Telengana unrest takes toll on AP pharma industry

Pharma companies in Andhra Pradesh say they are losing heavily due to the Telengana unrest in the State.

Firms in the state could not manufacture products worth nearly Rs 400 crore in the past ten days due to the agitations and bandhs called by pro and anti Telengana organisations, said M Narayana Reddy, former president, Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (BDMA).

He said pharma units had to be closed two days before the day of a bandh. "Pharma Manufacturing process involves so many continuous processes, and we cannot stop just like that unlike any other manufacturing process," Reddy said.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) halted operations in its unit near Rajahmundry today. The Japanese Eisai Co Ltd, manufacturing and marketing chemicals, food additives, machinery and equipment for pharmaceutical production, postponed opening of its manufacturing plant in Vizag, scheduled for today.

Reddy said foreign buyers are apprehensive about the situation in the state. "Business runs on trust. Even a slightest doubt, in their minds, may create a blockade for investments in the State," he said.

Reddy said states like Gujarat may try to take advantage of the situation.

After the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram announced that the process of formation of Telangana State would be initiated, there has been a series of agitations in protest in the coastal and Rayalaseema regions of the state.