Dear Shareholder,
I am delighted to express my thoughts as we reach the end of another
exciting year at Heritage Foods.
In FY2024, the company experienced a journey characterised by
diligence, commitment and achievements in the ever-changing Indian dairy landscape.
This past year demonstrated our commitment to achieve the highest
standards of quality, as seen by notable accomplishments in expanding our operations and
promoting sustainability.
India is a frontier market opportunity.
The country is becoming prosperous and more people are getting into the
consumer class with increasing discretionary income. There are structural opportunities in
the premiumisation and urbanisation trends too, with health, fitness and nutrition taking
centre stage in peoples' lives. These are clear growth opportunities in the mid to
long-term, especially with India setting itself the ambitious target of becoming a
$7-trillion economy and capturing the slot of the third largest economy by 2030.
Over the past few years, we have seen a significant increase in the
demand for quality packaged dairy products that has lifted the growth rate of the sector
as a whole. Beneficiaries have been frontline players like Heritage that have focused on
execution to gain scale and market share. This has been accelerated by innovation across
the board that has given us the growth momentum.
Given the improving macroeconomic prospects, we have focused on
enhancing our fundamentals, be it across our supply and distribution ends, operations,
human resources, or in our financial management.
We have maintained flexibility and responsiveness, giving our consumers
new products as well as venturing into new high-potential markets.
We acknowledge the importance of integrating environmental, social and
governance (ESG) factors into our culture and operations. Our key objectives are to
preserve natural resources, empower our farming community who form the backbone of rural
India, and encourage practices that are ethical, transparent and help build trust.
Dairy farmers are the key support of our company. Their welfare has a
direct influence on our performance and achievements. We have prioritised empowering our
farmers by implementing grassroots programmes to improve their social and economic
welfare. Many thousands of farmers have been with us from day one which is a matter of
great pride for us.
In closing, I would like to express my gratitude to all our
stakeholders who have placed their trust with us. We appreciate your ongoing support in
our journey and will continue to focus our efforts on being a sustainable and
value-generative dairy enterprise.
Thanks,
A V Girijakumar
Chairperson