Homeopathy Major Willmar Schwabe Sets Up Base In India

The Indian homeopathy industry may be heading for a shake-out under the heat of foreign competition. This is more so with Germany-based homeopathic medicine company Dr Willmar Schwabe Arzneimittel GmbH yesterday inaugurating its manufacturing plant in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Its products were hitherto imported from Germany.

The German firm with a global turnover of $400 million now has over 60 per cent of the import segment of the Indian market.

But its formulations are priced at the higher end.

The retail market for homeopathic medicines in the country is estimated at Rs 250 crore. At present, it is dominated chiefly by some 200,000 practitioners, more than any other country.

 

However, Wolfgang Haslinger, managing director of Dr Willmar Schwabe India the Indian subsidiary said at a press conference in New Delhi yesterday that the company was not looking at the independent practitioners as rivals.

The companys aim was to improve the quality and availability of the formulations available in the country and bring down the prices.

It plans to plough five per cent of its turnover in the country into research and development.

Haslinger declined to reveal the domestic market share the company was aiming for.

Its earning from operations in India last year was worth DM4 million.

The company also proposes to export part of the production at the Noida plant to most of the neighbouring countries, Europe, the United States of America and South America.

In its proposal submitted earlier to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, the company had projected an export income of DM18 million in the first five years.

Haslinger said the company could later diversify into related fields, like plantations to grow raw materials.

The company may also decide to take up packaging in the near future.

It will source raw material locally, but plans to import certain important inputs from Germany.

The instalment in Noida is constructed in a modular fashion, which will enable expansion by addition of machinery or other equipment.

However, the company may set up some small units in other parts of the country later for logistics purposes.

Set up with an initial investment of Rs 20 crore, Dr Willmar Schwabe India will make over 1,500 remedies including homeopathic single remedies, biochemic tissue salts, alfalfa tonic and other products developed by the company.

While the German company will have a controlling stake of 85 per cent, the Indian partner, Kamlesh Gupta, will hold the rest in the Indian venture.