Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Ltd Management Discussions

Management Discussion and Analysis

I. Global Scenario:

Over the last 5 years, India has established as an efficient and consistent exporter of sugar to global market. During year 2017-18, the country exported a quantity of 0.5 million MT, increased it to 3.8 million MT next year, 6.0 million MT during 2019-20, 7.2 million MT during 2020-21. During the year 2021-22, India surprised the global Sugar community by exporting a record 11.1 million MT of Sugar despite logistics and sugar export quota challenges. During 2022-23, the country could export just 6.4 million MT and could have exported more but could not because of Government restrictions on exports.

These restrictions on exports continued for the year 2023-24 as well and therefore countrys export numbers during the year are almost nil barring small exports to Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives. Absence of Indian sugar from global trade and poor crop in Thailand has majorly helped sugar prices in international market to firm up.

International Sugar prices for both raw and white sugar have touched high of last 11 years due to lower crop not only in India but also Thailand with only silver lining from Brazil achieving record sugar production during the year 2023-24. It has been seen that whenever Indian Sugar is not in global market or India is importing sugar, International Sugar prices takes cognizance of it and remains bullish. Brazil has achieved record sugar production during the year and most of global sugar requirement is fed by Brazil. Brazil during the year 2023-24 (April - March) exported a quantity of 35.2 million MT of Sugar which is higher by almost 26.8% as compared to last year.

The graph of ICE 11 (Raw Sugar) and LIFFE (White Sugar) exchange prices during last 3 years i.e., April 2021 - March 2024 is given below: -

From the above price graph of 3 years, it can be observed Sugar price has significantly firmed up during the Sugar Year 2022-2023 and Sugar Year 2023-2024 and one of the major factors is absence of Indian Sugar from global market and poor crop in Thailand leaving entire pressure on Brazil to feed global market.

ICE 11 (Raw Sugar Prices):

Raw Sugar prices started from the level of 14.71 cents/pound on 1st April 2021 lowest level during the period, touched high of 27.95 cents during November 2023 and closed at level of 22.5 cents / pound as on 31st March,2024.

LIFFE (White Sugar Prices):

White Sugar prices started from the level of 423.4 USD/MT as on 1st April 2021, touched low of 420.5 USD during April 2021, high of 763.4 USD during November 2023 and closing level of 652.5 of March 2024 month.

Table 1: Global Balance Sheet

				Unit: 000 Metric tonnes, Raw value
Year (Oct-Sept)	Production	Consumption	Surplus / Deficit	Import	Export
2008-09	142961	151520	-8559	48395	48390
2009-10	148391	151960	-3569	53993	53997
2010-11	156177	153096	3081	53870	53865
2011-12	163597	157962	5635	54325	54321
2012-13	171804	163572	8232	60655	60632
2013-14	174132	165282	8850	58361	57917
2014-15	169373	166888	2485	58259	58270
2015-16	164114	169978	-5864	66195	66322
2016-17	169080	172691	-3611	64730	64989
2017-18	180731	172240	8491	62823	62825
2018-19	176118	174308	1810	57927	58011
2019-20	169127	169180	-53	66193	65926
2020-21	168946	169708	-762	64853	64332
2021-22(P)	172662	174327	-1665	62191	62512
2022-23 (P)	182142	175957	6185	61500	64486
2023-24 (P)	174839	176957	-2118	64373	61559

Source: ISMA

Table 2: Major Sugar producing countries:

Unit: 000 Metric Tonnes, Raw value

S. No.	Name of Country	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23 (P)
1	Brazil	31049	29030	39654	38509	32067	42083
2	India	32479	33162	27411	31192	35920	32700
3	China	10633	10503	10415	10663	9560	8970
4	Thailand	14674	14441	8228	6976	10134	11025
5	U.S.A.	7758	7551	6908	7827	7566	7714
6	Mexico	6010	6426	5278	5715	8135	5250
7	Pakistan	5652	5552	4988	5502	7868	6657
8	Australia	4729	4102	3862	4303	3809	4373
9	Germany	4595	3825	3980	3737	4166	3649
10	France	5219	5060	4758	3354	4000	3666
11	Russia	6480	6292	7063	5391	5700	6250
12	Indonesia	2165	2267	2095	2294	2387	2440
13	Philippines	2127	2037	2146	2180	1936	1799
14	Argentina	1562	1617	1861	1627	1550	1484
15	Colombia	2378	2207	2179	2097	1842	2080
16	South Africa	2084	2307	2116	1861	1866	2054
17	Guatemala	2704	2930	2764	2565	2762	2609
18	Poland	2194	2190	2066	1987	2305	2008
19	Turkey	2704	2283	2587	2952	2520	2760
20	Ukraine	2095	1669	1312	1277	1450	1330
21	Egypt	2170	2519	2280	2720	2460	2360
22	Cuba	1086	1193	1200	824	482	355
23	Peru	1073	1146	1172	1103	1200	1280
24	Vietnam	1646	1174	769	709	747	871
25	Iran	1805	1520	1377	1463	1300	1300

Source: ISMA

Analysis of International Sugar price, various factors affecting price during the Year April 2023 - March 2024 as under: -

Sugar Price April 2023 - March 2024

Chart 3: ICE 11 Price Movement

Chart 4: LIFFE Price Movement

From the above graphs for the Year April 2023- March 2024 it can be seen; it has been a good year from Sugar price perspective where sugar price remained firm though during later part of the year, prices has cooled off.

ICE 11 price started from the level of 22.4 cents as on 1st April 2023, touched low of 20.24 cents during December 23, high of 27.95 cents during November 23 with closing 22.5 cents as on 31st March 2024.

LIFFE price started from the level of 633.4 USD/MT on 1st April 2023, touched low of 586.7 USD during December 2023 month, high of 763.4 during November 23 with closing level at 652.5 USD/MT as on 31st March 2024.

Influence factors during the Year 2023-24

India:

Sugar Year 2023-2024 has been first such year after a gap of 5 years when there have been no exports from India. Last 5 years, country has consistently exported record volumes of sugar and in between occupied tag of second largest exporter of sugar after Brazil.

With fact that there is no more export available from India coupled with lower crop in Thailand, International prices remained firm during the year, benefit of which has been roped in by Brazilian Sugar mills producing record volumes of sugar.

During 2023-24, with improved crop position as against initial estimates, Industry Association has approached the Government to allow permission for exports of 1.0 million MT of Sugar to which there has been no favourable response from government so far.

Other than exports, in between there was speculation that India might need to import sugar on account of lower stocks during last leg of season 2022-23. However, the government managed the show very well managing the domestic available demand with available lower stocks and did not let any volatility in sugar prices.

Going ahead it seems that during 2023-24 and year 2024-25, India will continue to be isolated from Global market and no sugar are expected to be available for exports or any imports into country which will be quite supportive for global markets.

Brazil CS:

Table 3: Cane Crush / Sugar Production / Ethanol Production - Brazil CS

Year April - March

Particulars	Unit	2019/2020	2020/2021	2021/2022	2022/2023	2023/2024
		Actual	Actual	Actual	Actual	Estimated
Total cane crush	Million MT	590.36	605.46	524.10	548.28	649.39
Sugar Production	Million MT	26.76	38.46	32.1	33.73	42.25
Ethanol Production	Billion Litres	33.26	30.37	27.6	28.91	33.07

 

Particulars	Unit	2019/2020	2020/2021	2021/2022	2022/2023	2023/2024
		Actual	Actual	Actual	Actual	Estimated
Diversion of Cane
Used for sugar Used for ethanol	% %	34.33 65.67	46.16 53.84	45.0 55.0	45.9 54.1	48.96 51.04
TRS		138.57	144.72	142.9	140.80	139.44

Source: UNICA

From the above figures, it can be observed that cane crush which has gone to low of 524.1 million mt during 2021/22 has recovered from there and reached level of 548.28 million MT during 2022/23 and record 649 million MT during 2023/24. With increased diversion of cane towards Sugar at 48.96% during 2023-24 as against 45.9% last year, Sugar production also increased to level of 42.25 million MT during the year 2023/24 as against last years level of 33.73 million MT.

Though, the quality of cane i.e., TRS has come down during 2023/24 to 139.44 from last years level of 140.80 kg/ MT cane and level of 142.9 during 2021/22.

Conab, Brazils crop agency, projected that Brazils (including Brazil NNE) 2024/25 sugar production will increase by 1.3% to a record 46.292 million MT as 2024/25 sugar acreage in Brazil increases by +4.1% to 8.7 million hectares (21.5 million acres), the most in seven years.

Brazil CS progress till 15th April, 2024

Particulars	Unit	Cumulative upto 16th April 2024
		2024/2025	2023/24	YoY%
Total cane crush	Million MT	15.81	13.86	14.11
Sugar Production	Million MT	0.71	0.54	31.00
Ethanol Production	Billion Litres	0.84	0.78	7.27
Diversion of Cane
Used for sugar	%	43.64	38.01
Used for ethanol	%	56.36	61.99
TRS		107.93	107.97	-0.04

Thailand

	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
Cane crush	67	92	94
Sugar Production	7.7	10.2	11
Domestic consumption	2.2	2.5	2.5
Industrial use re-export	0.7	0.7	0.7
Domestic raw sugar	4.0	7.3	7.5-8.0

Unit: Million MT

During 2023/24, till April month, 57 sugar mills have ceased their sugarcane crushing operations. Total cane crushed so far is 82.16 million MT lower by 11.7 million as against last year. Sugar production till April month is 8.77 million MT.

During 2023/24, overall cane availability and sugar production is lower because of drought conditons and El-Nino factor.

Crude Oil:

Crude Oil plays major influencing role for Sugar prices as it is one of the major macro factors and secondly crude oil prices affect diversion of cane towards ethanol in Brazil. However, during the year 2023-24, higher sugar prices have motivated sugar mills in Brazil for higher / record diversion of cane towards Sugar.

During period April 2023- March 2024, Crude oil price (Brent) started at level of 84.93 USD/barrel as on 1st April 2023, touched low of 71.28 USD, high of 97.69 USD with closing level of 87.48 USD/ barrel as on 31st March 2024. Average crude Oil price through the Year worked out to 82.08 USD/barrel.

Currency:

Brazilian Real: During the Year (April - March) 2023-2024, Brazilian real has started from the level of 5.06 in beginning of April 2023 and the level by end of March 2024 at 5.02 is almost the same.

During the year, the weakest level was 5.22, strongest level was 4.70 with average level of 4.93.

Indian Rupee: INR has depreciated during 2023-24 (April - March), from the level of 82.21 as on 1st April 2023 to 83.35 as on 31st March 2024 i.e., depreciation of 1.39%.

