Cipla : Transcript of the 87th Annual General Meeting

TRANSCRIPT OF CIPLA LIMITED - 87TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD AT 3.00 PM (IST) ON

10TH AUGUST, 2023 THROUGH VIDEO CONFERENCING

Management Participant:

Dr. Y. K. Hamied - Chairman

Mr. M. K. Hamied - Vice Chairman

Ms. Samina Hamied - Executive Vice-Chairperson

Mr. Umang Vohra - Managing Director and Global Chief Executive Officer

Mr. S. Radhakrishnan - Non-Executive Director

Mr. Adil Zainulbhai - Lead Independent Director

Mr. Ashok Sinha - Independent Director

Dr. Mandar Vaidya - Independent Director

Ms. Punita Lal - Independent Director

Mr. P.R. Ramesh - Independent Director

Mr. Robert Stewart - Independent Director

Mr. Ashish Adukia - Global Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Rajendra Chopra - Company Secretary

Auditor Participant:

Mr. Gautam Wadhera - Walker Chandiok & Co LLP, (Statutory Auditor)

Mr. B. Narsimhan - Practicing Company Secretary and Partner, BNP &

Associates (Secretarial Auditors) & Scrutinizer

Mr. D. H. Zaveri - Cost Auditor

Mr. L. Bhargav- Assurance Reviewer

Moderator:Dear shareholders, good afternoon and a warm welcome to the 87th Annual General Meeting of Cipla Limited. For the smooth conduct of the meeting, all the shareholders will be in mute mode. The audio and video will be unmuted for those shareholders, who have registered themselves as speaker during the Q&A session. Members who have not registered as speakers but want to ask questions may do so by posting their questions in the chat box available on their screen.

Shareholders are also provided with a webcast facility for live viewing of the proceedings of the meeting. Please note that, as per the statutory

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	requirements, the proceedings of the annual general meeting are being
	recorded and the recording as well as the transcript will be uploaded on the
	website of the company. I now invite our Chairman Dr. Y. K. Hamied to initiate
	the proceedings. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Y. K. Hamied:	Good afternoon everybody. It is morning where I am, But good afternoon to
	all of you. Welcome to the 87th Annual General Meeting of the Company. I
	would like Mr. Rajendra Chopra to make an announcement and then I will
	take over after that. So, Rajendra, the ball is in your court.
Rajendra Chopra:	Chairman sir, before I start the statutory process, may I request you to please
	introduce the Board members, who are attending this meeting?
Y. K. Hamied:	I will do that. On my left, we have got Mr. Ashok Sinha. Then I think the picture
	is not really clear to me but I think that is Adil Zainulbhai, then Punita Lal, then
	I think it is, I don't know the names are not very clear but I would like to
	please, Ashish is there, then there is myself, then there is, it is not very clear
	so Rajendra, why don't you do the necessary introduction on my behalf.
Moderator:	Mr. Chopra, please unmute your audio.
Y. K. Hamied:	Samina Hamied is on the left of mine. Then you have got Mr. M. K. Hamied, I
	can recognize. The pictures in front of me are not very clear. So will you do
	the needful please?
Moderator:	Mr. Chopra over to you.
Rajendra Chopra:	I will do it, sir. On the top left, we have Mr. Ashok Sinha. Ashok Sinha is the
	Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee. Next to Mr.
	Ashok Sinha, we have Mr. Adil Zainulbhai. He is the lead Independent Director
	on the Board of the company. Then we have Ms. Punita Lal, she is the
	Independent Director and the Chairperson of the Nomination and
	Remuneration Committee. Then we have Mr. Ashish Adukia, he is our Global
	Chief Financial Officer. Below Mr. Ashish Adukia, we have Mr. Umang Vohra.
	He is the Managing Director and Global Chief Executive Officer.
	Then we have our Chairman Dr. Y. K. Hamied. Below Dr. Y. K. Hamid, we have
	Mr. P.R. Ramesh. He is the Independent Director and member of the Audit
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	Committee. Then we have on the left side of the screen, we have Mr. M. K.
	Hamied, he is the Vice Chairman. Then below Mr. M. K. Hamied, we have Ms.
	Samina Hamied, she is the Executive Vice Chairperson and the Chairperson of
	the Investment and Risk Management Committee meeting. Then we have Mr.
	S. Radhakrishnan. He is the chairman of the Stakeholder Relationship
	Committee.
	Beside Mr. S. Radhakrishnan, we have Mr. Robert Stewart. He is the
	Independent Directors of the company. And then we have Dr. Mandar Vaidya.
	He is also the Independent Director of the company. Thank you. In addition
	to the Board members, we also have Mr. Gautam Wadhera. He is a partner at
	Walker Chandiok and Company LLP, Statutory Auditors of the Company. Then
	we have Mr. B. Narsimhan, Practicing Company Secretary. He is the
	Secretarial Auditor and the scrutinizer for the purpose of the voting results at
	the AGM.
	We also have Mr. D. H. Zaveri. He is the Cost-Auditor and Mr. L. Bhargav, the
	Assurance Reviewer. The requisite quorum is present and therefore I call this
	meeting with the permission of the Chairman in order and I will now make
	the statutory announcement.
Y. K. Hamied:	Please do that.
Rajendra Chopra:	Thank you. This meeting is being conducted through video conference in
	accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and the circulars
	issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the SEBI. The proceedings of
	this annual general meeting are also being webcast live and can be viewed
	using the details provided in the notice of the Annual General Meeting.
	The integrated annual report containing the Board report, the Auditor's
	report, the Financial statements, and other reports along with the notice of
	this meeting have already been sent to the shareholders at their registered
	email ID. I hope all the shareholders have received the annual report. With
	your permission, I take them as read.
	Since there are no qualifications, observation, comment or remark in the
	statutory auditors or the secretarial auditors report for the year ended 31st
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March 2023, I take the liberty and consider both the reports as read in the interest of the time.

