KRBL (NSE:KRBL) Q1 2027 Earnings Call

0:00 Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the KRBL Limited Q1 FY 'twenty seven Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ashish Jain, Chief Financial Officer of KRBL Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Good morning, and thank you for joining us. Welcome to the Q1 FY 'twenty seven Earnings Conference Call for Analysts and Investors of KRBL Limited. Today, we have Mr. Anil Kumar Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Anoop Kumar Gupta, Joint Managing Director and Mr. Ayush Gupta, Head of the India Business as key speakers on the call.

0:58 To begin the call, Mr. Anup Kumar Mittal will share updates on the business, industry and our overall strategy. Following that, Ayush will provide insights into the performance and outlook of our domestic business. Finally, I will present the financial overview of the company for the first quarter ended 06/30/2026. Once the management has concluded their opening remarks, we will open the floor for an interactive Q and A session. Please note that some of the statements made during this call may contain forward looking information and actual results may differ from these statements. You can refer to KRBL's investor presentation available on the stock exchange websites and our company's website. Now I would like to invite Anilji to share his views. The floor is yours. Good afternoon, everyone.

1:45 Thank you for joining us today for KRBL's Q1 FY twenty twenty seven earnings call. I sincerely appreciate your continued trust and confidence in the company. This has been an unusual quarter for our industry, and I want to give you a full picture of it. I will take you through a global rise balance, India's production and export outlook, the final outcome of the 2025 basmati crop in India and in Pakistan, how prices have moved over the last quarter and up to date and the effect of the West Asia conflict on trade and logistics. Let me begin with global rice outlook.

2:31 As per the USDA's latest estimates released on 08/12/2026, global rice production in 'twenty six-'twenty seven marketing year is expected to decline to approximately five thirty seven million metric tons against about five forty six million metric tons in the marketing year now ending. At the same time, global consumption is expected to rise to approximately five forty three million metric tonnes from about five thirty nine million metric tonnes. The bulk of the increase comes from India, where domestic consumption alone is projected to grow by around 3,500,000 metric tonnes.

3:17 With production falling and consumption rising, global ending stocks are expected to draw down from record levels. This is a meaningfully tighter world balance sheet than the market was pricing at the start of the calendar year, and it should keep rice market firm rather than soft. Against the tighter balance, India's position is unchanged. India continues to command close to 40% of global rice trade. And despite lower domestic production, USDA forecasts India's rice exports to approximately 25,000,000 metric tonnes in 'twenty six-'twenty seven, about 1,000,000 tonnes higher than the previous year.

4:07 U. G. Projects India's rice production in the coming marketing year at approximately 150,000,000 metric tons against about 154,000,000 last year. India will comfortably remain the world's largest rice producer. Domestic consumption is projected to rise from around 124,500,000 metric tons to nearly 128,000,000 metric tons. Government rice stocks remains very substantial as close to 3x the buffer norm as at 04/01/2026. The variable everyone is watching is the monsoon.

4:52 As of August 5, cumulative rainfall was running about 11% below the long period average, and the IMD has revised its seasonal forecast down to approximately 90% of normal with below normal rainfall expected in both August and September. The Northwest, which is our Basmati Belt, is among the deficient region with Punjab, Aaryana and Western Uttar Pradesh all running well below normal through June and July. Reservoir shortage nationally was about 27% below last year in early August. And all India PADI acreage as on August 7 was around 4% lower over last year.

5:43 What this means? The Basmati Belt is largely canal and tubular irrigated. So in our growing regions, a rainfall deficit shows up, first, as high pumping and input costs rather than sorry, rather than as lost acreage. Nationally, though paddy area has fallen more than the curry beverage and the deficit of the magnitude carries real yield risk for a longer duration, varieties are rested in October and November. What I would say is that the defiant shelt monsoon on top of an already depleted pipeline argues for firm, not short value prices into the new crop.

6:36 Let me now turn to basmati crop. The 2025 crop has fully played out, and we have complete visibility. It was in the end a difficult crop. Acreage going into the season was healthy across Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and parts of Madhya Pradesh. And adoption of newer pest resistant Poosa varieties continued to improve. But the floods in Punjab in late August and early September twenty twenty five destroyed the crop outright on approximately 200 hectares of cultivable land, on which around 60,000 acres was Basmati.

