'We want licences for a few OTC drugs in India'

Q&A: CHANDER M SETHI

Reckitt Benckiser, a global force in the household, health and personal care segments with brands like Dettol, Harpic, Strepsils and Mortein, has set a target of growing its India operations by 20 per cent year-on-year. About to touch Rs 1,000 crore, India ranks among the eight most important countries in Reckitt Benckiser’s global operations with sales in excess of £7 billion (over Rs 55,000 crore). In an interaction with Pradipta Mukherjee, Reckitt Benckiser’s India Chairman and Managing Director CHANDER M SETHI reveals that plans are afoot to introduce most of its global brands in personal-care, home-care and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs in India. Excerpts:

How does Reckitt Benckiser plan to grow its business in India?
We have set a target of 20 per cent year-on-year growth. We will introduce more products in India from our global portfolio, backed by consumer insights. Apart from introduction of new brands, there is a huge market penetration opportunity for Reckitt Benckiser in India for its existing products. For instance, specialised toilet cleaners has a penetration level of only 21 per cent in India, while penetration level is more than 40 per cent in the other markets we operate in. So there is a huge scope for educating consumers in India and to push further market penetration for each product of ours. This will, in turn, boost sales.

Any fresh investments planned?
We are investing Rs 80-100 crore in setting up a multi-purpose plant in Uttaranchal. The plant should be up and running by early next year. We currently have six plants in India. We are planning many new products which will all be manufactured and tweaked locally. We will therefore have to invest in expanding our manufacturing capacity. We plan to double the current capacity, up from close to 20 million units every month right now.

Which global brands will be introduced in India?
We have applied for registration licences for a few of the OTC drugs in India. We are planning to introduce ‘Mucinex’, the OTC brand Reckitt Benckiser acquired for £1 billion (over Rs 8,000 crore) from Adams Respiratory Therapeutics. Mucinex is the market leader in adult expectorants and is the largest selling brand in the US. We also intend to introduce Nurofen and Gaviscon in India. These are currently leading analgesic and gastro-intestinal brands in Europe and Australia.

What is the nature of the deal with Alliance Pharma?
Alliance Pharmaceuticals has signed an agreement to acquire worldwide rights to the Buccastem(R) and Timodine(R) brands from Reckitt Benckiser for a total consideration of around £7.5 million (Rs 60 crore). Both were very small brands for us and so we sold them off. Timodine is a broad-spectrum, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial skin cream used for treating inflamed and infected skin conditions in which the Candida albicans fungus is a factor. Buccastem is used for nausea and vomiting and for symptomatic treatment of other conditions, such as vertigo.

What about research and development?
We are in the process of making India one of our biggest R&D hubs to support developing markets like India itself as well as regions such as East and South Asia, Africa and West Asia. Apart from carrying out research on new products, the Indian R&D team will also work on product modifications for localisation of products. We recently shifted our R&D headquarters from Bangalore to Delhi. Around 50 people are working in the research division in Delhi. We have about 12 R&D centres globally.