Chairman Statement

Dear Shareholders
It’s a matter of enormous pleasure for me to report to you that your company has made tremendous strides in the year gone by. The year has seen a number of significant developments; events that have had a bearing on our performance for the last year, and events that will shape the future of your company.

Our approach to pre-farm gate management systems starting from farm to fork has paid significantly in growth of the company. In terms of significant milestones, we can look back with pride and recount several. Some of the major events of the year were:

Acquisition of Kusha Inc of USA

Foreign shores beckoned your company this year. LT Overseas has made major strides by being the first rice company in Asia to acquire one of the largest rice companies in North America – Kusha Incorporation. The “Royal” brand of this company has a strong presence in US markets and it is among the top 20 brands. The acquisition gives your company a strong foothold in North America and increases your company’s share in the market to nearly 52% making it one of the largest basmati rice companies in US. In addition to this, your company also got the entire trading business of Kusha which spread into several countries. We are currently buying rice from Thailand and Pakistan apart from other products that the company deals in.

The branded business of LT Overseas has made a large impressions across the globe. Your company has been building volumes and market share by providing competitively priced products offering great value to the consumers. To build the trust & integrity of your products, the company has been implementing various international standards and International certifications which gives its products edge to remain ahead of the pack in the International market, some of these are HACCP, ISO, SQF, BRC, Organic & EIC, the others in the pipeline are the Europgap, IPM and the ISO 22000.

Staple Distribution Company Launched in domestic markets

Continuing with the good news of forward integration, your company has been able to start the operations of Staple Distribution Company. As you are aware, the retail industry is witnessing transformation changes and further is expecting enormous expansion in next few years. Staple Distribution Company is one of the answers to the challenges poised by this new globalization environment. The future of this pioneering venture is extremely bright as it shall give a sustainable differential advantage to your products by providing robust distribution and a strong supply chain.

Modernization of Infrastructure: State of Art Silos and packaging lines increased

LT Overseas has also made impressive advancement in improving its overall infrastructure at the rice milling unit by adding new rice silos, this is in addition to the paddy silos we have in place, taking it much ahead of its competition. These additional silos have helped in utilizing our plant capacity to 95% resulting in cascading effects of delivering better quality, reducing wastage and saving costs.

Your company’s marketing initiatives both in domestic and international markets have resulted in new demands driving the need for further expansion and modernization of our packing lines. As your company is expecting the same trend in the coming years, we are adding new packaging lines with new re-closable small packs for the mainstream stores. These packs shall serve the stores across the world, giving us an even better edge in the market in qualitative and quantitative terms.

Committed to Research & Development

Continuing with your company’s long term strategy to innovate, expand and acquire we seek to build growth drivers in all our existing categories and look for sufficient opportunities to drive sustainable long term growth of the business. With renowned companies for strengthening systems & venturing into new projects your company has committed a substantial amount. This is in line with providing added values to present consumers & building new set of customers for better realizations the future.

Your company’s commitment to Development of Organic Products’ Portfolio is also being continued, the year gone by has seen a substantial increase in our investment in this field. For the third year running, we participated in an international exhibition on organic products in Germany, and this effort is providing further thrust to our endeavors in a field the world is taking to, like never before.

Bhopal Plant started; backward Integration

Your company started a modern rice plant at Mandideep, near Bhopal, the first of its kind in this belt. The rice processed here will cater to institutions and for the export market. In the same region your company is also doing agriculture extension & transfer of technology activities in Basmati varieties cultivation through a team of well qualified agriculture professionals. This helped in increasing the income of these farmers substantially.

Your company’s contract farming projects over the past few years has ensured that it gets premium quality of basmati rice; wherein your company has been able to establish a direct contact with the farmer. In other words your company is trying to refine the approach to pre-farm gate management systems starting from farm to fork.

Year 2007-08 financials ended well for us

During the year 2007-08 we witnessed several challenges. There is the daunting situation of a global food crisis that we all are grappling with, and several new issues like rising costs, pressure on retaining quality manpower and wage inflation were faced by the Rice Industry. We have had to contend with a New Export cess of 2%, and restrictions on Non Basmati exports, among other overseas and domestic challenges.

We have, however, faced each of these challenges squarely, and with great courage. In the face of these challenges, the company has not only grown & earned profits but also recorded an increase in company revenue for consumer packs.

The profitability of the company continues to increase substantially, and I thank you for all your support in each and every direction we have ventured into, every step that we have taken. The Dividend proposed for the year stands at 15%; Optimized operations has resulted in increase in revenue by 19% in this year 2007-06 as compared to the revenue earned by the company in 2005-06.

There is growth and good news all around. But we are not stopping here and resting on our laurels. We have strengthened international markets through developing strong distribution network and acquisitions to suit our long-term strategy. Our domestic markets have become one of the best in the industry to meet all the challenges your company may face both locally or due to any unforeseen international crisis. We are constantly looking at different growth plans to expand further because it is our commitment to grow the company and constantly deliver better realization of shareholder value. Our strong international network

I sincerely thank all the committed, experienced and knowledgeable business partners of your company who are contributing to the company’s success and growth, and all other stakeholders for their continued encouragement.

I am sure that I can count on your support on this journey, and create an even brighter future for all of us.