7:22 Assessments put the decline in Punjab Basmati output at 20% to 25% and Mandi arrival in the worst affected district ran about a quarter below the previous year. Quality was the second issue. Some marked and partially effective lots carried higher moisture, greater discoloration and lower milling recovery, while wells, Rajasthan, Western Uzur Pradesh and parts of Madhya Pradesh delivered good grade length and aroma. The result was a crop that was not merely smaller but sharply segmented with a wide spread between genuine export grade material and everything else.

8:09 Quality segregation mattered more this season than in many years, and this is precisely where a company with our sourcing network and our aging discipline earns its position. The consequences was visible in price right through the year. Basmati Pally opened weak in October 2025. BUSA fifteen oh nine in Punjab was trading around 2,500 to 3,200 per winter, well below the previous year and then climbed steadily as the two sides of the crop became apparent.

8:54 By February 2026, eleven twenty one paddy in Ariana, Mandi was in the range of INR 4,300 to INR 4,700 per quintal. By May, all crop paddy availability at the major northern trading centers have effectively run out with no material replacement until the new crop, which arise in October. Pakistan's 2025 crop ended in a very different place from where it began. A brief last report spoke of most of the crop being wiped out.

9:39 The final assessment put basmati damage at only 5% to 6%, and Pakistan's own economic survey in June reported rice production actually up 2.8%. Their supply came through intact, their competitiveness did not. Through the quarter, Pakistani Basmati traded at a premium of around USD 100 per tonne to comparable Indian material on APDA's benchmark with a flat currency, giving them no relief and their government answering with a duty drawback rather than a price cut. The result was predictable. Pakistan's rice exports for the year ended June 2026 fell about 26% in volume and 32% in volume.

10:34 Higher prices did not buy them volume. India's competitiveness has not been eroded. It has been reinforced. For India as a whole, FY 2026 was a record year by volume with basmati exports of 6,520,000 metric tonnes worth INR 50,138 crore and non basmati exports of 15,010,000 metric tons worth INR 51,892 crores. India today accounts at roughly 85% of the world basmati trade, which brings me to the defining feature of the quarter under review. On 02/28/2026, the conflict involving Iran and United States and Israel escalated sharply and the state of Hormuz has been practically partially open since then.

11:34 This mattered to our industry more than almost any other because The Middle East takes close to threefour of Indian basmati exports. The immediate effect was physical. Between four five hundred tonnes of Indian basmati was trended, some at Indian ports and some in transit at the peak of the disruption. Freight went vertical, container rates from the West Coast Of India to The Middle East rose more than tenfold from roughly US500 dollars to as much as US500 dollars per container. Cargo has continued to move through Khorfakkan for UAE bound volumes, Jibda and Saudi Arabia and Salalah for onward movement into Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, but transshipment added seven to fourteen days of transit and several $100 per container in handling.

12:37 India's basmati export volumes in the first quarter reflected all of this, approximately 1,500,000 metric ton against 1,700,000 in Q1 FY twenty twenty six, with The Middle East down about 11% year on year, but the price side moved the other way. Basmati realizations for the quarter were approximately 20% higher year on year and 13% higher sequentially. This was a volume shock caused by logistics, not a demand shock caused by buyers. That brings me to the current geopolitical position, which is materially better than what was prevailed till now. The commercial target through the state had begun to resume. This seems to be the most promising reopening since February.

13:38 Through the disruption period in quarters across the region brought hand to mouth and deferred forward commitments as confidence in transit returns, inquiry levels and order book begin to rebuild. The Gulf markets have now absorbed twofour of the constrained supply. Inventories have been drawn down materially and that shock will have to be replaced. Our customer relationships remain intact. Our brand hold their self position, and we have both the inventory and the balance sheet to serve that demand as soon as the route is reliable.

14:26 Now turning to KRBL's performance. Our exports revenue for Q1 FY twenty twenty seven stood at INR $2.44 crores against INR $4.85 crores in Q1 FY 'twenty six, a decline of approximately 50%. That decline is entirely a Middle East story, exports to every other region taken together grew 37% in the quarter. I would ask you to hold those two numbers alongside each other because between them, they describe exactly what happened, Where we could ship, we grew. Where the route was closed, we could not.