During the year, the strongest level has been 81.57, weakest level has been 83.73 with average of 82.78.

World Sugar Balance - Year (Oct-Sept)

Global: -

The International Sugar Organization (ISO) on 28th Feb, 2024 raised its forecast for the size of an anticipated global sugar deficit in the current 2023/24 season from 3.35 lac MT to 6.89 lac MT.

A Reuters poll of analysts and traders this month gave a median forecast of a small surplus of 500,000 tons in the 2023/24 season.

Global production in 2023/24 was seen at 179.7 million tons, down from a previous projection of 179.9 million tons, with a modest upward revision to consumption expectations to 180.4 million tons from 180.2 million tons.

The ISO also estimated that there was a global surplus of 308,000 tons in the 2022/23 season.

USDA, in its bi-annual report released on Nov 23, projected that global 2023/24 sugar production would increase by 4.7% to a record 183.461 million MT and that global 2023/24 human sugar consumption would increase 1.2% to a record 178.431 million MT. The USDA also forecasted that 2023/24 global sugar ending stocks would fall -13.3% to a 13-year low of 33.681 million MT.

II. Indian Scenario:

After having touched peak gross sugar production of 39 million MT during 2021-22, All India Sugar production is on decline since then.

During 2022-23, All India gross sugar production dipped to 36.6 million MT and then next year i.e., 2023-24, it is estimated to further dip to 34.0 million MT. During the year 2024-25, as per estimates Sugar production will further take a dip by almost 10%.

While all these years sugar production continues to be higher than consumption, declining sugar production is certainly affecting the diversion of sugar towards Ethanol.

The year 2023-24 will be the first year when diversion of Sugar towards Ethanol will decline. Diversion of Sugar towards ethanol has increased significantly from the level of meagre 0.5 million MT during year 2018-19 to 3.8 million MT during 2022-23. During 2023-24, this diversion figure will take a dip to an estimated level of 2.0 million MT.

Year 2023-24 has been very interesting, where initial estimates of gross Sugar production were low at level of 32 million MT on estimates of lower crop in state of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Such lower production estimates for the year raised inflation worries for the Government and prompted the Government to put restrictions on diversion of sugar towards Ethanol.

During mid-December, the Government reduced allocated quantity of B Heavy Ethanol / Syrup Ethanol orders issued by OMCs such that total diversion of sugar towards Ethanol is capped at level of 1.7 million MT.

However, situation did not turn out to be so bad as initially estimated and actual crop position in Maharashtra and Karnataka turned out to be better because of which estimates of gross All India sugar production is 34.0 million MT now.

With improved crop position in state of Maharashtra and Karnataka, as per media reports, Government considering allowing additional diversion of sugar towards Ethanol which will take total diversion to estimated level of 2.0 million MT.

Looking into increased sugar production as against last estimates, Industry has additionally demanded permission for export of 1.0 million MT sugar, to which Government has not shown any positive response so far.

Year 2023-24 will be the first year after almost 5 years when there will no major export of sugar except small quantity of sugar being exported to countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives.

Last 5 years, India has consistently exported sizeable volumes of sugar, created new records despite all logistics challenges, quota systems, etc. During year 2021-22, India exported record sugar quantity of 11.1 million MT comprising of raw sugar, low quality whites and refined sugar.

So, Government while till last year was quite aggressive in promoting diversion of sugar towards Ethanol and promoting sugar exports, this year has taken a pause and has banned Sugar exports and regulated diversion of sugar towards Ethanol.

During last 5 years, both Central and State Governments have aggressively promoted Ethanol manufacturing capacities across the country. Central Government had allowed Interest subvention scheme which is coupled with various subsidy schemes floated by various State governments. As a result, current Ethanol manufacturing capacity stands at almost 900 crore litres from Sugar route and 500 crore litres from grain route which is in line with Governments roadmap.

Ethanol production, which till 5-6 years back was considered a by-product of Sugar Industry has now become an important product of Industry and time not far when is going to become the major / main product for the sector. But restrictions imposed on Ethanol through sugar route during year 2023-24 has not only affected the Distillation capacity utilization of Industry but also the overall spirit of the sector. As per various statements from Government authorities, the said regulation on sugar diversion towards ethanol is temporary in nature and Government to allow additional diversion soon.

While cane remains the remunerative crop for farmers, cane availability has come down which is more to do with weather related issues in vulnerable states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu.

A big fluctuation is seen in cane availability in these states which affects overall Sugar production and availability of sugar for diversion towards Ethanol.

It is high time now that Industry under support and guidance from the Government sources starts working on better water conservation mechanisms like drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting, trash shedding and mulching, etc. to away with weather related fluctuations in cane crop.

This year due to issues with cane variety and cane related disease, cane yield is lower in many pockets in the state of U.P. affecting overall cane availability in the state.

Industry under Government Support needs to do away with weather related volatility in cane crop, adopt best farm practices, water conservation mechanisms and in process get consistent crop as country is targeting 20% Ethanol blending by year 2025 and almost 50% of the quantity is targeted through Sugar route.

In last 10 years, Sugar production has grown at CAGR of almost 3 % and there had been a year in between i.e., 2021-22 when India became the largest sugar producer in world surpassing Brazil. Till year 2016-17, Indias Sugar production has always been below 30 million MT but afterwards in last 7 years, countrys net sugar production (after diversion towards Ethanol) has always been above 30 million MT except one year 2019-20 when sugar production could reach level of 27.4 million MT only.

On Sugar export front, while during 2023-24 country is not exporting sugar, during year 2021-22, India has shaken the world market by exporting record 11.1 million Mt of Sugar. Next year 2022-23, country exported a quantity of 6.4 million MT of Sugar and could have exported more but there were export restrictions later part of the year.

Sugar consumption continues to grow at CAGR of 1.65 % in last 10 years and touched level of 27.9 million MT during 2022-23 and is estimated at level of 29.0 million MT during 2023-24. However, when the consumption growth in the last 5 years is analyzed, it is found that consumption growth is at a higher level of 2.15% CAGR.

Government policies for the sector has been very supportive and pro-active because of which all the stakeholders of Sugar Industry are in win-win situation starting with farmers benefiting in form of better yields / Sugar recovery (barring weather related volatility), fast payments, good cane price, Sugar Mills benefiting from good Sugar recovery, diversion of excess sugar towards ethanol with better cash flow position, Trade benefiting from less

price volatility and domestic consumer benefiting from easy availability of Sugar at much affordable prices as compared to other commodities and for economy by new investments in sector, increased collection of taxes / creation of new jobs, etc.

Sugar Industry in India is in win-win situation as above but has also become a case study for many other countries as how to effectively utilize the resources available and how to turn a crisis of Surplus Sugar production into opportunity of 20% ethanol blending with everybody in the chain benefiting from the policy.

Surplus Production

Indian Sugar production had always been cyclical in nature but with better cane variety / farming practices, cyclical Sugar production has become a talk of history.

Though during the Year 2023-24, estimated sugar production is lower than that of Year 2022-23, it will still be the 14th year in row (except Year 2016-17), when Sugar production will be more than the consumption.

While, continued increased Sugar production helped farmers on account of better yield, Sugar Mills with better recovery and capacity utilization, it had its own challenges as to how to tackle surplus Sugar production.

It had been quite a crisis for Industry as it led to increasing Sugar inventories, decreasing Sugar price levels, mounting cane arrears, etc.

But with Government intervention and support, Industry has been able to turnaround this crisis into opportunity by becoming leading Sugar exporter and diverting excess Sugar towards Ethanol thus increasing Ethanol production for the much ambitious Government of Indias Ethanol bio-fuel campaign. Though, year 2023-2024 has been a spirit dampener with no sugar exports and reduced diversion of sugar towards Ethanol.

The graphical representation of Sugar Production and Sugar consumption for last 14 years, as below: -

Chart 5: The graphical representation of Sugar Production and Sugar Consumption for last 14 years as below:-

From the above graph, it can clearly be observed that Sugar production is always in excess & higher than consumption. It is only during the Year 2016-17 that Sugar production has come down below consumption due to very poor crop in State of Maharashtra.

It may be noted that Sugar diversion towards Ethanol is in addition to the above displayed production & consumption data.

Cyclical pattern of Sugar Production / Demand since 1980

For better understanding of cyclical pattern of Sugar production which use to exist 14 years back, displayed below is the graphical representation of Indian Sugar Production since the Year 1980-81 till 2009-10 where after every

2-3 years of surplus there is a period of deficit Sugar production which use to act as balancing factor for surplus Sugar production.

Table 5: State-wise Sugar Production

State-wise Sugar Production on All India basis since the Year 2017-18 given below in Table: -

Year: (Oct to Sept)

SUGAR PRODUCTION (MILLION TONNES)

S. No.	State	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
				Actual				Projected
1	Uttar Pradesh	12.05	11.82	12.64	11.06	10.20	10.48	10.50
2	Maharashtra	10.72	10.72	6.17	10.65	13.72	10.59	11.00
3	Karnataka	3.75	4.43	3.49	4.47	6.04	5.66	5.30
4	Gujarat	1.11	1.12	0.93	1.05	1.21	1.00	0.92
5	Andhra Pradesh & Telangana	0.74	0.77	0.42	0.32	0.44	0.45	0.34
6	Punjab	0.82	0.79	0.54	0.55	0.60	0.66	0.61
7	Haryana	0.84	0.70	0.74	0.76	0.72	0.75	0.60
8	Bihar	0.72	0.84	0.73	0.48	0.46	0.63	0.72
9	Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry	0.71	0.96	0.79	0.88	1.25	1.48	1.10
10	Madhya Pradesh &	0.55	0.56	0.46	0.54	0.65	0.60	0.60
	Chhattisgarh
11	Uttarakhand	0.42	0.40	0.46	0.42	0.45	0.49	0.31
12	Others	0.05	0.04	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.03	0.04
	Total	32.48	33.16	27.41	31.19	35.76	32.82	32.04

Diversion of Sugar towards Ethanol is in addition to Sugar Production as above.

During the year 2021-22, Country has achieved record sugar production of 35.8 million MT and became the largest sugar producer in World surpassing Brazil.

During the Year 2022-23, the countrys Sugar production has taken a dip of almost 8.2% due to a 22.8% dip in Sugar production in State of Maharashtra and 6.3% in state of Karnataka.

During the Year 2023-24, the countrys sugar production is estimated to further dip by 2.4% to level of 32 million MT on account of lower crop in state of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Maharashtra state after having reached peak production of 13.72 million MT during 2021-22 is estimated to settle down at level of 11 million MT during 2023-24.

