This SME stock has surged 61% in 12 days; zoomed 328% in 3 months

Shares of Sudarshan Pharma Industries were frozen in upper circuit of 5 per cent at Rs 274.50, which is also the new high it hit on the BSE in Thursday's intra-day trade.

Shares of Sudarshan Pharma Industries were locked in upper circuit of 5 per cent at Rs 274.50, which is also the new high the stock created on the BSE in Thursday’s intra-day trade on the back of a three-fold jump in average trading volumes.

The stock of the specialty chemicals company is quoting higher for the 12th straight day, and it has surged 61 per cent during this period. In the past three months, it has zoomed 328 per cent from the level of Rs 64.15 on the BSE.

Till 12:18 PM, as many as 611,000 equity shares of the company had changed hands and there were pending buy orders for 932,800 shares on the BSE. Meanwhile, in the past two weeks, an average 202,000 shares were traded on the exchange, data shows. 

Sudarshan Pharma trades on the SME platform, which offers entrepreneurs and investors a friendly environment, by enabling the listing of SMEs from the unorganised sector scattered throughout India, into a regulated and organised market segment.

Sudarshan Pharma specialises in a host of products, from rock chemicals intermediates and API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) to finished formulations and fully integrated pharmaceutical and chemicals.

Its products have been exported to the UK, Australia, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Taiwan and MENA regions, while key client’s for pharmaceutical formulations and specialty chemicals include Intas, Minova, Invision Life sciences, Omkar Pharma, SRF, Astral Pipes, DuPont, Reliance, Bayer Corp, and Akzo Nobel, among others.

The company is involved in the contract manufacturing and supply of specialty chemicals, intermediates, APIs, pharmaceutical formulations and medicines for well-known pharma companies in India, along with institutional customers such as AIIMS, L&T (Aeronautical division). The company added that exports of specialty chemicals, intermediates, formulations and API to non-regulated markets in Eurasia, Africa and South East Asia are also in the pipeline.

Sudarshan Pharma, in its FY24 annual report, had stated that the company has received approval under the Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme for the promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical Key Starting Materials (KSM), Drug Intermediates (Dis) and APIs, in India.

The company had successfully achieved development of the molecule VITAMIN B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride) from base root till the finished product and also successfully manufactured all the intermediary products required to manufacture the finished API products of 'VITAMIN B6'.

The company has already received approval for 50 products for domestic markets as well as exports, which include product categories like anti-biotics, cough syrups, anti-pyretics, anti-fungal, anti-allergic medicines, along with multivitamins among other drugs.

According to Sudarshan Pharma, the Indian chemical industry is witnessing a remarkable transformation. From a $186 billion market in 2020 (around 4 per cent of the global share), it’s projected to reach a staggering $330 billion by 2025. This growth is fuelled by a booming specialty chemicals sector, which is expected to grow at a stellar 11 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), reaching $148 billion by 2025.

Driving this surge is a rise in demand from diverse end-user industries like food, automobiles, construction, textiles and cosmetics. India’s rapid industrialisation and robust domestic demand are further propelling this growth, and putting it on track to outperform established players like China and Japan.

This shift in the global landscape is stimulated by a strategic move in speciality chemicals manufacturing, where it is shifting from Europe and North America to Asia, perfectly positioning the industry here to cater to the burgeoning needs of emerging markets, the company said in its annual report.

Sudarshan Pharma added that China’s aggressive policies in chemical business resulted in shutting down of several manufacturing facilities within the country. Rising labour costs, COVID-19 disruptions, and a changing geopolitical landscape has further fuelled the desire for alternatives. This has given rise to the China+1 strategy, prompting manufacturers to diversify their sourcing beyond China.

Meanwhile, the central government has earmarked around Rs 10,000 crore for the bulk drug industry, including Rs 3,000 crore for the promotion of three bulk drug parks (for the next five years) and Rs 6,940 crore for a production-linked incentive scheme for the promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical key starting materials (KSMs)/ Drug Intermediates and APIs in the country (for the next eight years).

The scheme has identified 53 critical APIs/intermediates, where India’s reliance on China is high and most of which are used to produce essential drugs.