15:11 Overall revenue for the quarter was $14.96 crore, lower by about 6%. The company reported EBITDA of INR $3.72 crore and a profit after tax of INR $2.61 crores, the stronger quarterly profitability in the company's history. For the balance of 2027, our position is this. The export shortfall of the first quarter is a timing issue, not a structural one. Our customers are intact. Our orders pipeline is intact. Destination inventories have been drawn down and our Non Middle East export business grew 37% through the disruption.

16:03 Provided shipping condition in West Asia continues to stabilize. We expect export volumes to recover progressively from the second quarter, and we are maintaining our guidance and meaningful export growth for the full year. On Saudi Arabia, demand remains consistent, and we continue to ship through wholesalers under our interim arrangement. Our search for a long term distribution partner is ongoing, and we are being deliberately selective in the market for this importance. The cost of appointing the wrong partner far exceeds the cost of taking more time. Our strategic priorities are unchanged.

16:53 First, disciplined procurement, prioritizing low moisture, high recovery padding to protect both margins and brand quality, which will matter especially in a season where the monsoon has been deficient second, continued premiumization and expansion of our branded portfolio in India and internationally. Third, deepening our position with large global buyers using India's pricing competitiveness relative to Pakistan. The fourth operational efficiency and disciplined capital allocation. Operationally, this was a demanding quarter on the export side for reasons entirely outside the business.

17:45 A war, a closed shipping lane and a freight market that at its peak made Gulf bound trade uneconomic. We delivered our strongest ever quarterly profitability, though it is not an accident. It reflects a domestic business that absorbed the shock, a procurement strategy that protected margin and export book diversified enough to grow wherever the roads stayed open and the balance sheet strong enough that we were never forced to sell into weakness. I would like to thank all our shareholders, customers, partners and employees for their continued support and confidence in KRBL.

18:32 We remain committed to delivering sustainable long term growth while maintaining the quality, trust and leadership associated with the India Gate brand. Now I will hand over to Ayush for the domestic business update. Thank you once again. Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. I will take you through the performance of our India business for quarter one financial year twenty twenty seven and provide an update on the structured initiatives underway. Domestic revenue, excluding Power, stood at INR $12.21 crores, growing 14% year on year. The composition of the quarter was mixed. Our consumer pack and regional rice businesses performed well, while branded rice volumes saw a modest decline due to lower bulk pack sales.

19:26 During the quarter, rice commodity prices moved upwards, allowing us to take appropriate price increases and resulting in higher realizations. The short term increase in prices led intermediaries to defer bulk pack purchases while waiting for greater price stability. We, therefore, see the decline in bulk pack largely as a postponement of volumes rather than any structural weakness in demand. Demand remains stable, and we expect these purchases to progressively materialize over the coming quarters. For financial year 'twenty seven, our outlook remains positive, and we are confident of delivering approximately 10% growth in domestic volumes. This will be supported by continued growth in consumer packs, the expansion of regional rice, normalization in bulk packs and stronger execution across channels.

20:18 Let me now update you on our four strategic priorities. Our first priority is democratizing distribution. India Jade is present across approximately 3.3 lakh retail outlets and reaches 1.2 crore urban Indian households. Our focus is not merely on adding outlets, We are improving the quality of our distribution through deeper direct coverage, stronger outlet execution and greater availability in underpenetrated towns. Our distributor management system has now been successfully rolled out across our top 190 distributors. These distributors contribute approximately 65% of our consumer pack business in general trade. Active adoption of the system is improving visibility, governance and execution discipline across the business.

21:08 Our second priority is remodeling the supply chain. Fill rates in organized trade are now averaging approximately 90% with average servicing of around five days from the receipt of a purchase order. While this represents a significant improvement, our benchmark is clear. We are working towards fill rates of at least 95% with servicing within seventy two hours. Modern trade delivered healthy growth during the quarter with rice volumes growing 6.5% and value growing 13%, while maintaining strong gross margins. At the same time, competitive intensity remains elevated and our market share performance in parts and modern trade needs improvement. We have identified the gaps and are responding through sharper assortment, pricing, availability and account level execution.

