And there is no increase. And coming to your question as to the prices which have raw materials come down, will there be any price cut? That's what I think you're asking for. So that we always keep it as fluctuating, but there is no such move as of now.

Right sir. And sir, any guidance for processing remains unchanged versus last quarter or any changes in the lower volumes?

Could you repeat your question again?

So I was saying that you used to give guidance in terms of processing volumes for the full year, which was I think anywhere around 1 ,500 metric tons, if I'm not wrong. So does that remain unchanged for the full year or you revised the guidance?

I think in the opening remarks, we said 16,000.

Right. Okay. Sure. That’s it from my side.

Thank you sir. Next question comes from Kunal Ochiramani from Kinara Capital. Please go ahead.

Sir, I just wanted to ask regarding the policies. Does government include us in regarding claiming the policies with shrimp as we are one of the major exporters from India ? Second, if any other policies, have been announced recently wherein apart from what we are availing today, will we be eligible in future ? Has there be any announcement in this budget? That's what I wanted to ask.

See, normally before framing the policy, the budgetary policy, concerned departments will have discussion with the Seafood Exporters Association, MPEDA and all the major stakeholders in the Feed and they formulate the policies. And recently , budget has proposed certain decrease in import of certain ingredients, feed ingredients and also like the fish feed and also shrimp feed and some of minerals, premixes and all these things. But this policy is framed on many, many factors which are taken into considerat ion before the decision is taken. They take input from the stakeholders like seafood processing, they take from hatcheries, they take from the feed industry and they take from the farmer’s association. Overall the financial situation also they take as far the industry is concerned, whatever the policy that is made is in tune with the inputs that they got.So for instance, recently, they have announced some s upports for having Brood stock getting that and also encouraging the clusters by financing them. They are export financing and all these things are coming. But all these things are made in the budget speech. But none of these things have really taken place nor they have come in form of a procedure, the regulations, how it should be done. Even for the employment generation and encouraging the manufacturing units. All these things have been mentioned in the budget, but we are all awaiting for the outcome of how the NA BARD is supposed to be the nodal agency for extending the financial support. And we ar e waiting for the procedures and regulations for operating the se schemes announced by the Hon’ble Finance Minister. So overall, I don't think there will be any big announcement as far as the policy is concerned. However, the GST part that has been left to the GST Council, so we'll have to wait for the GST Council's decision how they monitor the taxes, the GSTs on various products that is going into the manufacturers as far as our sector is concerned,how they are going to make anyimpact.

Thank you sir. Ladies and gentlemen If you have a question, please press * and 1 on your telephone keypad. Next question comes from Mithun Aswath from Kivah Advisors. Please go ahead.

Hi sir, in terms of your production has gone up YoY for the Q1 in terms of the shrimp processing, but the revenues and the sales have kind of come down YoY on the shrimp processing side. I just wanted to understand that because the volumes have gone up, but the volumes of sales have not gone up, but the production has increased. So do you see subsequent quarters the ramp up in the sales? That was point one. The second question I had was on the duties which have been removed on the fish meal, which is one of your raw materials. I just wanted to understand what is the benefit for you on margin. And also, if you could give a mix of what are the raw materials involved in th e shrimp feed? What percent is fish meal and the wheat and the soya? I remember in the last call you had mentioned that the because the situation in Chile, there was this massive rise in the fish meal prices.So if you could just throw some color on that, that would help us to kind of understand what your margin outlook would be for the current year?

Yes, I'll take the first question. So on the production, we've increased the production like you pointed out. However, the sales didn't increase as much, mainly because a lot of stock is in transit. Now the transit time has substantially increased due to the Red Sea crisis, so they're taking an alternate route. That's the first part. The second part is that we have a lot of inventory in the warehouse, which hasn't been shipped because of unavailability of containers. So those were the two main parts of why the production has increased and sales hasn't, but you'll see that cashing up in the coming quarters.

