Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Vinod Kamath:

Q: How much of this is coming from other income? You had the sale of Sil brand in Q4, how much income would have come from that?

A: Actually the difference between what you had predicted and what we have achieved is roughly what has come from other income.

Q: Sil was contributing about Rs 20 crore to your topline and the market buzz was that Sil would have been close to Rs 25 crore or so. Is this estimate right and what would be the exact amount of this other income?

A: We would not be able to share that at the moment, because we have that agreement with the buyer. Unfortunately, I cannot share that number with you.

Q: Given the growth in this quarter and financial year, what is the outlook that you are setting out for FY09, particularly on the margin front, as we are given to understand that copra is expected to go higher by about 8-9%. Are you factoring that in the way the operating margins would shape up?

A: Growth has primarily come in terms of volume growth and there has been very little inflation growth. If you look at it, it is very sound for us from a long-term point of view in terms of a franchise increase. We have seen this happening consistently across quarters. Going forward, we are confident that this growth momentum across all our brand portfolios would get maintained. So, while it is difficult to predict what would happen in terms of inflation led growth, we expect volume-led growth to be maintained in the region of about 15%.

Q: Can you tell us what has been other income? At the operational level, what have been the operating margins?

A: The other income in this would be roughly about Rs 9 crore.

Q: And the margins?

A: The margins at a quarter and annual level have been maintained. If you look at the margins in the fourth quarter, they are a little lower compared to the other quarters for us. The margins compared to the quarter of the last year have been maintained.

Q: Going forward, given the way raw material prices are moving, you are saying that you are looking at about 10-15% volume growth. In terms of price hikes and transferring the cost pressure to the consumers, what is it that you are factoring-in to keep margins stable?

A: We are in the branded goods business. What we have seen in the past is if there is huge volatility, it is difficult to actually maintain margins on a QoQ basis. Overall, if the prices are stable or moving up in a particular direction, it is possible for us to kind of factor that in and plan for price increases. But in a volatile market it is slightly difficult to do that.

If you look at the trend in the past, we have been able to kind of manage the price increases in such a way that the inflationary pressures have been able to be passed on.

Q: What is your guidance for FY09 on topline and bottomline?

A: We refrain from giving guidance for a year. So, I wouldn’t be able to share that with you.