Diligent Industries Ltd Management Discussions

I. Industry structure and development:

The history of edible oils in India dates back centuries, with a rich tradition of oilseed cultivation and oil extraction. India is one of the oldest producers of edible oils in the world, with ancient texts mentioning the extraction of oils from various seeds and nuts.

Traditionally, the Indian subcontinent has been a major producer of oilseeds, including mustard, groundnut, sesame, and sunflower. Each region of India has its own set of preferred cooking oils based on availability and culinary traditions. For example, mustard oil is commonly used in North India, while coconut oil is popular in the southern states.

The liberalization of the Indian economy in the early 1990s had a significant impact on the edible oil sector. It led to an influx of foreign investments and the entry of multinational corporations into the market. This period also saw the emergence of branded and packaged edible oils, changing the way consumers purchased and consumed oils.

The Edible Oils market covers any type of oil that is extracted from plants and nuts and is used for cooking and food preparation. Growing demand for edible oil and rapid growth and expansion in the food sector is expected to enhance the growth of the edible oil market. Also, the emerging application of corn oil in industries is projected to provide immense market opportunities in the upcoming period. Canola oil is a healthier and cheaper alternative to olive oil because of its lowest fat content, around 6 percent among all other type of edible oils. As a result of various benefits of edible oil, an increase in the demand for this oil ultimately drives the market growth.

• Revenue in the Edible Oils market amounts to US$34.75bn in 2024. The market is expected to grow annually by 4.94% (CAGR 2024-2029).

• In global comparison, most revenue is generated in India (US$34,750m in 2024).

• In relation to total population figures, per person revenues of US$24.10 are generated in 2024.

• In the Edible Oils market, volume is expected to amount to 7.92bn kg by 2029. The Edible Oils market is expected to show a volume growth of 1.3% in 2025.

• The average volume per person in the Edible Oils market is expected to amount to 5.20 kg in 2024.

• India Edible Oil Market to Grow with a CAGR of 1.5% through 2028

The edible oils market is expected to reach USD 190.88 billion by 2030, which is USD 102.37 billion in 2022, registering a CAGR of 8.10% during the forecast period of 2023 to 2030. In addition to the insights on market scenarios such as market value, growth rate, segmentation, geographical coverage, and major players.

According to the TechSci Research report, “India Edible Oil Market - Industry Size, Share, Trends, Competition, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2019-2029F”, the India Edible Oil market stood at USD 4.2 billion in 2023 and is anticipated to grow with a CAGR of 1.5% in the forecast period, 2025-2029. The India edible oil market is a critical and dynamic component of the countrys food and agricultural sector. It plays a vital role in meeting the dietary needs of Indias vast and diverse population, making it one of the most significant segments of the Indian economy.

II. Strengths/Opportunities:

a. A well-established supplier in the edible oil segment, in operation and manufacturing a diverse range of edible oils covering refined castor oil, rice bran oil, palm oil, cottonseed oil, groundnut oil and other vegetable oils.

b. The promoters are having more than a decade of experience in the business of edible as well as non-edible oils.

c. The Company has its extensive marketing and distribution network which reaches out the customers in India.

d. The Companys focus is on Healthy edible oils which include rice bran oil and vegetable oil as they are more preferred with increasing health consciousness in the country - edible oil segment is growing at a CAGR of 10% to 15% and as such health friendly oils are growing at a CAGR of over 20% in India. This creates a big opportunity for the company to make its existing local brands popular on a national scale.

III. Weaknesses / Risks and concern:

• Business Risk:

The Edible Oil Industry is exposed to significant threats that arise because of price volatilities, regulatory uncertainties and raw material availability concerns. It also faces stiff challenges in marketing its products since there is little product differentiation, and assured off-take or long-term contracts are few and far between. The industry also has a high credit risk, which arises from its widespread debtor base and the trading nature of Its operations. Solvent extraction units face huge raw material availability risks since oilseed imports are minimal and largely restricted. Hence, the domestic extraction industry has to depend solely on the domestic crop, which, in turn, depends on monsoons, crop yields, and area under cultivation, minimum support prices and other financial incentives announced by the government. Apart from its highly seasonal nature, oilseed production fluctuates widely because of these variables. Moreover, nearly 35 percent of domestic oil consumption is dependent on imports. Hence, global demand-supply dynamics too have a key bearing on domestic realizations with domestic prices increasingly aligning themselves to international ones. Since international oil prices continue to exhibit highly volatile patterns, they affect domestic players. Although the industry offers a natural hedge to some extent since input and output prices are correlated, any adverse movement in prices could make the business unviable because of the industry is extremely thin bottom-line. The domestic Edible Oil Industry also faces significant regulatory risks as evident in the Governments increasing interventions through frequent changes in customs and excise duty structures and international trade-related regulations (import and export restrictions). These changes have a far-reaching impact on players since the consumers high price sensitivity leads to shifts in the demand pattern among various edible oils. As a result, one oil category often expands at the cost of another.

• Government Policies:

The policies announced by the Government have been progressive and are expected to remain likewise in future, and have generally taken an equitable view towards various stakeholders, including domestic farmers, industry, consumers etc. Government policies play an important role in the businesses of your Company.

• Risk Mitigation Practices Availability Risk:

Industry players maintain adequate stocks to achieve optimal capacity utilization during the offseason, making their operations highly working capital-intensive and raising stockholding costs. This practice also increases price risk to some extent, since the industry could face volatility between the procurement of the inputs and the sale of the outputs, impacting margins. Companies also prefer to be located close to raw material sources.

