After just Rs 18,000 cr profits in a decade, Serum, Bharat Biotech may earn big with Covid

For both companies, the pandemic presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to earn hundreds of crores of rupees that could be ploughed back to fund further research and capacity expansion

Even as questions are being raised about vaccine pricing ethics in the face of a devastating coronavirus pandemic, the next few years could see Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech minting hundreds of crores of rupees. Both companies have earned Rs 18,000 crore in profits in the past decade, a fraction of what global pharmaceutical and vaccine companies earns annually.
 
Of the Rs 18,000 crore in profits, Pune-based SII, one of the world’s biggest vaccine makers, alone earned Rs 17,146 crore between 2010-11 and 2019-20; Bharat Biotech accounted for the rest. Both companies have made steady progress