22:00 Our focus is on delivering growth while protecting the long term strength and profitability of the portfolio. E commerce continued to be one of our strongest performing channels, delivering approximately 50% primary sales growth during the quarter. India Gate exited June with approximately 41% market share in e commerce, maintaining a lead of around 10 percentage points over the next largest competitor. The e commerce operating model has also evolved significantly. The team now owns the complete channel P and L, including sales, gross margins, contribution margins and investments. Pricing, performance marketing, availability and city level execution are being monitored through an integrated dashboard.

22:46 This is enabling faster decisions, stronger accountability and more productive deployment of investments. Our third priority is investing in the India Gate brand. During quarter one, we continued to evolve both our communication and the media through which we engage with customers. Our April Fools campaign used contemporary humor and popular culture to communicate the aging credential of India Gate Classic. It generated more than 45,000,000 engagements. Our Mother's Day and Father's Day campaigns moved beyond conventional greetings and built conversations around the Indian values of duty and sacrifice. Together, these campaigns generated more than 90,000,000 views. Beyond reach, these campaigns represent an important evolution in our marketing approach.

23:34 Our communication is becoming more contemporary in externality, more relevant to today's audiences and better suited to the new age media platforms on which consumers spend their time. These are long term brand building investments. We do not evaluate them based on immediate sales conversion. Their purpose is to strengthen the relevance, salience and enduring equity of the India Gate brand. Our fourth priority is building our portfolio beyond rice. During quarter one, we launched India Gate Light and Fluffy Poha across 22 cities in North India. Poha is a natural adjacency for India Jade. It is a large staple category with relatively low branded penetration, while the branded segment is growing strongly.

24:21 Our right to win in this category comes from our sourcing capabilities, supply chain strength, distribution reach and most importantly, the trust consumers place in the India Gate brand. The initial response from retailers and consumers has been encouraging. We will scale the category in a disciplined manner based on consumer adoption, repeat purchases and the quality of the economics. Our masala portfolio also performed exceptionally well during the quarter, delivering 74% value growth year on year. This category plays a distinct role in our portfolio. Rice is primarily a monthly basket purchase, whereas masalas are consumed across different meals and recipes. They can, therefore, help us enter more households, increase the frequency of consumer interactions with Indegit and build deeper engagement with the brand.

25:13 Our proposition is anchored in authenticity of taste and flavor. We are focusing on popular regional recipes that are often complicated to prepare at home, but where consumers increasingly expect a restaurant style experience. Building on the success of our Biryani Masala, our newly launched ready to cook masala range have received a strong initial response. At the end of quarter one, our Masala portfolio had reached an annualized revenue run rate of approximately INR 9 crores. We are targeting an annualized revenue run rate of approximately INR 25 crores by the end of the financial year 2027. Regional rise also continues to be an important growth opportunity. Demand has been established and product quality has been streamlined.

25:59 Our focus is now on ensuring regular supply and operating stability. Our new facility at Gangavati is expected to become operational by the end of quarter three, supporting the next phase of growth in this portfolio. Quick commerce is particularly promising for regional rice. The category remains highly fragmented among regional brands, while platforms increasingly require trusted brands that can offer consistent quality and professionally service a complex fast moving channel. Underlying all four priorities is a broader organizational transformation. Our objective is not merely to deliver market share gains in a particular quarter. We are preparing KRBL for its next stage of growth by building a more process led, technology enabled and data driven organization.

26:51 This includes stronger processes and accountability, end to end supply chain excellence, order to cash transformation, better use of dashboards and analytics, faster decision making with robust governance and a strong culture of ownership and performance. To conclude, domestic revenue grew 14% in quarter one, supported by higher realizations and healthy performance in consumer pack and regional rise. The softness in bulk bag was largely due to the timing of purchases, while underlying demand remains stable. Our outlook for financial year 'twenty seven remains positive. We are confident of delivering approximately 10% domestic volume growth while sustaining profitable growth in the India business.