Yes. Coming to the feed, you raised couple of questions. Number one is with regard to the impact of the prices, the policy changes that have been made in the recent budget. Practically, as far as the domestic shrimp feed industries are concerned, there is no advantage at all because the first thing is that we have reduced the customs duty on shrimp feeds. What happens is that when the prices come down, we start getting imports from other countries becoming competitors for us in the domestic industry with asevere competition from them. And we have already more than what is the annual consumption. We have 3 or 4 times more than the requirement of the production capacities in India today. In fact, we have made several representations to the government also , because as you keep reducing the shrimp feed customs duty, basic duty, then it will be disadvantage for the Indian manufacturers just giving you a very good quality feed for the aquaculture in the domestic aquaculture industry. So that is not at all advant age. And any basic custom duty, now we have all the raw materials available in India. Almost every raw material is available. Earlier, we were importing fish meal from Chile and Peru. We give this reference because the Chile and Peru are one of the major countries producing the fish meal and supplying to the world over. So that is taken as the availability of fish meal there will determine the global prices. So when there is a food crop in Chile and Peru, the global prices of fish mealcome down. And that indirectly gives an advantage to us because our exports also will get reduced. So that is available for the Indian market. That is the advantage we give for Chile and Peru references. So that is the reason why we give it. And as far as we are concerned, we go by the domestic prices which again depends upon the two factors. One is fish catches. The other one is export demand. These are the two basic criteria on which we have the local prices are based. So when there is a good crop and also there is aglobally availability of fish meal is good, the demand for export is not so much, then we get a reasonably good stable price. If there is an increase in the demand, then the prices go up. That is one aspect of it. So similarly, soya bean meal and the whea t flour, as I told you earlier, as explained, it all depends upon the agricult ural cost, which is YoY basis during the season. Now in October, November month, we get the soya bean, the fresh seed. So as of now, the crop is good and everything is going on well. So that we expect that the price of soybean meal will be stable. So coming to your question with regard to the proportion how much we do it, is it something like a formulation depending on so many factors and which cannot be determined or disclosed. That can be a confidential information which the company has. And the formulation is made according to the requirement of the particular season and particular areas, that is how it is done. So, I think we cannot disclose, this information, because it is not only one formula which is applied universally. Ok. Yes. Just the last question, for the next 3 quarters, are the raw materials on a holistic basis lower for you compared to the last 3 quarters of last year or are they higher? So as to judge how your margins are going to fare over the next few quarters. My sense is that right now, are the prices of the raw materials lower than last year for the second quarter or are they kind of flat? Just wanted to understand that.

So just I explain the reason for giving so much explanation in our presentation initially is that to understand how the raw material prices are fluctuating and it is not actually stable. Suddenly, if it goes up to INR 121, it comes down to INR 119 sometimes. So it is very difficult. In a quarter, you will find in 3 months in 3 different rates for all these products whether soya bean meal or fish meal or wheat flour. In such a case it is very difficult to exactly say whether the prices will go up or come down . We do not know sometimes in spite of having a good crop, we find the prices going up. For instance, in wheat flour, we don't know why it's going up. The government policies, for example, government, the procurement by the Corporation of India, the wheat is more now. So, they want to keep it as a food security policy. So, with the result of so much of wheat flour going into the government godown, the FCI godown, it is not available in open market. The prices are going up. Like similarly the situation in case of fish meal, if the catches are not good, we don't get, the prices go up. Similarly, if there is a demand for export, the fish meal producers would like to export rather than to sell in the market. When we approach, they say you give us the export price, we will give you. That is what it happens. So it is very difficult to really come to a point where we can be predicted with a reasonableaccuracy. It is very difficult.So that's why we keep explaining so much about it.

I understood, sir. At least for the next quarter, do you have a visibility of is it better or worse than last year?

We cannot say now b ecause right now they are soft. But it all depends on the international market situation.

Okay. And one more question I had, if I may, on your new venture on the pet food business. Just wanted to understand what is the investment that you're doing here and what kind of scale can this business do? And is this primarily for the export market? Or would there be a domestic play as well here?

Yes, these pet products are for only domestic market. It is not for export. It is for the domestic market. And the investment is expe cted to be around INR 130-150 crores, of which we have land cost, we have invested about INR 35 crores as of now. And also we had spent about INR 2.5-3 crores for other expenditures for the survey of the demand for pet foods and other branding and other staff that we have expanded. We spent about INR 2.5-3 crores. And as far as the product, as we told you, we are planning to launch before 31st March 24. CMD, you may add something if you would like to add?