Sugar Production in the State of U.P. has witnessed levels of 12.0 million MT for 3 years during 2017-18 to 201920 but thereafter has settled between 10.0 - 11.0 million MT range due to increased diversion of Sugar towards Ethanol and end of cycle of performing cane varieties. During 2023-24, the yield of cane in U.P. has significantly been affected in various districts due to issues with cane variety, disease and actual cane availability is much lower than last year / as against initial estimates. Moreover, increased diversion of cane towards Khandsari in U.P. has affected overall cane availability in the state.

U.P. continues to be the leading Sugar producer in the country and it was during 2021-22 that Maharashtra became the largest sugar producing state in the country. During the year 2023-24 as well, Maharashtra will be a leading sugar producer in the country, but it is estimated that during year 2024-25, the trend will change with estimated dip in sugar production in state.

Maharashtra Sugar production is always a surprise element, very difficult to predict, many a times all estimates fail and very strongly influences the Indian Sugar balance sheet and Government policy decisions. During 202122 when initially Sugar production was estimated between 10 - 11 million MT in Maharashtra, Sugar production turned out to be 13.7 million MT. Very next year during 2022-23, when Sugar production was initially estimated at around 13.0 million MT, it again turned out to be otherwise and actual Sugar production was around 10.5 million MT. Again, during the year 2023-24, sugar production in Maharashtra was estimated at a level of 8 - 9 million MT which forced the government to regulate diversion of sugar towards Ethanol, but it turned out to be 11 million MT.

Maharashtra Sugar production is volatile and in between there are large swings in Sugar production. For instance, during the Year 2016-2017, there has been a dip of 50% in Sugar production. During 2017-2018, normalcy returned to Sugar production with an increase of 155% in Sugar production. Again after 2 years during 2019-2020, dip in production by 42% and during 2020-21 increase in Sugar production by 72.6% and further increase of 29% during 2021-22 when state achieved record production of 13.7 million MT.

And again, a downturn started and during 2022-23, Sugar production came down by 24% to level of 10.5 million MT. During 2023-24, production remained stable with estimates at 11 million MT.

In Maharashtra this fluctuating Sugar production is not new feature which is illustrated through a graphical representation since Year 1976-77 as below: -

Chart 7: Production of Sugar - Maharashtra

Karnataka state is the 3rd largest Sugar producer in the country and being the neighboring state of Maharashtra working in simitar conditions, is having fluctuating Sugar production as can be seen from the above Table of State-wise production.

It is important to highlight Tamil Nadu which has improved on Sugar production quite significantly during 2021-22 and 2022-23. During 2021-22, Sugar production increased by 42% to level of 1.25 million MT and during 2022-23, it further increased by another 18% to level of 1.48 million Mt. However, during 2023-24, it is estimated to take a dip by 25% to level of 1.1 million MT.

Table 6: State wise Yield of Sugarcane (Tonnes/Hectare)

The details of yields and recovery of various states are given below from where it can be seen how the productivity in terms of yield and recovery has changed.

									Year: Oct - Sept
				YIELD (TONNES PER HECTARE)
S. No.	State	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
1	Andhra Pradesh & Telangana	66.0	66.0	51.0	65.0	65.0	51.0	45.2	54.1	55.5
2	Bihar	50.0	50.0	50.0	62.0	66.0	61.0	49.0	49.6	65.9
3	Gujarat	71.0	75.0	60.0	72.0	69.0	59.0	65.8	69.5	53.7
4	Haryana	69.0	65.0	71.0	83.0	72.0	76.0	79.4	80.7	75.2
5	Karnataka	94.0	78.0	60.0	94.5	91.0	92.0	99.5	116.5	102.5
6	Kerala & Goa	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
7	Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh	60.0	51.0	54.0	71.0	74.0	66.0	68.6	78.5	74.4
8	Maharashtra	93.0	76.0	60.0	108.0	85.0	77.0	97.1	107.6	80.1
9	Punjab	67.0	74.0	74.0	84.0	86.0	69.0	78.0	82.1	81.8
10	Rajasthan	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
11	Tamil Nadu	88.0	98.0	81.0	66.0	73.0	70.0	72.2	88.4	93.9
12	Uttar Pradesh	55.0	53.0	62.0	77.0	71.0	70.0	67.9	67.2	68.6
13	Uttarakhand	53.0	51.0	57.0	65.0	60.0	67.0	68.0	69.9	77.5
	All India	69.1	63.7	61.3	81.7	75.3	71.1	76.0	82.7	75.7

From above, it can be seen AH India average yield touched peak of 82.7 tonnes/hectare during 2021-22 but during 2022-23 it has come down to 75.7 tonnes/hectare.

A major dip in yield is observed in state of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Haryana. Maharashtra where during 2021- 22, yield has gone above 100 tonnes/hectare, level has come down to level of 80 tonnes/hectare during 2022- 23.

However, states of U.P., Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Bihar have given better yields during 2022-23 as against last year.

So, there is a big scope of overall improvement in yield which is possible with better farm practice, replacement of old underperforming cane varieties with new potential ones, water conservation mechanisms.

Table 7: Statewise Recovery of Sugar in % of Cane

	Year: (Oct to Sept)
	State-wise Recovery of Sugar in % of Cane
S. No. State	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19		2019-20		2020-21		2021-22		2022-23 (P)
					Before Sugar diversion towards Ethanol	After Sugar diversion towards Ethanol	Before Sugar diversion towards Ethanol	After Sugar diversion towards Ethanol	Before Sugar diversion towards Ethanol	After Sugar diversion towards Ethanol	Before Sugar diversion towards Ethanol	After Sugar diversion towards Ethanol	Before Sugar diversion towards Ethanol	After Sugar diversion towards Ethanol
Andhra Pradesh	9.38	9.35	9.37	9.53	9.46	9.40	9.27	8.96	9.21	8.85	9.47	GO CO CO	9.19	8.39
2 Bihar	9.18	9.77	9.21	9.58	10.39	10.39	10.81	10.79	10.91	10.36	10.83	9.66	10.49	9.46
3 Gujarat	10.34	10.38	10.58	10.55	10.82	10.82	10.75	10.75	10.25	10.22	10.64	10.52	10.73	10.70
4 Haryana	9.94	10.52	10.34	10.39	10.40	10.36	10.58	10.58	8.26	10.26	9.86	9.47	10.04	9.70
5 Karnataka	11.06	10.74	10.19	10.60	10.99	10.73	10.55	9.94	10.90	9.80	10.76	9.65	10.78	9.27
Kerala & Goa	9.19	9.60	8.38	7.92	7.58	7.58	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7 Madhya Pradesh	9.48	9.78	9.70	9.63	9.95	9.93	9.93	9.89	9.79	9.38	10.24	9.41	10.25	9.06
8 Chhattisgarh	-	-	-	-	9.64	9.64	9.68	9.68	11.09	11.09	11.55	11.55	10.89	10.89
Maharashtra	11.29	11.33	11.25	11.24	11.40	11.27	11.54	11.28	11.20	10.50	11.18	10.38	11.21	10.02
10 Punjab	9.42	10.06	9.78	9.78	10.17	10.14	9.62	9.59	9.52	9.02	10.18	9.29	9.73	9.70
11 Rajasthan	8.31	5.88	8.55	9.02	9.18	9.18	8.03	8.03	7.42	7.42	8.43	8.43	7.11	7.11
12 Telangana	10.51	10.85	10.38	10.84	10.79	10.65	10.63	10.22	10.50	10.33	11.17	10.77	10.78	10.66
13 Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry	8.67	8.74	8.92	8.64	8.80	8.80	8.68	8.54	9.04	8.97	9.15	9.02	9.24	9.23
14 Uttar Pradesh	9.54	10.61	10.61	10.84	11.48	11.46	11.63	11.29	11.45	10.78	11.19	10.04	10.82	9.54
15 Uttarakhand	9.24	9.61	9.85	10.24	10.97	10.97	11.20	11.20	11.07	10.99	10.94	10.38	10.68	10.14
16 Others (Assam, Nagaland, West Bengal, Orissa)	9.26	9.24	9.36	9.24	9.75	9.75	8.97	8.97	9.11	9.11	9.20	9.20	9.97	9.97
All India	10.37	10.62	10.44	10.74	11.10	11.01	11.15	10.84	11.03	10.36	10.93	10.03	10.79	9.67

During year 2022-23, All India average sugar recovery (before diversion towards Ethanol) has come down from last year level of 10.93 to 10.79.

Out of 3 major sugar producing states i.e., U.P., Maharashtra & Karnataka, a significant dip in sugar recovery has been observed in the state of U.P. whereas other 2 states Maharashtra and Karnataka have shown marginal improvement in sugar recovery.

All India Sugar Balance Sheet

Table 8: Domestic Production and Consumption Unit: Million MT

Particulars	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
	Sugar Year (Oct-Sept) (Actual) - Million MT						Estimate - Million MT
A. Total availability - All India
a) Opening Stock as on Oct 01	3.9	10.7	14.6	10.7	8.2	7.0	5.6
b) Production during season	32.5	33.2	27.4	31.2	35.8	32.8	32.0
c) Imports	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Tota l supply availability	36.6	43.9	42.0	41.9	43.9	39.8	37.6
Particulars	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24

 

	Sugar Year (Oct-Sept) (Actual) - Million MT						Estimate - Million MT
B. Total Sugar Offtake - All India
a) Internal consumption	25.4	25.5	25.3	26.6	27.3	27.9	29.0
b) Exports	0.5	3.80	6.0	7.2	11.1	6.4	0.1
Tota Offtake	25.9	29.3	31.3	33.7	38.4	34.3	29.1
C. Closing Stock as on Sept 30 - All India	10.7	14.6	10.7	8.2	5.5	5.6	8.5
D. Stock as % of Internal Consumption (%)	42.2	57.2	42.4	30.8	20.3	20.0	29.2
E. Additional diversion of Sugar towards Ethanol in form of B heavy / Sugar Syrup	0.0	0.5	0.8	2.0	3.2	3.8	2.0
F. Total Sugar production including diversion towards Ethanol	32.5	33.7	28.2	33.2	39.0	36.6	34.0

From the above table, following can be observed: -

- In the last 5 years, it is the first time that countrys sugar stocks are estimated to increase during the year

2023-24. Sugar stocks which from level of 14.6 million MT during 2018-19 had come down to level of 5.6 million MT during 2022-23 are slated to increase to level of 8.5 million MT during 2023-24.

- All these years, excess sugar production has been taken care of in terms of exports where country has consistently been exporting record volumes of sugar having touched peak of 11.1 million MT during year 2021-22.

- Diversion of sugar towards Ethanol has also considerably increased all these year from level of 0.5 million MT during 2018-19 to level of 3.8 million MT during 2022-23.