27:36 Thank you. I'll now hand it over to Ashish for his comments on the financial side of things. Thank you, Ashish, and thank you, Ayush. I will now take you through the performance for the quarter and financial year ended 06/30/2026. All figures mentioned by me would refer to the consolidated financials of KRBL Limited. Total income for the quarter stood at INR $15.60 crores, lower by 3% over the corresponding quarter last year. Domestic revenue witnessed growth of 14%, driven mainly by an 11% increase in rice realization. Export revenue declined by 50% due to lower exports to the Middle East region, partially offset by higher exports to the other regions, which grew by 37%. Other income was higher at a total of INR 64 crores in the quarter as against INR 32 crores in the corresponding quarter due to INR18 crore higher gain on sale or realization of investments, INR9.5 crore ForEx gain and INR4.4 crores higher interest income.

28:39 Gross margin for the quarter stood at 36.3% compared to 25.7% in quarter one FY 'twenty six. The reasons for this movement are the price increase, as mentioned earlier, lower private label exports in the current quarter and higher other income, partially offset by higher COGS. Excluding other income, gross margin in Q1 FY 'twenty seven was at 33.51% as against 24.15% in the corresponding quarter last year. EBITDA margin for the quarter was at 23.8% versus 13.9 in the same period last year, broadly following the gross margin trend, but partially offset by higher proportionate employee costs in the quarter. PAT for the quarter was at INR261 crores or 16.7% in margin terms as against INR151 crores or 9.3 in the corresponding quarter.

29:34 Let me now share a comparative analysis of Q1 versus the preceding quarter. Revenue for operations was at INR $14.96 crores like I mentioned, lower by 2% on a quarter on quarter basis, mainly due to lower exports to Middle East region, while domestic revenue remained flat. Other income was higher in the current quarter as there was MTM gain and interest income on investments along with ForEx gain. Gross profit was higher primarily due to higher other income, higher power revenue and better basmati realization, slightly impacted by higher Basmati COGS. EBITDA following the trend in gross profit and further improved as there was MTM loss on investments and ForEx revaluation loss shown under other expenses in the preceding quarter.

30:25 Moving to the balance sheet, the highlights are as follows. Our total inventory as of June 30, crores. This includes INR286 crores in Paddy inventory versus INR354 crores as of 06/30/2025 and of which INR2481 crores in rice inventory versus INR2438 crores as of 06/30/2025. On volume basis, as of 06/30/2026, Paddy and rice inventory stood at 71,000 tonnes and 389,000 tonnes, respectively, compared to 91,000 tonnes of paddy and 392,000 tonnes of rice as of the same date last year. Total cash plus investments was at INR1841 crores as of June 3026 as against INR $12.81 crores on the same date last year. The increase is driven by lower net working capital requirement and higher internal accruals in the period.

31:27 With that, I come to the end of my prepared remarks. I will now like to hand over to the moderator for opening the Q and A session. I would just like to mention that as the ED matter is subjuguous, we will not be in a position to respond to queries on this matter. So over to the operator now. Thank you. We will now begin with the question and answer session. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question and kindly restrict the number of questions to a maximum of two at a time. In case you have any further questions, please rejoin the queue. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles.

32:20 The first question comes from the line of Shivam Gupta with Trinetra Asset Managers. Please go ahead. Hi, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. I want to know, like, can you please give us on the update on Saudi Arabia entry as the incorruption and prioritization process has completed? Hello? Yes. We can hear you, sir. Yeah. I want to move this up. Yes. I want to update on this Saudi Arabia entity as the incorruption and the VAT registration process has completed. See, as far as Saudi is concerned, we are searching for a good distributor because we feel that the past problems, whichever has arose are due to selection of a wrong partner, which has led us about one point five years behind than going ahead with the process.

33:25 So we are very cautious in determining a good distributor. And as soon as there is a piece in that region, we are sure we have located three and four distributors, and we have to finalize one of them. But we are waiting for the piece to arrive in that region. Means you are still doing direct bookings? As far as the entity is concerned, we have deferred that program, and we feel that the distributor will be a much better choice than going for our own office over there. Okay. And second, like with the 18% U. S.

