Piramal eyes 3rd spot in domestic OTC market by 2019

Consumer Products division has grown by 44% in 9 months to December 2016

Having grown from the 40th position in 2007 to the 5th currently in India's Rs 14,000 crore OTC market, Piramal Consumer Products has not only done well, but is now hoping to become one of the top 3 players in this segment by 2019, a year ahead of its target.

Buoyed by a string of acquisitions last year, the consumer products division actually grew by 44 per cent in the last nine months. The organic segment of its business has grown by 20 per cent while overall CAGR in the last seven years has been around 24 per cent. It had ended FY16 with a topline of Rs 397 crore.

Kedar Rajadnye, president  and chief operating officer, consumer products, Piramal Enterprises Ltd explained, “We are growing at 44 per cent despite demonetisation. OTC industry is growing roughly around 10 to 11 per cent. We should be ending the year at rank close to 5th.”

The company has set a three-year plan or a 2020 plan to become Rs 1,000-odd crore, which implies it would have to clock a growth rate of around 30 per cent. “We are planning for that and we are trying to see whether we can actually do our 2020 target by 2019,” Rajadnye was upbeat.

Piramal entered the OTC market in the late 90s with two joint ventures -- one with Reckitt Benckiser and another with Boots Plc -- to market and distribute brands.

After the global acquisition of Boots by Reckitt Benckiser, Piramal decided to separate and established its own independent OTC business in 2008. The business had three brands in its portfolio (Saridon, Lacto Calamine and Polycrol) and catered to 24,000 outlets through an 80-people team. It had a topline of Rs 113 crore and was ranked 40th among all OTC companies in India.

Rajadnye mentioned that the overall business has grown by 24 per cent in the past seven years.
 
It now has 10 brands of which six feature among top 100 OTC brands in India. The business services 350,000 outlets on a weekly basis through a 2,000 strong team. It now has strong brands such as i-Pill, Waterbury's Compound and others in its kitty.

He added, “We believe there is a huge scope to grow the market because there are many categories in India which are OTC globally but not yet OTC in India. And players like us, who are full time into the OTC space can launch these brands.”

As for the inorganic route of growth, Piramal Consumer Products has made close to five acquisitions in the last three to four years. Recent acquisitions include products and brands from Little’s, MSD and Pfizer.

Rajadnye said, “Whether it was Pfizer set of brands, Merck, almost all acquisitions that we have done have, are actually ahead of their projection that we have done. And most probably will pay back much ahead of their own, both on top line terms as well as gross margin terms we have been much ahead.”