- During 2023-24, there has been a hit both at exports and diversion towards Ethanol front with almost no sugar exports and reduced diversion of sugar towards Ethanol.

- Government had to regulate / curtail exports and diversion towards ethanol because of initial lower production estimates for 2023-24 and further lower estimates for year 2024-25. Governments priority is sugar availability for domestic market followed by diversion towards Ethanol in line with capacity / demand and then if any surplus available is left for exports.

Pattern of All India Sugar Exports / Imports

Chart 8: The pattern of All India Sugar Exports & Imports in graphical pattern since the Year 2001-02 is illustrated below.

Till the Year 2010-201 1, Sugar production was cyclical in nature and this cyclicality in Sugar Production led to cyclicality of Sugar Exports & Imports. During the years of surplus, country Exported Sugar and during the years of deficit country imported Sugar and thus it became a big swing factor for Global Sugar demand supply balance sheet as well.

From the above graph it can be seen, till the Year 2010-2011, Sugar import and export has been cyclical means after every 2-3 years either country is exporting Sugar or importing Sugar in a big way.

However, from the year 2010-201 1 onwards due to consistent higher Sugar Production much more than the demand, country had been exporting Sugar on regular basis with very little imports in between and Nil imports in last 5 years.

In the last 6 years, 2023-24 will be the year when there are almost no exports.

Policy initiatives by the Government: - Sugar

Policies of Government in last 5 years of promoting Sugar exports, giving exports quotas, export assistance, promotion of Ethanol blending, soft loan for creating new Ethanol capacity, Sugar MSP, giving monthly domestic release, buffer stock, etc. has helped the Sugar sector a lot and has totally solved the problem of Sugar surplus in system, lowered down Sugar stocks, cane arrears, cash flow issues with the industry.

However, during year 2023-2024, Government has taken a pause by restricting exports of sugar and regulating diversion of sugar towards Ethanol to ensure sufficient stocks of sugar for domestic market and to away with any price volatility / need for imports later.

Government has very efficiently manoeuvred the countrys balance sheet and has very timely allowed the usage of sugar including allowing exports, restricting exports so that Sugar is first available for domestic market, followed by blending in form of Ethanol and lastly for exports.

Both Central & State Government had also been working on improvement in performance parameters of Industry like Sugar recovery, yield, development of new variety, better farm practices, water conservation, sorting out logistics bottlenecks, trade efficiency, better relations between Sugar Mills & trade, working on all issues for supply of Ethanol to oil companies i.e., for wholesome improvement of Industry.

Given below is the snapshot of policy initiatives by the Government in last few years: -

I. SUGAR

a) Promoting Exports of Sugar: -

It was a challenge for Government to increase Export of Sugar from the country in line with requirement of excess Sugar because of highly fragmented Industry, each state having its own problems, coastal and noncoastal states working under different conditions, logistics bottlenecks and lastly price mismatch between International and domestic price.

Furnished below is a snapshot since the Year 2018-2019 on Sugar exports where Government motivated the industry by giving export quotas to Industry and related assistance in different forms as under: -

Sugar Year 2018-2019

On 28th Sept 2018, Government announced Mandatory Export Quota of 5.0 million MT on All India basis to be exported during Oct 2018 - Sept 2019. The mandatory export quota of 5.0 million MT was allocated amongst all Sugar Mills in country basis their Sugar Production of last 3 years.

Further, to boost Sugar Exports and for the purpose of offsetting cost of cane, Government announced following financial assistance: -

• Government announced to pay defraying expenses towards Internal transport, freight, handling, etc. to Sugar Mills on Export of Sugar as under: -

- Rs. 1.0 per Kg for Sugar mills within 100 kms from Port.

- Rs. 2.5 per Kg for Sugar mills beyond 100 kms from port in coastal states.

- Rs. 3.0 per Kg for Sugar Mills in Non-coastal states.

• Financial assistance of Rs.13.88 per quintal of cane on cane crushed during the Sugar Year 2018-2019 subject to Sugar Mills complying with all the directives of Department of Food including exports quota and monthly release. The incidence of this financial assistance worked out to approx. Rs.8.3 per kg on Sugar exported.

• To facilitate and motivate Sugar exports, Department also decided to give additional Sale quota in domestic market to the ones exporting Sugar and reduce the domestic quota of the Sugar Mills not exporting Sugar.

Sugar Year 2019-2020

For the year 2019-2020, Government announced quota of 6.0 million MT Sugar exports on All India basis with export subsidy details as under: -

• The Central Government agreed to provide an assistance @ Rs. 10448 per Metric Tonne assistance for expenses on export of sugar to the sugar mills in the following manner: -

• For marketing including handling, quality up-gradation, de-bagging & re-bagging and other processing costs etc @ Rs 4400 per MT.

• For internal transport and freight charges including loading, unloading and fobbing etc. @ Rs. 3428.0 per MT.

• For ocean freight against shipment from Indian Ports to the ports of destination countries etc @ Rs. 2620 per MT.

Total estimated assistance worked out to the tune of Rs. 6268.0 Crores by the Central Government for export of 6.0 million Tonne sugar.

Year 2020-2021:

During the Year 2020-2021, Government announced Maximum Admissible Export Quantities (MAEQ) of 6.0 million MT and assistance of Rs. 6000 per MT as under: -

> For marketing including handling, quality up-gradation, debagging & re-bagging and other processing costs etc. @ Rs. 1600 per MT.

> For internal transport and freight charges including loading, unloading & fobbing, etc. @ Rs.2400 per MT.

> For ocean freight against shipment from Indian ports to the port of destination countries etc @ Rs. 2000 per MT.

Later during the Year in the month of May 2021, the said assistance was reduced to Rs.4000 per MT due to improved International Sugar Prices.

No export assistance provided from Government after Year 2020-2021, till date.

b) Restricting Sugar Exports

To ensure sufficient availability of Sugar in domestic market, Government restricted Sugar exports and now allowing against specific export quotas.

On 24th May 2022, DGFT amended export policy of Sugar and put Sugar from "Free" category to "Restricted" category which initially valid till 31st October 2023. It means that Sugar Export can be done against specific permission / quotas allowed by Department of Food & Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.

On 5th Nov 2022, Department of Food & Public Distribution allowed export quota of 6.0 million MT proportionately spread amongst all Sugar mills of country basis their average Sugar production during last 3 Sugar seasons.

Government vide notification dated 18th October 2023 extended the restriction on sugar exports beyond 31st October 2023 till further orders.

During the year 2023-24, Government allowed small quantity of Sugar exports to Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives. Government also allowed small quantity of Raw cane Sugar exports to USA under TRQ scheme.

c) Maintaining Sugar Price in market MSP (Minimum Selling Price of Sugar)

Due to high Sugar production during 2018 resulting into excess Sugar supply in market, Sugar prices across the country started coming down and had come down below the cost of Production. To arrest falling Sugar prices, Government fixed Minimum uniform selling price of Sugar at Mill level, across the country as under: -

• On 6 th June 2018, Government approved fixing of Minimum Price of Rs.29.0 per Kg for Sugar below which no Sugar Mill can sell in domestic market.

• On 14th Feb 2019, Government increased MSP of Sugar from the level of Rs.29 per Kg to Rs.31 per Kg.

There has been no increase in MSP since Feb 2019 (more than 5 years now) and it is high time that Government should increase MSP in line with increasing cost in terms of cane price / other inputs to level of 40.0 per Kg which is also being pursued by Industry bodies. Further, it is suggested that Sugar MSP should be directly linked with FRP and for any increase in FRP, corresponding increase in MSP should come automatically.

d) Monthly Sales release mechanism

On one hand Government fixed Minimum Selling Price of Sugar, on other hand Government imposed Reverse stock limit on Sugar Mills to restrict supply of Sugar in market so that Sugar Mills can realize MSP / viable prices.

On 7th June 2018, Government imposed reverse Stock limit on Sugar Mills stating that all producers of Sugar by vacuum pan process shall hold such quantity of Sugar (White or refined) at the end of each month as may be specified by the Central Government for each month.

To arrive at the figure of stocks which Sugar Mills were required to carry at the end of each month, Sugar Mills were given Monthly Sales Release Quantity above which Sugar Mills cannot sell in domestic market.

The purpose of above order is to regulate supply of Sugar in market so as to control Sugar prices and do away with any kind of price volatility due to demand / supply gaps.

e) Buffer Stock / subsidy

Government had allowed buffer stock of 4.0 million MT starting from 1st August 2019 till 31st July 2020. Government allowed buffer subsidy of 13.5 % per annum which included Interest of max 12% per annum or actual as charged by bank (whichever is less) and Insurance including storage charges of 1.5% per annum.

Government had not allowed extension of buffer subsidy after expiry of same in month of July 2020 because of depletion of Sugar stocks in line with Industrys requirement and Government policies.

f) Cane Price

State Advised Price (SAP): -

U.P. State Government always showed rationale in fixing cane price in line with the cost.

Sugar year 2020-21 had been 3rd consecutive year in a row when the Cane SAP in state of U.P. remained unchanged at level of Rs.315 per quintal for common variety of Cane, Rs.325 per quintal for early variety of cane and Rs.310 per quintal for rejected variety of cane.

It was during 2021-22 that U.P. State Government increased Cane price by Rs.25 per quintal as under: -

Early Variety :	From Rs.325 per quintal to Rs.350 per quintal
General Variety :	From Rs.315 per quintal to Rs.340 per quintal
Rejected Variety :	From Rs.310 per quintal to Rs.335 per quintal

During 2022-23, U.P. State Government maintained the same price (SAP) of 2021-22 with no increase. During 2023-24, UP State Government increased cane price by Rs.20 per Qtl, as under: -

Early Variety :	From Rs.350 per quintal to Rs.370 per quintal
General Variety :	From Rs.340 per quintal to Rs.360 per quintal
Rejected Variety :	From Rs.335 per quintal to Rs.355 per quintal

Fixed & Remunerative Price (FRP): For the Sugar Year 2021-22, Central Government had increased the Cane FRP by Rs.5 per quintal from the level of Rs.285 per quintal to Rs 290 per quintal linked with 10% Sugar recovery.

For every 0.1 percent increase in Sugar recovery above 10 percent, a premium of Rs.2.90 per quintal will be paid by Sugar Mills.

Also, the government has made a provision for reduction in FRP by Rs 2.90 per quintal for every 0.1 percentage point decrease in recovery, in respect of those mills whose recovery is below 10 per cent but above 9.5 per cent.

However, for mills having a recovery of 9.5 per cent or below, the FRP is fixed at Rs 275.5 per quintal.