34:11 Import duty now settled, are you seeing any pickup in U. S. Vast majority volumes or is it still not focused market for KRBL? U. S. Stable. The U. S. Market is stable for us, and we have done pretty good business over there in last three, four this quarter. But let us see the impact is we are going to discuss within ourselves and with our distributors and different channels that what would be the reaction of their buying pattern after the duty increase. Okay, sir. I will join back the queue. The next question comes from the line of Balaji Vaidyanath with Nava Asset Managers.

35:00 Please go ahead. Good morning. Thank you so much for the opportunity. If you could give us some color on the export market in the sense that if there were to be a scenario where the inventory depletion happens, as you had mentioned in your opening remarks, but the freight cost doesn't come down as much as what we anticipate. Do you see a situation where there is restocking, which is being done by the importers at such a high level in terms of price hikes? Will they be able to do that? That is question number one. Question number two is we have already seen almost 1.5 in the July, August, September quarter. While I'm not asking for specific numbers, directionally, how is the export number looking for us in this September quarter?

35:59 Hello. Please. Regarding Middle East, what I would say is that, see the benchmark price that was earlier set by all the governments in the Middle East region was set even after the war, the local government was not allowing us to increase prices on the shelves. But now after the local rate increases, the benchmark prices have increased. So now we are able to pass on the extra freight costs and also the rice price increases. So if this freight rate continues like this for another couple of months, so we will be able to pass on those prices already. Yes. And what was the second question? Quarter to outlook on its full. So quarter to outlook, again, as we said in our remarks that the route is now partially opened and shipments are going.

36:48 Although we are seeing lot of container hurdles like space availability and equipment availability, so the movement is still a little slow, but we see that demand is picking up. So sequentially, there is a chance that the numbers could be higher? Yes, yes. We'll see better numbers because I think pulp business will also resume in the second quarter to some extent. So yes, export numbers will be much better. But it could get offset due to this little bit of Saudi business that we started doing last year on our own. So to that extent, it might get offset because we have changed once again our strategy from going direct to trying to look for a distributor again?

37:35 So that direct distribution is still on. So we are just doing it parallelly. By the time we find another distributor, we are still going parallelly with the wholesale distribution. So that model is still continuing. So we don't see any change in that model till we find the new distributor. My last question on domestic is, if you could mention two, three states where you have had a significant win in terms of market share and no specific numbers, but directionally significant win in market share and two, three states where you would have probably seen a drop in market share overall? Yes. Frankly, as a brand, India Jade, we enjoy market leadership position, I would say, 75% of the states that are available in India.

38:29 Off the top of my mind, I wouldn't know exactly in quarter one which market states have increased market share and where we have declined. But overall, our market share in traditional trade market have declined by about two percentage points over quarter one last year. Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Chirag Singhal with First Water Fund. Please go ahead. Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity, and congrats on good set of numbers. First question is on the margin outlook for this year. So we have done almost 21% EBITDA margin during the quarter. So what is your outlook for the rest of the year?

39:19 Girard, hi, this is Ashish. In our view, the margin of quarter one, while they are at a high level, but these are clearly not sustainable. These have arisen because of two main reasons. One is very high prices during the quarter and also we had some MTM gains on our investment portfolio. The way we see the rest of the year is that I think a lot will depend on two factors. One is how quickly exports scale up. Like Anilji had mentioned, we have an order book, but we are simply not able to supply to many parts of the world. As and when that sale materializes, that will help in improving the margin. And the second also is the upcoming patty season, right? So I would we would watch these factors very closely.

40:09 In general, the margin should be slightly better than that of last year is our view right now. Could you quantify the gains? And also on the investment gains that is part of other income, right, I'm looking at operating EBITDA? Yes. So I think in terms of quantify, I would say about 1% to 2% better at overall real level at an EBITDA level. So last year, we have done 15%. So you are saying 16% to 17% as Yes. The guidance I would say between 17% to 18% is what we are looking at right now. Okay. And second question is on India business. Ayush, if you can please answer this. So two part question. First is, in the quarter, there was the volume growth was only 3%.

