Management has proactively cut feed prices by ₹3/kg to support farmers spooked by US tariffs. This reveals a strategic choice to prioritize the long-term health of their customer base (the shrimp farmers) over short-term profit maximization.

“Immediately after the announcement of reciprocal tariff by U.S., there was a lot of concern by the farmers, the government, the state government, and all they came and we had a series of discussions with them. And to accommodate and to see that the aquaculture continues, the sustainability is maintained, we have to take a price cut by decreasing the price by 3 rupees per kg. So that will have an impact... full impact also will be there in this quarter.”

“And hopefully the raw material prices stabilize and they should be able to maintain same level of profitability in Q1 of FY'25-26. That should be because normally Q1 and Q2 are the good two quarters which we make.”

— C. Ramachandra Rao, Joint Managing Director

“Management provides a sophisticated analysis of the relative competitive landscape after tariffs. This goes beyond a simple "tariffs are bad" narrative.”

“The higher end [tariffs] is 26 percent. So, then the tariff would be as follows. Ecuador would be 10%, India would be 26%... Indonesia would be, I think, about 32% or 35 something, and Vietnam would be over 40%. So, I think, generally, we'll be number two. We will lose competitiveness over Ecuador, but we'll gain competitiveness against shrimp farming countries in Asia. So, I think overall, it'd be, like, average, not too bad, not too good.”

“That being said, our competitive advantage against Ecuador will be reduced. But however, the only silver line is that Ecuador doesn't produce a lot of the products that we do. We do a lot of value addition, not high value, but like medium value products like a cooked or a raw or a shrimp ring, tail-on and tail off products, pin-deveined. So, these things that Ecuador can't do as much as us because just because of the population that we have in the country and the way that our companies are structured, etc. So that way, you know, I would say on a whole tariff bucket where Ecuador has an advantage, but we all have our own niches in the game.”

— Alluri Nikhilesh, Executive Director

Management directly confronts the criticism of its large cash pile (over ₹1,900 crores in cash & investments noted by the analyst). Instead of viewing it as idle, they frame it as a crucial strategic asset for working capital management.

“I mean, I would like to look at this differently, if you see the balance sheet, we don't have any borrowings. Totally no borrowings, zero borrowings... particularly in the seasonal industry, we need money when the season starts. For example, in soybean meal, the season starts in October. So, we buy soybean meal in large quantities and keep it to maintain the price...”

“See earlier, we were thinking that this surplus should be used only for capital but what we see practically is that when we use it for working capital, we are able to make about 15% percent to 20% saving on the interest alone i.e., financial cost. You don't see it in our payroll (P&L) account... We always believe that, the management of the cash that we have should be safe and it should be giving good value to the investors. If we put some industry, okay, we have money, we start some industry and if we don't get returns on that, what will happen?”

— C. Ramachandra Rao, Joint Managing Director

De-risking from US Market is not just talk, it's quantifiable

“Yeah, I can say that, yes, the U.S. market particularly has been extremely volatile over the last one year. We've had different types of duties, a completely new duty, like CVD (Countervailing Duty) came in, and then we have reciprocal tariff, which was 26% and changed to 10, and we still have no clarity... So, it has been volatile, so we are actively looking at other markets.”

“Definitely, if you look at our share, like PPT (PowerPoint presentation) sent by you for the financial year FY'25, the US market share has come down to about 70% from 83% the year before. And the last were also so if you see that PPT, it says about seventy percent, but that also includes Canada. But our US Market share has come down to the lowest that we've had at least in the last four quarters, if I'm not wrong. So, we are actively looking into other markets.”

— Alluri Nikhilesh, Executive Director

While the company's initial pet care launch was in cat food, management makes it clear that the most significant move is the upcoming launch of dog food in August 2025.

“The company is also planning to launch a dog food product in August 2025. It is pertinent to mention that dog food constitutes a major portion of pet food sales, which is about 80% and cat food is 20%. ”

— C. Ramachandra Rao, Joint Managing Director

“So, it would take some time for the market to catch up to the brand, but this year we're expecting INR 10 crores revenue. That's what our target is. ”

— A. Venkata Sanjeev, Executive Director