In order to enable you to vote on the resolutions, we have provided e-voting facility through NSDL platform. The remote e-voting commenced at 9 a.m. IST on Sunday, 6th August, 2023, and ended at 5 p.m. IST on Wednesday, 9th August, 2023. The voting rights were recorded on the shares held by the members as on the cutoff date, which is 3rd August, 2023.

In case you have not exercised your voting right through the remote e-voting facility, I request you to do so now, while watching the AGM proceeding. Voting will remain open up to 30 minutes from the conclusion of this meeting. Since you have been provided an e-voting facility, there will be no voting by show of hands at the meeting as per the statutory provision.

The statutory document registers and reports as are required to be placed at the AGM are open for inspection electronically. Shareholders who wish to inspect these documents, register or reports can write to us at [e-mail]. We will facilitate the inspection.

May I now invite our Chairman Dr. Y. K. Hamied to address the shareholders and deliver his speech. Over to you Chairman.

Y. K. Hamied: Thank you Rajendra. Ladies and gentlemen wherever you are in India or in the rest of the world, welcome to the 87th Annual General Meeting of Cipla. In the past three years, major advancement in medical science provided solutions to protecting the well-being and health of society, including COVID-19 patients. Every time the world has faced a crisis, we have witnessed humanity coming out stronger.

The advancement in pharma research, scientific innovation, newer discoveries of therapies and treatment options would not have been possible without the work, dedication and insight of scientists and researchers worldwide. Society in general owes them a deep debt of gratitude. All of you have received a copy of Cipla's annual report for the year ended 31st March 2023.

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This includes a detailed summary of our financial performance, management discussions and analysis, business strategy, manufacturing operations, supply chain management, human relations, corporate social responsibility, environment practices and overall company governance. With your permission, I take the report as read.

This is the sixth consecutive year in which we have presented a fully integrated annual report. It is pertinent to note that in the last two decades, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has stood true to its position of being the pharmacy capital of the world. Armed with a robust network of 3,000 pharma companies and approximately 10,000 manufacturing units spread across India. India offers a unique international competitive advantage.

It is time that we re-evaluate India's role within the global pharmaceutical industry, strengthen our position in the light of geopolitical changes, biodiversity, and attaining self-sufficiency with innovation as a guiding principle for future growth. Gentlemen, today the world is faced with many challenges including that of AMR, Anti-Microbial Resistance, climate change, natural disasters and multiple risks.

Your company is actively working to combat AMR and improving antibiotic usage or misuse of antibiotics. We are also promoting incremental innovation in the area of repurposing and repositioning of active and essential drugs. On the environmental front, Cipla is making a major impact towards carbon and water neutrality and net zero targets to bring about a positive change in the world.

During the year under review, we forged many partnerships and made significant investments in newer therapies such as messenger RNA, CAR-T cell therapies, biosimilars, stem cell research, digital therapeutics, etcetera. I sincerely believe that this will lead to build up the Cipla of the future. We maintain our rank as the third largest pharma company in India, and also in South Africa. We have recently achieved the second rank in that country.

Apart from this, we are among the leading 15 global generic pharma companies. In the area of dispensing medicines in the USA, Cipla ranks among the top 10. In the field of respiratory medicine, our presence is growing with

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