• Price Risk:

Companies use risk mitigation tools such as agro-commodity futures to manage price risk. Globally, commodity exchanges like the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) have significantly higher volumes than the equity exchanges in the country, but domestic exchanges have low volumes and have traditionally been technologically inferior to their international counterparts. Nationwide commodity exchanges have come up recently such as the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) and Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX), which are trying to match international standards of connectivity and scalability. Nevertheless, a significant proportion of domestic players still do not hedge their positions, leading to high volatility in margins. Companies also use for ward currency covers for imports and exports to hedge against currency risks. Besides, big players are looking at branding and retailing of edible oils since this offers higher realizations and greater pricing flexibility than bulk oils. This, however, entails considerable investments in a marketing and distribution network and requires a reasonable size of operation, which small-unorganized players may not possess.

• Regulatory Risk:

Some of the Edible Oil players are diversifying their operations across more than one oil category to insulate themselves from any demand substitution due to relative duty changes. Also, some companies have set up import-based refining plants in areas that offer tax breaks such as Kandla Port in Gujarat to save on customs duty, apart from enjoying cost economies because of their proximity to the input source.

• Credit Risk:

On an average, players provide a credit period of 2 to 4 weeks. While this is specific to a players internal credit policy, a high debtor turnover is desirable. Additional incentives such as cash discounts are also a common feature in the business. Companies also enter into letter of credit-based contracts for exports of DOC and other products.

• Risk Management Policy:

The Company, by adopting a Risk Management Policy, has ensured the awareness of its standards for risk taking while conducting business. The aim of this policy is not to eliminate risk. It is to assist personnel to manage the risks involved in all activities to maximize opportunities and minimize adverse consequences.

IV. Outlook:

The Russia-Ukraine war has had an immense impact on the edible oil market and once again highlighted Indias vulnerability to the global edible market vagaries. Even before the war, global vegetable oil supplies had tightened due to a drought in South America which resulted in the reduction of soybean yield.

The India edible oil market size reached 24.3 Million Tons in 2022. Looking forward, IMARC Group expects the market to reach 26.7 Million Tons by 2028, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 1.55% during 2023-2028. India currently represents the worlds largest importer of edible oil in the world.

Compared to a base value of USD 464.48 billion in 2022, Grand View Research projects that the edible oil and fats market will grow at a CAGR (2023-2030) of 7.5% to create an edible oil market size of USD 831.10 billion in 2030.

Imports:

The country has to rely on imports to meet the gap between demand and supply. Import of edible oil is under Open General License. In order to harmonize the interests of farmers, processors and consumers and at the same time, regulate large import of edible oils to the extent possible, import duty structure on edible oils is reviewed from time to time.

In a bid to control the continuous rise in the cooking oil prices since past one year, the Central Government has cut the basic duty on Crude Palm Oil, Crude Soyabean Oil and Crude Sunflower Oil from 2.5% to Nil. The Agri- cess on these Oils has been brought to 5%. This duty has been extended upto 31st March, 2025. The basic duty on Refined Soyabean oil and Refined Sunflower Oil has been reduced to 17.5% from 32.5% and the basic duty on Refined Palm Oils has been reduced from 17.5% to 12.5%.

Import Duty of Refined Soyabean oil and Refined Sunflower Oil has been reduced to 17.5% from 12.5% on 14th June 2023. This duty has been extended up to 31st March, 2025. The Government has extended the free import of Refined Palm Oils till further orders.

Image Source: Department of Food and Public Distribution Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India

V. Internal Control System and its Adequacy:

DIL has well-established processes and clearly-defined roles and responsibilities for people at various levels. This, coupled with adequate internal information systems embedded in business automation software, ensures proper information flow for the decision-making process. Adherence to these processes is ensured through frequent internal audits. The Executive Committees monitors business operations through regular reviews of performance vis-a-vis budgets. An extensive program of internal audit conducted by the internal audit team, reviewed by the Audit Committee, and requisite guidelines and procedures augment the internal controls. The internal control system is designed to ensure that financial and other records are reliable for preparing financial statements and other information. These procedures ensure that all transactions are properly reported and classified in the financial records.

VI. Financial Performance with respect to operational Performance:

During the year under review, the management concentrated on the optimum utilization of working capital resources and better financial management along with debtors as it could save interest costs. However, non-availability of raw-materials timely affected the margins severely. The Company continues to concentrate on better working capital management as other overheads could not be controlled.

VII. Human Relations and Industry Relations:

The Company continued to make significant progress on strengthening HR Processes and Practices to build organization for current as well as future sustainability during the year. The Company focuses on providing individual development and growth in a professional work culture that ensures high performance. The Company has concentrated on enhancing capability of employees that ultimately helps achieving better standards of operations. The Company organizes various Seminars for the up gradation of Employees. Moreover, to enhance the skills of Employees various Training programs are also arranged by the Company

VIII. Ratio Analysis:

During the year under review, there have been no significant changes in the key financial ratios in comparison with FY 2023-24.

IX. Cautionary Statement

Some of the statements contained in this report related to objectives, outlook and expectations may be ‘forward looking statements within the meaning of applicable laws and regulations. Actual results may differ from those expressed or implied. Factors that could make significant difference to the Companys operations including economic developments, government regulations, patent and tax laws and related factors.

The company assumes no responsibility to publicly amend, modify or revise any forward-looking statements, on the basis of any subsequent developments, information or events.

Source:

1. https://www.statista.com

2. https://www.linkedin.com

3. The TechSci Research Report

		By order of the Board of Directors
		For DILIGENT INDUSTRIES LIMITED
Place	: Denduluru
Date:	07.08.2024
		Sd/-
		Bhanu Prakash Vankineni
		Managing Director
		DIN:00919910
		Sd/-
		Phani Anupama Vankineni
		Director
		DIN: 00935032