41:06 NSR growth was 11%. So what's the volume led growth outlook for the full year? And if we can also give some guidance on next one, two years? Just to understand what kind of volume growth you are targeting for the India business. And second question on the India business is on the new product launches. So when I look at India Gate on Blinket and similar apps, the non Bhakmuti range that we have is very limited with the kind of cash flows and the grants and etcetera. Why not go more aggressive and build a broader basket instead of evaluating products one by one? I mean, all these products are anyways small in terms of overall contribution. But don't you think focusing on like a broader basket will give you more options to decide which one to scale and which is high end margin, which is lower margin? Like looking at margins and all the other metrics that you consider at a broader basket level than looking at individually.

42:08 Because the switching cost is very low. So as a consumer, if I'm looking for IndiaJet products, there are very limited options in non basmati. And, you know, I'll simply switch to other brand, you know, as I run out of options in in this brand. So I'm just not able to understand, like, what's stopping you to go more aggressive to build a broader basket of products? Thank you, Chirag. I think I touched on both these points in my comments as well and happy to discuss it in more detail right now. On the India market, our outlook remains positive with a 10% domestic volume growth year on year. And that's the number we kind of commit to for the upcoming two to three years as well.

42:55 Yes, quarter one, we've seen a bit of a degrowth in volume. But as I told you, that's because of bulk cat business, which couldn't conclude in quarter one, which actually got factored in quarter two. But over the subsequent quarters, quarter two and three, we will see resumption in the bulk pack volumes. Once that happens, we'll be back on track with our commitment of 10% for the year. Consumer pack business, which is more structural in the way we operate, I think we are doing great work in terms of opening up the demand, getting our GTMs right, getting the governance models right. So I think we see a very positive trend in the consumer pack business on the bulk pack, as I explained to you. Regional rights, you rightly pointed, and I also mentioned this in my comment that regional rights in quick commerce is increasingly becoming a very, very positive opportunity for us. For even the products where we find that in general trade, the economics doesn't make sense, the economics on e commerce is much more feasible for us to enter a lot many regional rights varieties that we were not thinking about in general trade. I think over the subsequent months, within this year, you will see us entering a lot more regional rice varieties in the QuickCommerce space.

44:11 Frankly, even QuickCom platforms have come up to us and suggested us that we should enter a lot of these regional rice varieties because local brands kind of dominate right now in the general trade space. And those brands are not attuned to operate on quick commerce. The way quick commerce operates in terms of diligence and supply chain, pricing models, the way it requires performance marketing, etcetera, these local brands don't have teams and the ability to operate. So platforms like Blinkit, Zepto have been repeatedly calling us and requesting us to enter these platforms, and we have started working on it. So later this year, you will see us entering a lot of lot more of these categories. Thank you.

44:57 A reminder to all the participants, in the interest of time and fairness to others, please restrict yourselves to two questions. For any more questions, you may rejoin the queue. The next question comes from the line of Amit Agarwal with Leeway Investments. Congratulations on good set of numbers. My question is regarding inventory volumes. As we understand that home business opening up and our exports are going to go up and you have been saying that our domestic sales will also pick up. But if you see the inventory for last two years for the corresponding period, the volume has gone down. Can you show some color on that? And how to expect to increase our exports and domestic sales? We have inventory in Europe.

45:49 And we have enough cash on the books, so why not spend more money on buying inventory? That's my only question. Amit, your voice was not very clear. So let me just confirm the question you asked. You are asking in light of increase in exports and domestic sales, is the inventory adequate, especially considering the last two year trend? That's your question? Yes, yes, yes, yes. And we have enough cash on the books, so why not buy more inventory and increase the market share in export as well as domestic market? Yes. This year, we will be buying inventory. Definitely, we will be buying inventory. As Mr. Jayant said, we have about 389,000 tonnes of rice and about 70,000 tonnes of peri as on 06/30/2026.

46:44 But this season, naturally, we'll be buying more, no doubt about it. So we have been like for three years if you say three years, our inventory is less than two years back. So we have enough cash. So why didn't we buy more inventory earlier? Amit, again reconfirming, I think what he's asking is that for the last two seasons, we've been buying lower quantities. So if we were expecting, why didn't we buy more? I think that's his question. But we were expecting a price hike, what you are asking? No one knows about the price. What you are asking? No, sir, we have cash in the book.