Yes. See, usually, it will be a domestic market. The market is going up on a drastically high pace. We can establish our brand; we will also look at the export markets.

Right. I'm just trying to understand this is a completely type of different type of business, right? You will have to create your own brand, a lot of marketing and all that . Just wanted to understand. Technology wise, the manufacturing of feed and all, they're similar to what we are manufacturing shrimp feed or something like that, but it's a different pet animal. So, it's again a formulation and what the pet requires. And regarding the marketing, yes, in the shrimp feed, it is the farmers who buy the seed for the commercial crops. Then in the pet food, it is like pet owners. It is more of an emotional thing and we have to work in the consumer market.

Right. And if I can squeeze one last one. Whenever these farmers have a bad crop, they bought this feed from you. Do you see potential losses or write offs? And how does that work? Or is there the government helping fund those purchases?

No. See, the farmer buys feed as per the requirement. Say, he would always plan his requirement of feed as per his requirement and he would be taking from the dealers. And see, if he will be given back to the dealers if he has some problem with thecrop and dealer will sell to some other farmer. This is how it goes.

Right. I'm just trying to understand in terms of there would be quite a bit of a loss that you would have incurred, right, because of the last couple of months. I just wanted to understand what is that impact.

See, they will not return back the feed to the company.It is only theuptake, see, because as you saw, this year rains are good, and there's a lot of flood. Because of the heavy rain, there was a flooding on some of the areas. Because of the flooding and all, there has been diseases and there has been over flowing in shrimp farms . That's what that has happened from end of June and July. But now it is quite stabilized. Now the farmers are going back for stocking. Because good rains in the country also, emphasizes good crops. But the heavy rains are there, they'll all lose the crop. But generally, the water regenerates it's a good sign for the country for the agriculture and aquaculture.

Fine, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. Next question comes from Vedant Mehta from QRC Investment Advisors. Please go ahead.

Yes. Hi, good evening. I just wanted to understand the EBITDA margin expansion. Is it linked to only the raw material prices being depressed? Or what other factors that are driven by?

So basically the major contribution factors are the raw material prices. So the other expenses be the normal the fixed expenses under other labor and all, we have the standard expenditure. And the incr ease in expenditure YoY basis, it will be there by increments of the salaries, etc . It will be the overall expenditure increase will have an impact on that.

And transportation cost is the major factor in case of frozen food. So the ocean freight also affects the EBITDA.

Because of the Red Sea issue and the shortage of containers because the US and the European governments are imposing some tax on theChinese products from September 1st shipments received from September sometime in September 1st. So they are shipping out, all their cargos before that, it reaches before that. So all the containers have been booked by the Chinese companies , majorly the lithium batteries and the elect ric cars. So the Ocean price have gone up very high because all the space in the vessels have been booked by the Chinese companies at a very high price. So, for us to as earlier our yesterday, as Nikhilesh has said, there are shortage of containers and shortage of space in the shipping vessels because everything has been booked, which would be eased by, end of this month or something like that because, the deadline would be over for the Chinese. And the EBITDA margin, yes, definitely, on the frozen side, definitely it works on the raw material side and also since the shortage of containers and space in the vessel, the ocean freignt have gone up almost 3 to 4 times high.

Ok, thank you.

Thank you. I request the participants to restrict with 2 questions in the initial round and join back the queue for more questions. Next question comes from Pradeep Rawat from Yogya Capital. Please go ahead.

Yes. Good evening and thank you for the opportunity. So I just wanted to know about the demand outlook in the shrimp processing segment for various geographies, specifically US and EU? And how do you see competition coming out from Ecuador? Okay. Thank you. I'll answer that question. So on the production side from Ecuador, I think, see, Ecuador today is the largest producer of shrimp, but they do not compete in the same categories as the Indian processing industry does. Ecuador does more whole shrimp or headless shrimp like commodity shrimp, where India is more into peeled shrimp and moving more into value addition. So that way, I don't see that Ecuador is really a threat to India, but there is oversupply, which is balancing slowly more efficient producers will stay in the market in terms of producing nations. The demand in the US market, Europe, also the rest of the world continues to be stable, not great changes. Hopefully, the low pricing of the shrimp, the protein of shrimp drives in more consumption. There's more marketing activities that are being don e. For the company itself, a strong quality standards and product continues to have good traction in the customer base. So we will continue to focus on expanding in all these markets.