For Sugar Year 2022-23, Central Government further increased FRP to Rs.305 per Quintal linked with 10.25% recovery. Premium of Rs.3.05 per quintal will be provided for each 0.1% increase in recovery over and above 10.25%. For every 0.1% decrease in recovery, FRP will be reduced by Rs.3.05 per quintal. However, no deduction in FRP for recovery below 9.5%, means that farmer will get Rs.282.125 per quintal for cane with recovery of up to 9.5%.

For Sugar year 2023-24, Central Government increased cane FRP by Rs 10 per qtl to level of 315/qtl for a basic recovery rate of 10.25%. It had been approved to provide a premium of 3.07/qtl for each 0.1% increase in recovery over and above 10.25% & reduction in FRP by 3.07/qtl for every 0.1% decrease in recovery. Government has also decided that there shall not be any deduction in case of sugar mills where recovery is below 9.5%.

For Sugar year 2024-2025, Government increased Cane FRP by Rs.15 per qtl. to Rs.340 per quintal for a basic sugar recovery rate of 10.25%. Provision for proportionate premium in price for recovery above 10.25% and proportionate deductions below 10.25% recovery provided. No deductions in FRP for sugar recovery below 9.5%, as per the existing practice.

II. ETHANOL

a) Benefits by various State Governments:

States like Bihar, M.P., Jharkhand, West Bengal have given various promotional schemes for creation of Ethanol capacity primarily from grains.

i) State: Bihar

S. No. Type of incentive	Quantum of incentive	Policy
1 Stamp duty and registration fees	100% exemption (100% reimbursement in case of priority sectors)
2 Land conversion fees	100% exemption (100% reimbursement in case of priority sectors)
3 Interest subvention incentive	Interest subvention incentive at 10% of term loan for a period of 5 years, upper limit being 50% of project cost, max. Rs.20.0 Crores. In case of priority sectors, upper limit being 30% of project cost, maximum Rs.10 Crores.
4 Tax related incentives	Tax related incentives (100% SGST reimbursement and 100% Electricity duty reimbursement for a period of 5 years, upper limit being 100% of project cost). (In case of priority sectors, 80% SGST reimbursement and 100% electricity duty reimbursement, upper limit being 100% of project cost)	Bihar Industrial Investment Promotion Policy, 2016
5 Employment cost subsidy	50% reimbursement (in case of male workers) and 100% reimbursement (in case of female workers) of expenditure towards ESI and EPF scheme for a period of 5 years for new units for those employees who are domicile of Bihar. Max. limit for reimbursement of Rs.1000 per month for SC/ST and women employee and Rs.500 per month for General employee.
6 Skill development subsidy	Skill development subsidy of Rs.20,000 per employee / Bihar skill development mission (BSDM) rates whichever is lower. This incentive will be applicable for training of employees / staffs who are domicile of Bihar.
7 Capital subsidy	Capital subsidy at 15% of the cost of plant and machinery, maximum of Rs.5 Crore.	Bihar Ethanol Promotion Policy, 2021

ii) State: M.P.

S. No.	Type of Incentive	Quantum of Incentive
1	Production linked Fiscal Assistance	1.50 per Litre of Ethanol supplied to OMCs in 7 years upto max of 100% investment in Plant & Machinery.
2	Stamp duty & Registration charges	100% reimbursement of stamp duty and registration charges.
3	Electricity Duty	100% exemption for 5 years from date of commencement of commercial operation.
4	Quality certification	Reimbursement of 50% of Quality certification cost or Rs.1 Lac whichever is less.
5	Patent charges	Reimbursement @ 100% upto Rs.5 Lac.
6	Zero Liquid Discharge	50% capital subsidy on equipment for zero liquid discharge facility subject to maximum Rs.1 Crore.
7	Infrastructure development subsidy	50% assistance subject to maximum of Rs.1 crore each shall be provided for the job.
8	Incentive to provide employment to differently abled persons	1) 100% reimbursement of skill development expenses upto INR 5000 per employee for 3 months from joining date.
		2) Employee PF/ESI assistance: Reimbursement of employees contribution - maximum Rs.6000 per month for 5 years.
		3) Medical insurance premium reimbursement for 5 years.
9	Mandi Tax	100% Mandi tax will be reimbursed for 5 years on procurement of grains for ethanol production.

iii) State: Jharkhand

Under the Ethanol production promotion policy 2022, a provision has been made to give capital subsidy of 25 percent or maximum of Rs.30 crore to the investor.

New MSME units will be given interest subsidy at rate of 6 percent per annum to maximum of Rs.3.0 crore.

Benefits of exemption of stamp duty, registration charges, lease premium also granted.

iv) State: West Bengal

Waiver of land record mutation fees, land use conversion fees, exemption of stamp duty and registration fees and waiver of electricity duty for 5 years. 24x7 water and electricity supply and funding for skill training under Utkarsh Bangla scheme.

b) Soft Loans for Ethanol - Central Government:

For the purpose of creating new capacities, expansion of existing capacities, installation of incineration boilers, conversion to dual feed, etc. to reach blending target of 20%, Central Government has been allowing soft loans since June 2018 with interest subvention @ 6% or 50% of bank rate whichever is lower for a period of 5 years with one year moratorium period.

For stressed assets where a bank has issues in giving loans, there is a provision for a tri-partite agreement between Distillery, Oil company and the bank to motivate / push banks to give loans to such assets.

This scheme of soft loan was valid till April 2023 and currently no such scheme in place. Government vide order dated 28.12.23 has fixed 30th June, 2024 or 1 year period from loan approval whichever is later, to get loans disbursed from bank against past approvals failing which the in principle approval for project will stand cancelled. Project should be completed within 2 years from the date of disbursement of 1st instalment of loan from bank. As per information, more than 1000 new projects got approval under this soft loan scheme of Central Government.

c) Basic price of Ethanol fixed by Government linked with the cost:

Earlier, the Government had system of procuring Ethanol through tender route with no basic price fixed by Government except brief period (Ethanol Year 2010-11 & 2011-12) where Government procured Ethanol at fixed interim basic price of Rs.27.0 per Litre.

Since Dec 2014, to promote Ethanol, Government started giving fixed price of Ethanol linked with cost of Ethanol for Sugar Industry / Grain with details as under: -

Table 9: Ethanol Price

Year			Basic Ethanol Price (/Litre
(Dec-Nov)	C Molasses	B Heavy Molasses	Cane juice / Syrup	Damaged Food grains	Surplus Rice - FCI	Maize
2014-15	48.50 - 49.50 #	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2015-16	48.50 - 49.50 #	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2016-17	39.00	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2017-18	40.85	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2018-19	43.46	52.43	59.19	47.13	N/A	N/A
2019-20	43.75	54.27	59.48	50.36	N/A	N/A
2020-21	45.69	57.61	62.65	51.55	56.87	51.55
2021-22	46.66	59.08	63.45	52.92	56.87	52.92
2022-23 $	49.41	60.73	65.61	55.54 + incentive of Rs.4.75/ Ltr. extra	56.35 + Inc. of Rs.6.01/ Ltr. extra (App. from 7/8/23)
				(applicable from 7/8/23)	+ Inc. of Rs.3.71/ Ltr. extra (App.
				+ incentive of Rs.3.71/ Ltr. extra (applicable from 22/8/23)	from 22/8/23)
2023-24~	49.41 + incentive of Rs.6.87/Ltr is extra	60.73	65.61	64.00	58.50	66.07 + incentive of Rs.5.79/Ltr. Extra
# Delivered Price to Oil Company depot, price range basis distance. $ Year is (Dec - Oct). ~ Year is (Nov - Oct).

During 2023-24, Government has given sizeable incentive on Ethanol price from C molasses, Damaged food grains and Maize as these feedstocks are being promoted.

Government has not given any price increase for Syrup Ethanol and B heavy molasses Ethanol so far because of Government efforts to encourage the industry to shift to C molasses to increase sugar production.

Giving fixed price linked with cost has helped increasing Ethanol supplies, with details as under: -

Table 10: Ethanol Supply

PROJECTIONS: ALL INDIA Unit:

										Rs. crore Litres
					Ethanol Supply (Crore Litres)
Sugar Year	C Mol.	B Mol.	Syrup	Sub Total	Damaged Grain	Surplus Rice	Maize	Sub Total	Total	Blending %
		Sugar				Grain
13-14	38.00			38.00				0.00	38.00	1.53
14-15	67.40			67.40				0.00	67.40	2.33
15-16	111.40			111.40				0.00	111.40	3.51
16-17	66.50			66.50				0.00	66.50	2.07
17-18	150.50			150.50				0.00	150.50	4.22
18-19 Actual	145.80	32.60	0.70	179.10	9.50	0.00		9.50	188.60	5.00
19-20	74.12	68.14	14.83	157.09	15.94			15.94	173.03	5.00
20-21	38.07	178.67	38.16	254.90	38.46	2.19		40.65	295.55	8.10
21-22	10.06	249.43	80.26	339.75	22.59	45.75		68.34	408.09	10.02
22-23	5.61	235.33	128.35	369.29	31.90	73.71	31.51	137.12	506.41	12.06
23-24 Estimated (e)	50.00	120.00	55.00	225.00	140.00	0.00	135.00	275.00	500.00	12.00

d) Amendment in IDR act: -

During May 2016, there had been an amendment in IDR act, 1951 as per which State Government can control, levy taxes / duties on liquor meant for human consumption only and not Ethanol, Denatured Alcohol, Industrial Alcohol for Industrial use.

It means Ethanol and denatured spirit has come out of the purview of State Govt. with no power left to regulate or impose any fees / taxes / duties on Ethanol by State Government.

Many states have relaxed state excise process like Karnataka, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, M.P., Chattisgarh, Bihar, etc.

Industry had to take legal recourse also to get waiver of State Excise import fees of various states like in state of Haryana, Punjab and Delhi, export permit fees in state of U.P.

While the U.P. state has stayed Export permit fees of Rs.1.0 per Liter as matter is sub judice in Supreme court, it is still charging license fees / denaturation fees. In fact, UP state has recently increased license fees from Rs.0.15 per Liter to Rs.0.30 per Liter and denaturation fees from Rs.0.15 per Liter to Rs.0.50 per Liter, w.e.f. 1st April 23.

Government and Industry Associations continue to take up with State Governments / Excise department of states like U.P., Rajasthan, Delhi & West Bengal which are still imposing state excise documentation / processes / fees and U.P. state is one of them.

e) Exemption of central excise duty on ethanol:

On April 29, 2015, Cabinet has allowed exemption of Central excise duty on ethanol from sugar season 20152016, which was applicable @ 18%.

