Becton Seeks Links With Govt R & D Units

Becton Dickinson India, the wholly owned subsidiary of Becton, Dickinson & Company (BD), is keen to ally itself with government research bodies to develop technologically innovative diagnostic products.

"Safety coupled with ease of use is our thrust for product development. Together with the government, we hope to develop products that would be safe and easy to use," Ram Sharma, managing director of Becton India, said.

The company reorganised its entire marketing and distribution network recently.

"We have 14 distribution centres, down from 19 centres earlier. We also have close to 500 super stockists," Sharma informed.

The company has rationalised its production line. It will now introduce products only after test marketing them first.

"We will not launch the product directly. Instead, we will test market it first, in order to determine whether the product is suitable for introduction," Sharma explained.

Becton India contributes approximately 8 to 10 per cent to the entire turnover of the global healthcare company's Asia Pacific operations. These operations in turn contribute 15 per cent to the global balance sheet.

"India is quite important for BD. One way of showing our commitment was investing $70 million in our manufacturing plant in Haryana," Sharma said.

The company recorded a turnover of about $25 million for the year ended September 30, 2001. It hopes to see a 20 to 25 per cent increase this year.

Becton India manufactures medical systems and clinical laboratory solutions in India. It also has a bio-science division, which supplies monoclonal antibodies kits and tools to aid drug discovery, growth of tissue cells, and molecular biology products for the study of genes.