Abbott to launch nutritional products in Indian flavours

Gujarat CM inaugurates Rs 450 crore greenfield nutrition manufacturing plant at Jhagadia in Bharuch

Abbott Healthcare Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of healthcare major Abbott Labs, will be soon launching its flagship nutritional supplements in Indian flavours such as mix of kesar (saffron) and badam (almond).

The company, which inaugurated its first greenfield manufacturing plant for nutrition in India at Jhagadia in Gujarat’s Bharuch district on Thursday, is working on developing new Indianised flavours for its nutrition products like PediaSure for toddlers, Similac for infants, Ensure for adults, Mama’s Best for pregnant women and lactating mothers and Glucerna for diabetics.

Research is on to find out different flavours for the Indian consumers at the company’s Bangalore-based laboratory. Currently, these products are available in vanilla and chocolate flavours.

Abbott will now be manufacturing its flagship nutritional products at the Gujarat plant, which has a capacity of 40 million pounds per annum.

“Most of our products have been made to the taste of Europeans. So, we plan to introduce these products in Indian flavours with focus on local markets,” said John Landgraf, executive vice-president, global nutrition, Abbott.

“We have already launched PediaSure in ‘kesar badam’ flavour, which is available in the market. Work is on in our lab in Bangalore on developing new flavours. However, it will take some time,” he added.

Landgraf further said that since they wanted to concentrate on the domestic market in India, they were not planning to export from the new manufacturing plant at Jhagadia.

Abbott’s Rs  450 crore nutrition product manufacturing plant was inaugurated by Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel on Thursday.

Patel, while congratulating the company, hoped that as the manufacturing of nutritional products will be done locally, it will bring down the cost of Abbott products. She believed that the new plant will give thrust to Gujarat government’s fight against malnutrition.

Amal Kelshikar, country head and general manager, Abbott Healthcare Pvt Ltd said, “We are expanding our presence in India by contributing to the local economy, providing more than 400 employment opportunities and investing in our local talent with extensive training and skill development.”

The company plans to locally source up to 80 per cent of ingredients for new plant in India and develop program to provide infrastructure and training to dairy farmers . It has also committed Rs  3 crore to improve sanitation and health in local community in Jhagadia.

Abbott ramped up its investments and operations in India after acquiring Piramal Healthcare’s domestic formulations business in 2010. Since then, the company is at the top slot in the domestic pharma market, with a six to seven per cent share.

The new plant is Abbott’s third manufacturing facility in India. It has two pharma units, at Goa and Baddi (Himachal). The company also has two research and development facilities in India. One in Mumbai was acquired from Piramal and is dedicated for pharmaceutical R&D; the second one, in Bangalore, was set up in May 2012 and develops nutrition products.

On Thursday, shares of Abbott India ended at Rs  3,000 on the BSE exchange, down 1.91 per cent from Wednesday’s close.