This benefit continued till 30th June 2017.

f) Reduction in GST:

On July 21, 2018, Government reduced GST on Ethanol from earlier level of 18% to 5% in order to boost Ethanol sector. Other grades of Alcohol, for Industrial use / for making liquor still carrying GST @ 18%.

g) Linking various subsidies with Ethanol supplies:

Since year 2015, Government has linked cane subsidy / sugar export subsidy with Ethanol supplies as well to encourage Industry to supply Ethanol. One of the eligibility conditions had been that Sugar mills should have completed 80% of their Ethanol supply order to be eligible for such subsidy. (Currently, no such subsidy is available on cane / exports from Government of India).

h) Incentive in monthly Sugar domestic quota in lieu of diversion of Sugar towards Ethanol in form of B heavy / Syrup:

Till Sugar year 2022-23, Government has been giving incentive in domestic quota of Sugar in lieu of diversion of Sugar towards Ethanol in form of B heavy / Syrup with current policy as under: -

Ethanol produced	Incentive Given
1 KL from B - Heavy	Sugar sacrificed - 1 MT, therefore incentive would be 1 MT (100% incentive on sugar sacrificed)
1 KL from Sugarcane juice / Syrup	Sugar sacrificed - 1/0.6 MT, therefore incentive would be 1.67 MT (100% incentive on sugar sacrificed)

i) Exemption of custom duty on Industrial Alcohol:

In financial year 23-24 budget, Government has exempted custom duty earlier applicable @ 5% plus cess of 10% on duty, on Denatured Ethyl Alcohol used in chemical Industry which is in support of the Ethanol Blending Program and facilitate Governments endeavor for energy transition.

j) Ban on import of Alcohol for blending purpose:

Government has been allowing import of Alcohol for making chemicals and for blending has allowed the procurement of indigenous Alcohol / Alcohol made from indigenous sources only.

In fact, import of hydrous Alcohol / molasses is also restricted for further processing to Anhydrous Ethanol for blending purpose.

k) Additional Basic Excise Duty @ Rs.2 per Liter levied on sale of unblended petrol:

Since 1st November 2022, there has been applicability of additional excise duty @ Rs.2.0 per Litre on Oil companies on sale of unblended petrol which has been introduced to promote Ethanol blending with petrol.

l) Priority of Syrup Ethanol followed by B heavy Molasses:

Priority of Oil companies is to procure Ethanol available within the state and then if still left with the requirement, they procure it from other states.

For procurement within the state (to promote manufacturing of Ethanol from Syrup and B heavy), Oil companies gives priority to Syrup Ethanol followed by B heavy Molasses Ethanol and then C Molasses/Grain Ethanol.

m) Increase in Ethanol storage capacity:

Oil companies have significantly increased Ethanol storage capacity at their depot levels from 5.39 crore Liters in November 2017 to current level of almost 64 crore litres and are in process of further increasing it more particularly at Depots where they have low tankage capacity.

Increased storage capacity helps in fast decantation of lorries with lower detention and provides buffer for continuous blending during off-season when ethanol supplies slows down.

n) Fast payments:

Now, with automation of systems / online software support at Oil companies end, since last 3-4 years, Oil companies are releasing fast payments where we get our payments on an average in 30 days time as against earlier release of payments in 35 - 40 days time.

It is expected that in times to come this payment time will further come down to 21 days on average basis.

o) Dedicated Ethanol plants

During September,21, to promote creation of new capacities in Ethanol deficit states, Oil companies came up with the offer of dedicated Ethanol plants for new potential parties interested in setting up Distilleries.

As per market sources, Oil companies have signed contracts for a quantity of approx. 450 crore Liters Ethanol with 131 dedicated upcoming ethanol plants with option of further increasing it to 750 crore Liters as per their designed capacity.

Oil companies further floated EOI during August 2023 month against which shortlisting done during March 2024 for 107 new projects across the country in 10 states / UTs for a capacity of 11383 KL/day i.e., 373 crore litres per annum.

Contract with dedicated plants is such that these plants must be ready in a time bound manner as agreed with oil companies and for such successful project proponents, Oil companies have assured guaranteed purchase / lifting of their production.

p) Eased Tender conditions:

Eased tender conditions like one time submission of documents, quarterly bank guarantees, multiple transportation rate slabs, transportation rates being linked to retail selling price of Diesel, long term registration of units.

From Ethanol year 2020-21, Security amount was reduced from 5% to 1% of order value and Penalty (Price reduction clause) for non-supply of Ethanol / delayed supply also reduced from 5% to 1% of basic price, to promote ethanol blending.

However, since the Ethanol year 2022-23, security deposit and penalty has been increased from 1% to 3% to prevent defaults against supply orders.

q) Ethanol supply by Rail wagons / pipeline:

Oil companies have started transporting Ethanol blended petrol to far flung states by rail rakes / pipeline to save logistics cost. In northern India such arrangement has been started at Mathura, Panipat and Kanpur depot.

Such movement is of help for distilleries also as it reduces their long-distance movement of ethanol and helps in cost savings.

r) Start of 20% blending:

Oil companies has started 20% blending at number of retail outlets across the country. From 1st April 2023, all new petrol vehicles are E 20 (20 Ethanol blended petrol) material compliant.

Very soon, Government will launch FFVs which can take higher percentage Ethanol blend and will aid in increasing Ethanol demand.

s) Policy requirements for Industry

a) Viable Price of Ethanol from Syrup / Grains:

There is a need to rationalise Ethanol price from Syrup as current Ethanol prices are not viable.

The current Syrup Ethanol basic price is Rs.65.61 per Liter and there are various proposals from the Industry Association to align it in line with the cost.

Similarly, price of Ethanol from B heavy molasses ethanol is not viable and no increase has been allowed in its price this year so far.

It is very critical need to Industry to allow the price of B Heavy and Syrup Ethanol in line with the cost.

b) Increase in Sugar MSP:

There has been no increase in Sugar MSP since Feb 2019 (more than 5 years now) when it was fixed at 31 per Kg. After that various input costs including Cane price has increased significantly. It is high time that Government should increase MSP in line with increasing cost in terms of cane price / other inputs to level of Min. Rs.40 per Kg which is also being pursued by various Industry bodies.

III. Bajaj Hindusthan Sugars (BHSL) Position

BHSL has 14 sugar plants having an aggregate crushing capacity of 136000 TCD, 6 distilleries with aggregate capacity of 800 KL/day and about 151 MW of surplus power.

Key risks and concerns

1. Raw material:

BHSL has continued its thrust on cane quality promotion and is continually investing in cane variety development. Over the last many years, the results of continued investment in Cane development are visible in the form of increased availability of better variety of cane and better Sugar recovery, results as under: -

Sugar Season (Oct - Sept)	Sugar recovery
2014-2015:	09.41%
2015-2016:	10.37%
2016-2017:	10.26%
2017-2018:	10.72%
2018-2019:	11.52%
2019-2020:	11.61%
2020-2021:	11.01%

In the above table, the efforts of the Group are clearly visible towards Cane development and quality promotion and Sugar recovery has improved by almost 23.4% from the level of 9.41 during 2014-15 to level of 11.61% during 2019-20.

From the year 2020-2021 onwards, BHSL has started producing B heavy Molasses/ Sugar syrup because of which while Sugar recovery has come down, group shall be producing more Ethanol for which price for Syrup Ethanol / B heavy slot is applicable which is higher than C Ethanol in line with the cost.

BHSL sees cane development as major thrust area to improve the revenue generation and is continuously striving towards it and every possible effort is made to increase availability of good quality cane for crushing.

The major area of concern is the ability to make timely cane price payments to farmers which is affecting the availability of cane to Group.

2. Sugar price risk:

While cane prices are fixed by the state government, sugar realisations are totally market driven and are dependent on demand supply dynamics. This at times led to a complete mismatch between the cane price and sugar realisations.

To mitigate the said Sugar price risk, Government had fixed Minimum Selling Price (MSP) of Sugar earlier at level of Rs.29.0 per Kg and now at the level of Rs.31.0 per Kg below which no Sugar Mill can sell Sugar in market.

Further, Government has implemented monthly release mechanism to regulate Sugar supply in market so that Prices remain firm. Government further taking care of excess sugar in system which might dampen prices by having policies for diversion towards Ethanol / exports out of country.

Industry is pushing hard to further increase the said MSP to the level of Rs.38-40 per Kg which is under consideration at Government end.

Further, a sizeable portion of cane / sugar is going towards manufacturing of Ethanol for which Government gives fixed price in line with the cost for the industry.

So, while there is a Sugar Price risk there is Government intervention / control to mitigate this risk.

3. Regulatory risk:

Sugar industry is subject to many regulatory risks like environment, raw material pricing, government policies, etc. The biggest risk to the business is the disjointed sugarcane price fixed by the state government.

However, to ensure liquidity and financial health for Industry, both Central & State Government keeps on providing policy and subsidy support to enable Sugar Mills to pay fixed cane price as fixed by the Government.

For Ethanol business, Government has introduced amendment in IDR amendment as per which State Government can no longer regulate Alcohol meant for industrial use. Number of states have given up / relaxed their control on Ethanol supplies.

4. De-risking strategy:

As part of our business strategy, we are rapidly de-risking our business with the investment in power generation capacity. This business is non-cyclical and therefore expected to generate steady cash flows year on year.

From Sugar Year 2020-21, we have started diverting Sugar for manufacturing of Ethanol in form of B heavy Molasses / Sugar syrup which will reduce Sugar production and help in achieving higher production of Ethanol. Sustained Ethanol supplies to Oil companies has provided some element of risk mitigation.

Table 11: Market share of BHSL in U.P. and on All India basis for Sugar basis Production: Year (Oct - Sept)

Particulars	Unit	2023-24 (estimated)	2022-23	2021-22	2020-21	2019-20	2018-19
BHSL Production	Million MT	1.35	1.29	1.28	1.53	1.94	1.83
UP Production	Million MT	10.5	10.5	10.2	11.06	12.64	11.82
All India Production	Million MT	32.0	32.8	35.79	31.19	27.41	33.16
BHSL % of UP	%	12.86	12.29	12.49	13.83	15.35	15.48
BHSL % of All India	%	4.22	3.93	3.58	4.9	7.08	5.52

Sugar market spread - All units of BHSL:

Bajaj Group (Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Limited) has 14 units evenly spread throughout the State of Uttar Pradesh with 5 sugar mills in Western UP, 5 in Central UP and 4 in Eastern UP.

Table 12: The Zone-wise details and the crushing capacity of the mills are as under:-

ZONE	NO. OF MILLS	CRUSHING CAPACITY (TCD)
WEST	5	48000
CENTRAL	5	48000
EAST	4	40000
TOTAL	14	136000

Markets

West U.P.: Sugar produced by our West UP mills is sold in the region of West UP and neighboring States in Northern India like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi etc.

