DRL may spend Rs 1,000 cr on capex next fiscal

Dr Reddy's Laboratories is set to invest more than Rs 1,000 crore on capital expenditure in the next financial year, a top executive of the pharma major said here today.
The drug maker spent Rs 230 crore towards capex during the third quarter ended on December 31, 2013 and expects to spend another Rs 200 crore during the current quarter, Chief Financial Officer Saumen Chakraborty said during analysts call of third quarter earnings.
"But going forward in next one year, we can even spend higher than what we have seen this year on capex, maybe in the next result time, we will give some figure. But at the moment, it definitely looks like we will spend more than Rs 1,000 crore in capex in FY 2015," he said replying to a query.

According to him, DRL has invested in both fronts of chemical and finished goods on injectables--both cytotoxic and non-cytotoxic--during the current fiscal.
"We have actually spent more capex than what initially in the beginning of the year we thought we would spend, but we, let's say, that this is something which helps us with much better supply-chain situation when we are launching product," he added.
To a query on research and development spending, Kallam Satish Reddy, Managing Director and Vice-Chairman, said the R&D expenses for the third quarter stood at USD 48 million, representing 8.4 per cent of revenues versus 7.1 per cent in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.