Novartis India to quadruple its business in 5 years

Novartis India, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Novartis AG, is all set to grow its business revenues by four times in the next five years. The company's over-the-counter business unit is looking at introducing more products in the consumer healthcare segment.

Meanwhile, Novartis India is working on the pediatric version of its nasal decongestent, Otrivin. "We are looking at quadrupling our business in the next five years' time. The company launched calcuim supplement Calcium Sandoz eight years ago, followed by Otrivin in its nasal drop and now spray format. We will now introduce more products in various other segments including cough & cold and pain relief. The company will launch the pediatric vesion of Otrivin in few months' time," said Vineet Singhal, OTC Business Unit Head India for Novartis India Ltd.

Currently, the main OTC product categories of the company are analgesics, cough, cold, allergy, gastrointestinal, skin care and smoking-cessation treatments, as well as mineral supplements. Novartis India has 1500 distributors in the country and expects its market share to increase by 3-5 per cent with Otrivin as an OTC product.

The company has postioned the nasal spray format of Otrivin to be a part of the cough/cold and allergies segment, an estimated Rs 1,550 crore market in India. Of this, the nasal decongestion segment is about Rs 110 crore. Current market share of Otrivin is approximately 27 per cent as per ORG-IMS MAT June 2009 figures.

Novartis India turnover for 2008-2009 was Rs 599.5 crore and the growth rate over the previous financial year was 8.3 per cent.

Novartis AG provides healthcare solutions and its business operations comprise pharmaceuticals, vaccines and diagnostics, generics, OTC, and animal health. Novartis has operations in 140 countries and its headquarter is in Basel, Switzerland.

In 2008, the group's continuing operations achieved net sales of USD 41.5 billion and net income of USD 8.2 billion. Approximately USD 7.2 billion was invested in R&D activities throughout the group.