Thank you very much. We will now begin the question -and-answer session. The first question is from the line of Pratik Kothari from Unique PMS.

Sir, one comment on U.S. I mean, has been a soft market for us for the last few quarters. Just anything -- any comment you even called out or you have been calling out increased competition there. Just in terms of efforts that we are making because our FY28 target is a steep ask from where we are. So just what's going in the background?

Yes. So as far as US is concerned, we have clearly said, Pratik, that the first 2 quarters will be very soft. And having said that, the bulk of the launches is going to come from the second half onwards. And if you really see the entire construct, there are 5 levers which we are working on the U.S. business. The one is in terms of the controlled substances should definitely deliver the growth for us going forward because considering that we have completed 1.5 years of the demonstration of our past history, I think that will be a clear lever of growth. Second thing is in terms of the new channels, which I just spoke about in the speech, whatever I had. The third one is in terms of the new geographies, new partnerships should definitely add. The fourth one is in terms of the launches. That's something which we are working on. We have been relentlessly working on. Plus, we also are concentrating on OTC portfolio. So these 5 levers give us a confidence that while it is slightly muted at this point of time, the next 1.5 years, we should be able to significantly accelerate our efforts to get to an aspir ational number of USD375 million. And as we speak, we have made enough groundwork to get there. And we have to just -- we keep executing and keep relentlessly working towards that goal.

And this new approvals and launches, this is from the existing basket that we have?

Yes, that is correct.

Fair enough. And second, sir, we had a plan to go net debt -free. I mean, last year, we kind of accelerated a lot of investments. Now what would be our trajectory and path in terms of net debt- free, if at all?

From an overall perspective, the current net debt is about INR14.2 billion, like INR1,420 crores. If you really see, it does not include the OneSource investments, which is currently valued at about INR3.2 billion, that is INR320 crores. Really see, from our perspective, the way we are looking at it is like if we keep delivering and keep continuing to work on the growth in the next 1.5, 2 years, maybe in 2 to 3 years' time, we should be fairly neutral in terms of the debt. And also, you have to understand, Pratik, like when we started the debt conversation, the dollar was INR82. Most of our debts were at INR82. Today, as we speak, it is at about INR95, INR97. It's not that company has not reduced debt. Company has reduced debt last year. Unfortunately, the thing is since the rupee depreciation was more, that was not seen. It's almost INR3 billion of debt we reduced in the last year.

The next question is from the line of Anand Mundra from Soar Wealth.

Sir, with respect to U.S. business, you mentioned in your opening remarks that you were not able to register some revenue because of higher freight costs. It's possible to quantify the amount, sir?

No, no. We said that the performance is because of the freight cost. There has been some supply -- elongated supply. We never said that we lost revenue because of the higher freight cost. It's

not. As far as the non-U.S., ex-U.S. business is concerned, yes, supplies to some extent, affected us in terms of the revenue. But definitely, it's very temporary matter. We will be able to catch up during the year.

Okay. Got it, sir. Also, sir, with respect to non -U.S. business, which is the key market for us? And how are we seeing the growth over there?

Yes. So as far as the ex-U.S. markets is concerned, you have to understand it in 3 parts, like one is the B2C markets, which are specifically predominantly U.K., Nordics, South Africa, Africa. Those are the 4 markets. When I say Africa, it's Francophone Africa and Kenya. As far as the B2B markets are concerned, we have got Europe, we also have got Australia. And as far as the third category, if you really see, is the business consisting of the LATAM, MENA, APAC. These are the regions we are working on. And the last category, we are in the process of regulatory filing. So the real new dollars, you'll start seeing it from FY'28, FY'29 onwards. And we are working very aggressively on the portfolio optimization as well as the go -to-market efforts on these markets. And if you really see the entire thing, it is very broad -based. The ex- U.S. markets is quite broad -based, it has got B2C business, it has got B2B. And B2B gives us stability to B2C, and it's very widely spread. And the margins are also improving as we speak between these markets compared to the U.S. markets. And overall, we believe that the growth trajectory should continue. And our endeavor is to mirror the markets in the next 1.5, 2 years, and that's what we are trying to do. And you should be able to see that quite often from now on until the next few quarters.