Due to consistent higher Sugar production in the state and by the Group, Sugar is sold to North-East States also like West Bengal, Assam etc. where it is going by rail rakes.

Central U.P.: Sugar produced in our Barkhera and Maqsoodapur mills is sold partly in the Central U.P. and in nearby states i.e., Rajasthan, M.P., Gujarat, North-East states and at times to Haryana, Orissa. The sugar produced by Gola, Palia and Khambarkhera mills is sold in Central UP, East UP, Bihar, Bengal, Jharkhand, M.P. and North-East States.

East U.P.: Sugar produced by our East UP Mills is sold in the region of Eastern UP and states like Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam and North-East States.

Institutional buyers: Company is increasing its focus on Sale of Sugar to Institutional buyers and now have Food Safety System Certification (FSSC) 22000 license in 4 Sugar units i.e., Kinauni, Gangnauli, Barkhera and Kundarkhi unit and selling Sugar to Institutional buyers like Pepsi (Varun Beverages), Wrigley, Walmart, ITC, Dabur, Hamdard, Reliance, Udaan etc.

Competition

Other than the mills in state of UP, we face competition mainly from mills in the state of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, A.P., Tamil Nadu. For movement of sugar to neighboring states like Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, UP mills face competition from mills in these states, as well. Sugar sales market reach / penetration is purely based on the price parity and Quality with competing mills. Sugar Mills are focusing on Quality of Sugar in terms of color (ICUMSA), Grain size, luster, etc., number of mills converting from sulphitation sugar to refined sugar which is giving edge to such good quality sugar in competition.

No competition from Sugar imports

Since Sugar imports are not viable and not happening so no competition from Imported Sugar.

IV. Internal Control System and their Adequacy

An effective Internal Control system in an Organization provides reasonable assurance to management and stakeholders regarding effectiveness of its policies, processes, tasks, behaviours etc. It also helps to ensure the quality of Internal and external reporting, compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Effective Internal Control helps in identification and analysis of various associated risks like Process, Regulatory, Market, Financial risks etc. and helps the management in designing and implementing a suitable action plan to avoid / overcome that risks. It includes formulation & implementation of policies & procedures, safeguarding of its Assets, prevention & timely detection of Frauds & efficient conduct of its business and preparing reliable financial information. BHSL Internal Control system is commensurate with its size of business and nature of its operations.

BHSL has in place an adequate system of Internal Controls designed to ensure that all the transactions are authorised, recorded and reported correctly. The Company also has in place a well-defined Delegation of Power (DOP) and various Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) covering different areas which further strengthens Internal Control. BHSL has a strong and Independent Internal Audit department which reports to the Audit Committee of the Board to maintain its objectivity and independence. The reports of the Internal Audit department are sent to concerned Department Heads responsible for taking corrective actions. Significant Audit observations and corrective action thereon are reviewed by management and subsequently placed before the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors along with the action plan recommended by respective Functional Heads. The directions of the Audit Committee are implemented by the respective Head of the Departments and action taken reports are placed before the Audit Committee members in next meeting for their perusal.

V. Human Resources/Industrial Relations

Throughout the past year, the Companys Sugar Mills and Head Office have maintained positive and productive industrial relations. Our unwavering commitment is to cultivate an organizational environment that fosters the growth and development of our employees, enabling them to thrive within an inclusive and transparent culture, aligning with our "Group Vision (Think Tomorrow)". We strive for BHSL to emerge as the industry leader, driven by a foundation built upon robust Human Resource (HR) practices, blending innovative methodologies with complementary HR processes and systems.

Our HR policies undergo regular scrutiny, adaptation, and enhancement to ensure their relevance, effectiveness, and benefit both to our employees and the Company as a whole. Our primary aim is to ensure the seamless implementation of these transparent policies. As of March 31, 2024, BHSL boasts a workforce of 7374 employees. Below, we outline the various HR initiatives undertaken by the Company over the past year:

Training Programmes

• Training & Development - During the fiscal year 2023-24, the HR department orchestrated a diverse array of training programs leveraging internal expertise. Through meticulous planning, the HR team developed a comprehensive training calendar spanning six months, strategically scheduling sessions during off-peak seasons in consultation with all departments to ensure relevance and optimal participation. Once finalized, the schedule, topics, and participant lists were disseminated to all stakeholders by the HR department. On average, each training session attracted 28-32 attendees.

The training sessions, facilitated by our internal experts, covered a wide spectrum of topics essential to our operations and employee development. These included but were not limited to: Irrigation and Pest Control Techniques, Cane Centre Management, Cane Sowing Practices, Safety Protocols, Fundamental and General Awareness of MEE Plant Operations, ESP & Ash Handling Systems, Awareness on Health and Occupational Diseases, Firefighting Procedures, Environmental Conservation, GST (Goods and Services Tax) Compliance, Computer Literacy. These training initiatives underscore our commitment to nurturing a knowledgeable, skilled, and safety-conscious workforce, equipped to tackle challenges and contribute effectively to our organizational objectives.

• Induction Program for New Employees - Induction programs are regularly being conducted at unit level, as well as, in offices by HR department for all new employees. This is an interactive program, supplemented by power-point presentation, about the Company.

• Activities and Events - As a part of Employees Engagement Programmes, religious, cultural, national integration programmes were conducted, e.g. Annual function of Holi Milan, Shivalya Temple, Janmashtami, Dussehra, Diwali, Teej, Lohri festival, New Year celebrations, Republic Day, Independence Day, Vishwakarma Day, Environment Day, Safety Week (March 4 to 10), Jamnalal Bajaj ji Jayanti (Nov. 4), Labour Day (May 1), various type of children events like Drawing Competition, Annual Picnic & Excursion Tours etc.

Corporate Social Responsibility

1. Bajaj Public School (BPS) - (affiliated to CBSE):

In furtherance of the guiding philosophy of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the group visualised the dire need to impart high standard education at low cost to the wards of the inhabitants. The Bajaj Public School is a non-profit making organization, is an outcome to fulfil the said need. It was incorporated during 2009 and now it has branches in Maqsoodapur, Gola, Palia, Barkhera, Kinauni, Gangnauli, Bilai, Utraula and Lalitpur.

BPS has so far taken responsibility to nurture positively the delicate and tender minds of approx. 1500 students. School is running as a creative centre for learning and development. It has provided employment to more than 140 people, including the spouses of the employees. BPS solely aims to continuously connect, grow, serve and reach new horizons.

2. Other activities

a) General Medical Checkup, Eye Check-up, Dental Check-up, distribution of masks, sanitization in Factory Campus and in neighbouring villages, etc.

b) Woollen clothes & Blanket distribution, among the under-privileged class of surrounding areas.

c) Kanwar Seva Shivir on Mahashivratri Parv.

d) Distributing Organic Manure on subsidized rates to the farmers, safety glasses were also distributed to farmers.

e) In winters, lighting Alao at every Chauraha by distributing bagasse.

f) Health check-up camps by local hospital were held at offices & units, wherein a team, comprising of specialized Doctors i.e. Medicines & Eye, conducted medical check-up. The employees and their families got themselves checked and benefited from this health camp. Among the other beneficiaries, there were various outsiders, farmers also.

VI. Financial Analysis of Operations of the Company

The financial results for the year under review from April 01, 2023 to March 31, 2024.

Table 13: Operational data

	Unit	Year ended March 31,2024	Year ended March 31, 2023
Cane Crushing	MMT	12.819	13.842
Sugar Recovery	%	10.89	9.74
Sugar Production - From Cane	MT	13,93,171	13,48,640
Industrial Alcohol Production	KL	1,78,121	1,88,609
Molasses Production - C	MT	5,23,678	1,63,196
Molasses Production - B-Heavy	MT	72,832	6,33,387
Power Generation	000 Units	7,22,987	7,16,566

During the year, the production of sugar from sugarcane was at 13,93,171 MT as compared to 13,48,640 MT during the previous year. The production of molasses-C was at 5,23,678 MT and molasses B-heavy was at 72,832 MT as compared to 1,63,196 MT molasses-C and 6,33,387 MT molasses B-heavy in the previous year. The industrial alcohol / ethanol production was at 1,78,121 KL as compared to 1,88,609 KL in the previous year. Power generation was at 722.99 Million Units (MUs) as compared to 716.56 MUs in the previous year. Average recovery of sugar from sugarcane 10.89% during the current year as compared to 9.74% in the previous year.

Results of operations

Table 14: Summarised financial results

Particulars	Year ended March 31,2024	Year ended March 31, 2023
Revenue	6,089.37	6,319.34
Earnings before interest depreciation and tax (EBIDTA)	272.67	271.93
Finance Costs (Net)	155.70	210.10
Cash profits	116.97	61.83
Depreciation & amortisation	212.87	213.17
Profit/(Loss) before tax	(95.90)	(151.34)
Tax expenses	(4.37)	(3.60)
Profit/(Loss) after tax	(91.53)	(147.74)
Basic and Diluted earnings per share ( Rs.)	(0.74)	(1.19)

Crore

Turnover

During the year ended March 31, 2024, the Companys total revenue was Rs.6,089.37 crore as against Rs.6,319.34 crore in the previous year.

Analysis of sales

During the year, the Company sold 13,33,980 MT of sugar as against 14,22,798 MT during the previous year. The Company sold 80,379 MT of molasses as against 1,03,776 MT in the previous year. However, alcohol/ethanol sales during the year was at 1,52,719 KL as against 1,85,366 KL during the previous year.

The Company exported 185.63 MUs of power during the year as against 170.60 MUs during the previous year. Product-wise sales quantity, value and per unit realisation details are given in Table 15:

Table 15: Sales revenue

		Year ended March 31,2024			Year ended March 31, 2023
Particulars	Unit	Qty	Value Rs.Crore	Realisation* /MT/KL/ 000 Units	Qty	Value Rs.Crore	Realisation* /MT/KL/ 000 Units
Sugar	MT	13,33,980	5,020.63	37,636.65	14,22,798	4,951.79	34,803
Alcohol/ Ethanol	KL	1,52,719	868.65	56,879.25	1,85,366	1,055.92	56,964
Molasses	MT	80,379.19	12.63	1,570.80	1,03,776	17.06	2,100
Power	000 Units	1,85,630	62.96	3,391.75	1,70,600	55.19	3,230

Industrial alcohol was sold in the local market directly to end users, mainly alcohol-based chemical plants. Ethanol was sold to oil companies, who use it for blending with gasoline.

The other operating revenue includes, sale of pesticides of Rs.42.58 crore, sale of scrap of Rs.9.27 crore, lease rent income of Rs.6.24 crore and other miscellaneous operating income of Rs.5.14 crore.