Yes. Thank you very much and wish you all the best.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next question comes from Sameer Deshpande, an individual investor. Please go ahead.

He has withdrawn his question sir. Next question comes from Devam Modi from Ardeko. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. To begin with, could you share the details related to the PLI incentive that the company has received or is eligible for going ahead?

We will send an email. You just send an email so that we will reply back. We have already explained in the presentation we will reply back to you.

Okay. Sure. And, just like you highlighted on the pet food front, if you can also share on the fish feed front, what is the investment and resources tha t we'll be looking to allocate this year and next year in FY 25-26?

The fish feed we have only we have employed some senior executives who are undertaking the Feed survey. And we are ready in the process with identifying the fish species which is suitable for India and for that fee d. So we want to take up trials to do the trials with imported feed from the Thai Union feed mill and first experiment here and see whichever is the Indian conditions is suitable. We would like to start importing and do it initially. And thereafter, we want to produce in India. We have the civil works ready. It is only the machinery that we have to order and we can immediately start within a matter of about 6 months, we can start production. Once we establish the demand, supply and what is the requirement, what is the species that require that is in need in Indian conditions, we will start. So it will take maybe so we are now under the process of the surveyand trials. We are going to import some feed and do trials in India. CMD may would like to add some.

Yes. The fish feed, we have a lot of fish available in India, which is a majorly low cost fish and the feed for instance, very cheap feed and it is anybody can make that feed. But the species, what we are looking at is in earlier meetings what we said, we wanted to go for a high variety of species, which is already being done in the past of developing in India, lik e Baramundi, Seebas or Snakehead or Kraut or different varieties of fish, which is already people have taken up culture and they're doing a lot of trials on it. We are developing feed for that, which is already existing with Thai Union, which they are doing in Thailand, whic h we want to import earlier and start doing trials with the development of the market. And if those variety of species develop with a high protein applied to high protein and good protein fish, which needs high nutrition, nutrition value, there are a lot of technologies involved. So we want to get into that . Then the commodity grades the question of you asking how much Capex would be around, see, once we decide on that, but initially we are importing and once we decide on that, the Capex of INR 100 crores would be there.

Okay, sure. And in this case, so based on what you highlighted, it should be more like a high margin, but relativelylower volume than sort of the shrimp feedbusiness. Would that be the right impression?

Yes. There are fish available you know, common carp and all, which are traditionally from India. So farmers most of the common carbs, farmers make their own feed because it's a very cheap it comes around the 15 -20 rupees’ net manufactured feed for themselves. And for the financial savings, it is anything. But this variety of fish, we'll see people are going trial and doing the trials are high quality fish. High quality fish like sea bass and all these are high p rotein and high nutritious fish which require high nutritious feed. So we have to target that. The volume may in future, it may increase to a higher side depending on the consumptions and the development.

Okay. Sure. And there would be an overlap in the customer that you would be having on the shrimp feed style, there would be an overlap with the fish feed to the higher end.

No, there would be no overlap. There's a different segment, totally.

Okay, sure. And just one bookkeeping sort of question. In FY24, we see that there is a power and fuel expense of INR 94 crores. How much would be the amount attributable to the power side and how much to the fuel side within that?

Could you send an email, and I will just break it out and send it to you?

Sure. No problem. Thanks. That's it for my side.

Thank you. That would be the last question for the day. Now I hand over the floor to management for closing comments.

On behalf of, the board of directors and also the management, I would like to thank all the investors who have participated for having more discussions, more questions and having more clarifications. It is good to have such a session whereby the management has the investors also to be more transparent in dis seminating the information about the company prospects, the profitability, margins, etc . I once again thank all the investors for taking active part in this session and made it more fruitful. Thank you.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, thisconcludes your conference for today. Thank you for your participation and for using Door Sab ha's conference call service. You may disconnect your lines now. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

1. This document has been edited to improve readability 2. Blanks in this transcript represent inaudible or incomprehensible words.