The next question is from the line of Gautami Aggarwal, an investor.

So my question is that to reach the USD375 in the U.S. by FY28 from currently USD284 million as FY26 base, you effectively need to add around USD90 million to USD115 million in 8 quarters. So can you just walk us through the bridge how you -- as to how to come from controlled substance -- how much will come from controlled substance , dormant ANDA relaunches, OTC launches, etcetera?

Yes. So that's what I spoke about in the previous question also. There are 5 levers for us in terms of getting that additional USD90 million. One, the first lever is in terms of the OTC business. We don't want to give any specifics with respect to the dollar revenue on each of these markets, but all may be similar, I'll put it that way. From an OTC business perspective, we are working aggressively on the OTC space. You should be able to see lot of green shoots immediately. The second thing is in terms of the controlled substances. The reason why we say that is because we have already comp leted the 2 years of controlled substances launches and the past history demonstration. So the growth should start from now on. The third one is, in terms of the new products and domain. We have got almost 100-plus products which are yet to be launched. And we are launching very systematically, keeping our profitability thresholds. We should be able to do that starting from Q2 onwards. The fourth one is in terms of the new and specialty channels, which we operate. I think we have made enough

inroads into those channels. That's something which is very important for us as we go forward. The last one is in terms of expanding the partnerships in Canada and other geographies. We are already in discussions with the strategic partners for us, which will give us a stickiness from a long-term perspective. And all these 5 or 6 initiatives should give us the pathway to that USD90 million.

The next question is from the line of Kiran from Tabletree.

Sir, I have a couple of questions. The first question on the Ex-U.S. market. Sir, we have grown from USD59 million last year to USD63 million. But if I look at the last 4 quarters, we went from USD59 million, USD61 million, USD64 million, USD70 million back to USD63 million. So I was expecting the ex -U.S. market is not as cyclical as the U.S. market where we are H2 - heavy, but we seem to have gone back to USD63 million. So if you could just explain why this has happened? And I'm still expecting the Sandoz acquisition numbers are not in this. So just sub questions, right? One is cyclicality of this and the Sandoz acquisition numbers. Are they there in the ex-U.S. or not?

Yes, sure. One thing you have to know is if you really see the USD63 million, whatever you have done is corresponding to the Q3 of last year, right? It's not that it's not grown, it's grown. If you really see it has got a combination of B2B and B2C markets, right . The few orders we could not fulfill because of the logistical and as well as a few issues with respect to the geopolitical situation. But hence, it has been built. And we said that whatever the USD7 million from the Q4 will be made up through in the coming quarters. That's what we have said in this thing. And we are in the process of covering up that gap, and you will start seeing that in the subsequent quarter results. As far as the acquisition of the Sandoz is concerned, this is not -- these are all not part of the current numbers. We expect to close sometime in Q2, if we are lucky because we are waiting for permissions. And this will start adding up to the numbers in the H2. Which month in the H2, we don't know at this point of time.

Got it, sir. Got it. So second question, just very confusing, sir. So Pivot Path had about INR144 crores revenue. We sold this IT or GCC business -- not IT really, but GCC business for INR125 crores valuation. It is less than 1x sales. We retain 20%. But I mean, I'm just trying to...

See, I think from your perspective, the way you have to understand this entire Pivot Path is like it is like a GCC, right? And you should not take the stand -alone of Pivot Path and try to arrive at an equation. What we are saying is that from our perspective, we sold the business for INR100 crores and Pivot Path has got two businesses. One is the third-party business and the second one is the in-house, the captive business. So don't look at it on an overall basis. It does not contribute significantly to the revenue of the Strides Group. All I can say is that these are all stand -alone revenues. And we believe that this business will do extremely well moment we start going into the third-party business. And hopefully, it should add to our PAT in the next 4 to 5 years.

What is our weighted cost of debt borrowing?

It's about 7.6%.

So there is no further improvement from here? I think, as our rating upgrade...

We've stabilized at a reasonable level, and we have got debt across geographies because the way we align our debt to each of our individual geographies. We've got an optimum and healthy mix, and we've continued to focus on interest cost. You would have see n a consistent reduction quarter-on-quarter for the last 7, 8 quarters.