Other income

Other income for the current year was Rs.12.81 crore (including interest income of Rs.1.47 crore, and other miscellaneous income was at Rs.11.34 crore) as against Rs.17.02 crore (including interest income of Rs.1.08 crore, and other miscellaneous income of Rs.15.94 crore) in the previous year.

Other expenses

During the year, other expenses were Rs.552.99 crore as against Rs.489.70 crore in the previous year.

Earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation (EBIDTA)

The EBIDTA for the current year at Rs.272.67 crore as against Rs.271.93 crore in the previous year.

Finance costs

Finance cost for the current year was Rs.155.70 crore as against Rs.210.10 crore in the previous year, due to repayments of loans.

Depreciation and amortisation

The depreciation for the current year was at Rs.212.87 crore as against Rs.213.16 crore in the previous year.

Tax expenses

In the absence of profits, no provision for current tax has been made in the current year as well as in the previous year.

Balance sheet

The summarised balance sheet as at March 31, 2024 is given in Table 16.

Table 16: Summarised balance sheet

		Rs. Crore
As at	March 31, 2024	March 31, 2023
ASSETS
Non-current assets
Fixed assets
Property, plant and equipment	6,390.54	6,597.60
Right of use assets	0.03	2.02
Capital work-in-progress	4.00	1.05
Intangible assets	0.00	0.00
Non-current investments	3,685.25	3,613.06
Other non-current financial assets	11.25	13.97
Other non-current assets	87.09	154.65
Sub total	10,178.16	10,382.35
Current assets
Inventories	2,715.56	2,607.71
Financial assets
Trade receivables	151.77	138.10
Cash and cash equivalents	48.15	21.31
Other bank balances		0.00
Loans	1,643.25	1,643.25
Current tax assets (net)	12.40	12.75
Other current assets	660.92	672.67
Sub total	5,232.05	5,095.79
Total assets	15,410.21	15,478.14
EQUITY AND LIABILITIES
Shareholders Fund
Equity	124.45	124.45
Other equity	4,368.53	4,374.28
Sub total	4,492.98	4,498.73

 

		Rs. Crore
As at	March 31,2024	March 31, 2023
Non-current liabilities
Financial liabilities
Borrowings	3,493.41	3,809.03
Lease liabilities	0.00	0.03
Provisions	100.06	95.79
Deferred tax liabilities (net)	922.26	939.55
Other non-current liabilities	17.37	20.05
Sub total	4,533.10	4,864.45
Current liabilities
Financial liabilities
Borrowings	275.88	434.41
Lease liabilities	0.03	2.42
Trade payables	3,585.51	4,508.23
Other financial liabilities	0.00	0.00
Other current liabilities	2,494.24	1,146.61
Short-term provisions	28.47	23.29
Sub total	6,384.13	6,114.96
Total equity and liabilities	15,410.21	15,478.14

Share capital

There was no change in share capital during the year.

Other equity

Other equity has decreased to Rs.4,368.53 crore as at March 31, 2024 from Rs.4,374.28 crore as at March 31, 2023 mainly due to increase in fair Value of Investments net of Deferred tax Rs.85.11 crore loss for the year Rs.(91.53) crore, and change in Other Comprehensive Income on actuarial valuation of deemed employee benefit Rs.0.67 crore

Non-current borrowings

Long-term borrowings was at Rs.3,493.41 crore as at March 31,2024 as against Rs.3,809.03 crore in the previous year ended March 31, 2023.

Current borrowings

Current maturity of Long-term borrowings was at Rs.275.88 crore as at March 31, 2024 as against Rs.434.41 crore in the previous year ended March 31, 2023.

Property, plant and equipment

Gross Block has decreased to Rs.10,672.03 crore from Rs.10,683.43 crore, on account of routine capitalization/ decapitalization during the year. The net block stood at Rs.6,390.57 crore as against Rs.6,599.62 crore.

Investments

Investment was at Rs.3,685.25 crore as at March 31, 2024 as against Rs.3613.06 crore in the previous year ended March 31, 2023. The changes are mainly due to fair valuation of investment of Phenil Sugar Limited and Bajaj Power Venture Pvt. Ltd.

Inventories

The inventory of sugar at the end of the current year was 6,28,310 MT equivalent to 172 days sales as compared to 146 days sales in the previous year. Alcohol inventory at the end of the current year was 34,939 KL equivalent to 84 days sales as compared to 20 days sales in the previous year.

In view of expected volume growth, the inventory liquidation is monitored very closely and the Company does not foresee any difficulty in selling the products manufactured by it.

Debtors

The debtors at the end of the current year were equivalent to 9 days of sales as compared to 8 days of sales in the previous year ended March 31, 2023. All the debtors are good and realisable.

Significant non-recurring income, expenditure and other items Income

Provision no longer required/credit balance appropriated Rs.1.21 crore and miscellaneous receipts Rs.2.44 crore were of a non-recurring nature.

Expenditure

The Gain on assets sold/discarded Rs.0.04 crore is of a non-recurring nature.

Contingent liabilities

The status of contingent liabilities as at March 31, 2024 has been reviewed by the management. Efforts are being made for speedy settlement of pending cases.

Ratios

Comparative analysis of Important Ratios with variance is tabulated below:

Description	Ratio (Current Year)	Ratio (Previous Year)	Variance (%)	Reasons for significant variance
Debtors Turnover Ratio	41.49	34.91	18.85%	Trade Debtor Realised
Inventory Turnover Ratio	2.34	2.38	-1.68%	Increase in Inventory
Interest Coverage Ratio	1.77	1.30	36.15%	Repayment of Loan

 

Description	Ratio (Current Year)	Ratio (Previous Year)	Variance (%)	Reasons for significant variance
Current Ratio	0.82	0.83	-1.20%	No major movements
Debt Equity Ratio	0.84	0.94	10.64%	Repayment of Loan
Operating Profit Margin Ratio	0.98%	0.93%	5.38%	Better Operational Performance
Net Profit Margin Ratio	-1.59%	-2.46%	35.37%	Better operating Performance
Return on Net Worth	-2.04%	-4.01%	49.13%	Better operating Performance

Operating margin in the current year as compared to previous year improved due to better realization of sugar / Ethanol and better recovery of sugar.

Control measures for cane procurement

Besides the smooth functioning of plants, timely and regular procurement of sugarcane is the most important activity of the Company. Continuous efforts are being made to ensure systematic indenting, procurement and crushing of sugarcane. Though the current systems are adequate, as a matter of routine, these systems are periodically reviewed by the senior management team from time to time and corrective measures, if and when considered necessary, are taken to ensure the smooth flow of sugarcane.

Unit-wise operations Sugar division

Crushing details of plants during the year ended March 31, 2024, are given in Table 17:

Table 17: Cane crushing, sugar recovery and sugar production

Plant Location	Zone	2023-24			2022-23
		Cane Crushing (MMT)	Sugar Recovery (%)	Sugar Production (Tonnes)	Cane Crushing (MMT)	Sugar Recovery (%)	Sugar Production (Tonnes)
Gola Gokarannath	Central UP	1.543	10.84	1,67,202	1.547	9.25	1,43,116
Palia Kalan	Central UP	1.213	10.93	1,32,500	1.316	8.41	1,10,617
Khambarkhera	Central UP	1.059	11.07	1,13,715	1.003	9.54	95,721
Barkhera	Central UP	0.572	10.22	58,451	0.866	9.86	85,418
Maqsoodapur	Central UP	0.613	10.67	65,406	0.642	9.33	59,882
Kinauni	Western UP	1.806	11.50	2,07,664	1.845	10.48	1,93,361
Thanabhawan	Western UP	1.176	11.11	1,30,580	1.373	9.78	1,34,281
Budhana	Western UP	1.227	11.19	1,37,395	1.342	10.19	1,36,746
Bilai	Western UP	1.196	11.92	1,42,540	1.395	11.54	1,60,912
Gangnauli	Western UP	0.712	10.20	72,646	1.142	9.65	1,10,200
Pratappur	Eastern UP	0.196	8.68	17,023	0.170	7.93	13,434
Rudhauli	Eastern UP	0.227	9.40	26,006	0.235	8.35	19,616
Utraula	Eastern UP	0.377	10.04	37,831	0.318	8.60	27,296
Kundarkhi	Eastern UP	0.852	9.89	84,212	0.649	8.95	58,040
Total		12.819	10.89	13,93,171	13.842	9.74	13,48,640

Sacrifice of Sugar for B-Heavy Molasses

Out of total cane crushing of 12.82 MMT, the Company crushed 0.73 MMT cane from B-heavy molasses route which amounts to 5.69% of the total cane crushed. Diversion of sugarcane for B-heavy molasses route resulted in reduction of sugar recovery by 1.45%, and approximate sugar loss of 0.17 lakh MT. This has resulted in increased production of ethanol.

Distillery division

The distillery division produced 1,78,121 KL (includes 1,11,443 KL of Ethanol produced from B-heavy molasses) of industrial alcohol/ethanol during the current year against 1,88,609 KL (includes 1,67,649 KL of Ethanol produced from B-heavy molasses) in the previous year. Likewise alcohol/ethanol sales aggregated during the current year at 1,52,719 KL (includes sales of 1,06,175 KL of ethanol produced from B-heavy molasses) against 1,85,366 KL (includes sales of 1,63,370 KL of ethanol produced from B-heavy molasses) in the previous year. In value terms, the sale of industrial alcohol/ethanol during the year is Rs.868.65 crore (includes sales of Rs.644.14 crore of ethanol produced from B-heavy molasses) as against Rs.1,055.93 crore (includes sales of Rs.984.21 crore of ethanol produced from B-heavy molasses) in the previous year.

Power division

The sale of power was recorded at Rs.62.96 crore in the current year as against Rs.55.19 crore in the previous year. The Company continued optimal use of co-gen capacities with better planning.

Board division

The operations at all plants of board division were suspended due to non-availability of adequate quantity of sugarcane bagasse at affordable prices and inadequate demand of the products in the market.

Accounting policies

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) under the historical cost convention on the accrual basis except for:

Certain financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value,

Defined benefit plans - plan assets measured at fair value.

With effect from April 01, 2017, the financial statements of the Company have been prepared to comply with the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) notified under Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015 read with Section 133 of the Companies Act, 2013.

Cautionary/futuristic statements

Statements in the management discussion and analysis report describing the Companys objectives, projections, estimates and expectations may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable laws and regulations and futuristic in nature. Actual performance may differ materially from those either expressed or implied. Such statements represent the intentions of the management and the efforts put into realising certain goals. Success in realising these depends on various factors both internal and external. Investors, therefore, are requested to make their own independent judgements before taking any investment decisions.