47:32 Cash in the book doesn't mean you buy a paddy A and Y. You have to see the market. You have to see everything while buying paddy. It is not that A and Y, if you have cash in the paddy, so we can buy anything whatsoever we like. We bought and our stock levels are very comfortable. It's INR 3 and 89,000 right at the end of the season is quite a comfortable stock we are having. Okay. And any plans for putting this cash into some good use? Okay. Amit, you're not very clear, but anyway, thank you. Thank you. The next question comes from the line of with Dante Equity.

48:20 Please go ahead. Yes. Please go ahead with your question. Yeah. Am I audible? Yes. Yeah. Just give us some regional rise revenue targets and overall revenue targets for this financial year. No. Regional rise, we've grown at 25% in quarter one, and that is the kind of target we had projected for the start of the financial year. So our objective is to maintain that throughout the subsequent quarters for the rest of the financial year. Yes. Could you give me your number?

49:09 Yes. So yes, we have done about INR $2.70 crores in branded regional rice last year. I think what I used to saying is we are looking at 25% growth on that number in the current year. And quarter one, we are on track. And overall numbers also, ask revenue, what are you looking at this year? Yes. So I think in terms of we can answer that in terms of volume where Ayush had mentioned, overall, we are looking at a 10% volume growth. Price, like Anil, we had also explained, little difficult to answer that right now considering the overall restation situation and also the upcoming season for Hadi. Right. My second question is, if you've looked at the Saudi market, right, and entire West Asia crisis, I'm assuming a lot of right hasn't moved, right? It's not just you. In general, a lot of right hasn't moved to these areas.

50:04 So, technically, when this supply gap opens up, right, don't you see the prices of going on north overall in general? Because the supply gap obviously must be huge now, right? But there is no doubt if the peace process completes and the markets have opened up will open up, definitely there will be an impact on the price. The prices are definitely going to shoot further. But in every market, because it's a staple food, too much of rice also doesn't work because rates have increased, rice price will also increase. So there is always a limitation of everything.

50:54 Number two, the new crop is already on the head from first week of September, the new crop will come. And what is the size of the crop is still a question mark because the rains came quite late. I think so within week, ten days time by August 25, we will know a picture that what would be the size of the crop. And as I mentioned in my initial address that because it is wherever the basmati is grown, it is all through canal water and underground water. So therefore, the crop side should the crop should not go weak.

51:41 But natural grain definitely they help in the production of crop and the quality of the crop. So these are the two things. Definitely prices will increase, number one. Number two, it all depends upon that what is the quantum of what is the quality and quantum of crop. Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Suman Chaudhry with Mansurovar Financials. Please go ahead. Good afternoon, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. My question was on the domestic market. How has realizations behaved in this quarter vis a vis Q4? And what was the price hike taken in Q1?

52:35 Sawman, this is Ashish. In terms of the branded business, realizations vis a vis Q4 are higher by around 9% in Q1. And what was the second question? The price hike taken in Q1? It's around the same mark, about 9%, right? That's why the realizations have increased. Okay. Okay. And another thing is given that the padi prices continue to be very strong, did we take any more price hike in this quarter? Or can we expect some more price hikes in the near future? We are frankly, the prices of basmati are already on the higher extent of the bandwidth that is possible.

53:24 And we are not going to be taking any more price hikes within quarter two. As Ashish also mentioned earlier, we are going to be waiting and watching for the berry crop season to unfold. And then we will see calibratedly which segments we can continue price hikes where we have to take some margin hits, etcetera. I think that is something that we have to see while quarter three unfolds. Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Raghav Bhutaria with Lindsey Securities. Please go ahead. Hello. Am I audible, sir? Yes, sir. Yes, we can hear you. Go ahead. So in the last ten, twelve quarters, this has been the best gross margin performance that KRBL has given.

54:11 So is this just because we had some inventory at lower cost and now because of the price hikes, the margins are looking better? Or is it structurally going to improve? So we explained earlier, I think you're right, there were one is that in the quarter, there were price increases that happened and also there were some MTM gains. I think longer term, this level of gross margin in the business is not sustainable. Our view right now is that for the current year, we look at about 30% gross margin and about 17% to 18% EBITDA margin. Okay. Thank you, sir.

54:57 Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. Thank you, members of the management. On behalf of KRBL Limited, that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.