Okay. Major mix will be from this INR1,400 crores, major mix will be in U.S., 70-80%?

It is between India and U.S. These are our major geographies.

No major debt portion that will be in our U.S. subsidiaries?

Correct. Major debt is in India and then in U.S.

Okay. And one thing was in CARE rating, we are seeing at INR1,100 crores or something, and we are seeing here INR1,400 crores. What is the disconnect?

Sorry, I didn't follow that.

See, this is based on certain categories of the loans which are getting evaluated from a credit rating perspective. And so they have taken certain long-term loans and then they have done the rating. So it's not that the entire debt book is given a rating. That's the point you are talking about.

The next question is from the line of Yogesh Soni from Haitong Securities.

My question is with regards to the nasal spray portfolio. Also in the last 1 year, you have filed two nasal sprays in the U.S. market. So if you could give us some update on FDA review with regards to the same and any expected approval timing?

Yes. So as far as the first one, we filed, I think, in the last year, and it has gone to the very advanced stages of the review. We should expect the approval sometime in the second half. That's where we have been told. So -- and it can change between mont h-on-month. We don't know. But we think it will come in the Q3, Q4 time period. As far as the second one is concerned, we have just filed about 1 month back, and we expect to have a faster review on this. And the review process will take at least 12 to 15 months.

Understood. Sir, one more thing. You have also mentioned of adding 5 to 6 more nasal programs over the next 12 to 18 months. So it seems to be very positive on the U.S. business. Can you quantify for us, I mean, how many more products are there in the pipeline or how many products can we expect to get approval over the next 2 to 3 years?

Yes. So as far as we are concerned, we are concentrating on all the three domains, that is nasal sprays, transdermal patches, thin films. And we have got capabilities to address that demand. And we are working very hard on this. The nasal spray will be about 5 to 6 programs. At this point of time, we are working similar with respect to the other domains also. We should gain significant traction in terms of filing in the next 12 to 18 months. And that will be the driver of the growth beyond that USD375 million, which we have kept for ourselves. And we are very confident and we are filing it in time. And that's what we try to do at this point of time. And also one more point to note is that we will also be filing for the third product in the next few months.

The next question is from the line of Parth Sodha from Trinetra Asset Manager.

Am I audible?

Yes.

My question is like over the 3 years, Strides has successfully diversified beyond the U.S., but the long-term aspiration of around USD400 million revenue by FY28 remains largely dependent on complex products and controlled substance. Let's say, if this opportunity takes longer than expected, what will be the next structural growth engine that can sustain double -digit earnings growth beyond FY28?

Yes. So there are three domains we identified. If you have listened to my earlier introductory call, there are three domains which you have identified. One is nasal sprays, second is transdermal patches and thin films. And this will drive the additional dollars of growth beyond the USD375 million we set for ourselves. And we are on track to get there, and we are accelerating our filings on all these 3 domains.

The next question is from the line of Rupesh Tatiya from Long Equity Partners.

So first question, Badree, is how many product launches are we looking to do this year? Because it seems like product launches have slowed down quite materially? So that is the first question.

Okay. So as far as we are concerned, from now until 31st of March, we should be able to do about 10 launches. That's what we are working on. With the new approvals coming in, we should be able to significantly increase our efforts in the next year. And yes, these are the two major milestones you should look for. And we are on track to launch in the coming months.

And so these 10 product launches, right, I think previously, we were working on smaller products, USD3 million, USD4 million pipe, then I think we pivoted and we wanted to go to USD10 million to USD15 million type of products. So is it fair to assume majority of these 10 that we're going to launch, these are USD10 million plus revenue potential molecules?

Yes. So we don't want to put a specific number to this because at the end of the day, the way you have to look at this entire business is we have to make up another USD80 million to USD90 million. And as I said that this can come from multiple channels, multiple levers, which we are working on.

And the new product introduction is one part of the lever, means of the 6 levers which we have identified for the purpose of moving the business from USD285 million to USD375 million. And I personally think that we you are able to stay to the path and able to launch the 10 launches in the next 6 months, we should be able to see the full impact of that in the next quarter, next year and also plus the launches which can come in the FY27 and '28.

