Foods & Inns Ltd

FY 2020-21 was full of lessons that taught us about resilience, prudence, survival and most importantly, being ready for anything anytime. The year started with the pandemic led lockdown creating a panic-like situation across businesses, industries and among mankind in general around the world.

The Year That Was...

It indeed was a year unlike any other we have seen so far. Foods and Inns family lost 3 of its members to the ruthless COVID-19. Our heart goes out to the families of these members and we pray for the peace of the departed souls. While 2021 brought with it a fair degree of hope and optimism, I believe we must now embrace living in a world where the new normal and never normal coexist. This crisis has instrumented some lasting changes in the way consumers and businesses will function. There are some significant structural changes in the way we live and work, the way we consume, shop, and interact with others. And they are here to stay.

Testing Times Bring Out the Best

The phrase 'Survival of the fittest' was apt given the circumstances. At F&I, we survived the first and second pandemic waves with our agility and resilience. Not only that, we also emerged stronger than before, thanks to our ecosystem of farmers, vendors, employees, customers, financiers, shareholders and well-wishers.

Towards a Sustainable Future

At F&I, our ambition is to build on our vision of putting up world-class processing facilities and to build some of the most trusted consumer brands going ahead. With this as the background, you will see a significant shift in our approach, one of greater aggression and one with sharper execution.

Our market share of our core products has increased and to leverage the opportunities we are further deploying additional resources towards becoming global leaders in the space. We are undertaking greenfield and brownfield expansions which we expect to be commissioned by the end of calendar year 2022. We are also on the lookout for inorganic expansions wherever we come across a good opportunity with a strategic fit to our existing business. We have deep conviction in India's consumer growth story and are confident of our competencies and capabilities. Our model revolves principally around customers and our business decisions are taken with customers at the core. We believe the time is right to experiment more, concentrate on segments that we deem would offer the best opportunities for returns. Powered by a strong governance culture and steered by a highly motivated management team, we are working towards creating a better tomorrow by pioneering change in the Indian food processing industry.

At F&I, we have started focussing on sustainability initiatives. Our sustainable agricultural interventions aim to transform the fruit and agricultural value chain globally and the lives of lakhs of farmers who are part of our ecosystem. We encourage, educate and monitor our farmer base to adopt sustainable farming practices and in turn remunerate them with higher realisations through the support of our value chain ecosystem.

Human Resource: Our Key Asset

Employees are at the core of F&I, and we believe in the inclusive growth of our employees through the right engagement. Our people are the Company's pillars, and we ensure nurturing them at every step. We initiated employee- friendly policies to provide medical facilities and financial help to affected employees and their families, along with reimbursement of vaccine costs, family care policies like extended periods of sickness leaves, and death compensation benefits to the nominee of the deceased employees. Our dedicated team keeps us going and aiming for newer highs, and we take care of their overall development, acknowledging their efforts through rewards and recognitions.

Vote of Thanks and Gratitude

In times such as this, our people's spirit and compassion make my belief stronger on our core philosophy of 'Creating Value and Driving Sustainable Growth for a Better Tomorrow'.

I express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to all the COVID warriors who have delivered exceptional service in such trying circumstances. This includes members of the Foods & Inns family who have tirelessly put others before themselves - both on the job and off it. Along with other members of the Board, I am thankful to our customers, suppliers, and the Government for their continued support and belief in us.

We are in for exciting times ahead. The old maxim 'Change is the only constant' could well have been written for 2021 and beyond.