That is good to hear, Badree. The second question on controlled substances. I mean this quota issue now has been going on for quite some time. So maybe just a little bit maybe comprehensive overview, if you can give when do quota allocations happen? Do they happen every 3, 4 months? How many products are we not able to launch because of the quota? Because every quarter now -- for 2, 3 quarters, we are saying quotas, we don't have quotas, we don't have quotas. So some basic understanding will be very helpful.

Yes, sure. Rupesh, just to give you this, okay . As a company, we also want quota, right , for us to have the future growth. So the way it works is like this, like the quota allocations usually happen twice a year, sometime in June and sometime in December. And the quota depends on your past sales history. For a company which gets into your controlled substances for the first time, demonstrating the past history is very difficult. So naturally, how will you demonstrate the past history is like some customer has to back you up and you will have to take some saying that, okay, he's interested to buy the controlled substances from you , which cannot be a binding contract because he cannot give a binding contract because he is not very sure that you will be able to get the quota and able to demonstrate manufacturing, purchase, sale and all of that. As we speak, the entire controlled substances portfolio is about maybe contributing to about 5% of the revenues at this point of time. But you can go to them only when you are able to demonstrate that you are able to sell those controlled substances, what you have manufactured and go and ask for a new quota. Right now, we have got about 4 products, which are there in the controlled substances. And we have demonstrated over a period of 1.5 years. And if you see most of the companies, okay, the ramp-up in the second and third year and the fourth year once they d emonstrate is much higher than the first 2 years. And first 2 years is all about a sponsorship or a sponsorship from a key customer or a key buyer. And then we go back and then we have to demonstrate. And as you see we have demonstrated that for almost about 20 months at this point of time. We believe that from the next cycle onwards, we should be able to get a higher level of quota to grow the business further.

Okay. So just wanted to get clarification. So this 5% is for this quarter or are you talking last...?

No, last year. The entire last year, if you really see, that is the level we are in. And see, if you really see, Rupesh, you have to understand from a context perspective, like we are looking at a USD285 million to USD375 million, right? So one of the levers is controlled substances, right? It's not that controlled substances is going to contribute from USD285 million to USD375 million, right?

So we are -- see, we thought, okay, we'll get better quotas, better this thing, but it is taking much slower. But we believe that when you see other companies, once you demonstrate the first 1.5, 2 years, the quota allocations can be much higher, and we should be able to drive growth from now on.

Okay. And then second clarification is, so in the June cycle then we didn't have much success. And then in December cycle...

We are able to get a response. The response will come sometime in the next month.

June cycle results are not out?

Yes, that's correct.

The next question is from the line of Shilpa from Lotus Wealth.

Sir, can you discuss your brownfield and greenfield capex plans for the next 2 years?

Yes. So as far as the capex plan is concerned, the way we view capex is a combination of hard capex, maintenance capex plus the R&D. So if you really see, we have already stated in the previous call and also many meetings before that we spend about INR2.5 billion to INR3 billion per year. That's what is the thing. It's a combination of maintenance capex plus R&D expenses plus the hard capex. As far as the greenfield is concerned, we are not looking at it at this point of time. This is on the existing factories as well as the capex is more on the high -impact line items from that perspective.

The next question is from the line of Jinesh Shah, an investor.

Sir, my question is with regard to the Bangalore plant, where the USFDA inspection happened and there were observations. Can you just give us status on what is going to be the course of action now? And is it going to have any bearing on the revenue aspirations that you have f or U.S. in the next 18 months?

Yes. So the inspection happens sometime in the month of May, and we have replied to the USFDA. Usually, it takes about 90 days to 2 months to 3 months for us to get a reply from USFDA. And it does not affect any current supplies at this point of time. And we believe that we have given a very comprehensive response, and you should be able to hear from USFDA maybe by end August or September. That's what we think at this point of time. And we will let you know once we get a confirmation from them.

Yeah, but is it going to have an effect on the U.S…

I'm not able to hear you.

Yes. Is it going to have an effect on the U.S. business growth, which we are aspiring for next 4 or 5 quarters?

So we don't anticipate anything at this point.

Thank you. As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments. Over to you, sir.

Thank you, and wish you all the very best. Thank you.

Thank you. On behalf of Strides Pharma Science, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.