On the availability of women for the various roles, Mr Jha said it was not easy to find qualified and willing to work women yet. "But this is improving," he observed.
For the year 2008-09, Dr Reddy's will be hiring over 500 as against 1,500 (including 350 scientists) in the previous year. "Last year's recruitment also included replacement hiring. But now the focus is on core scientific expertise for discovery research in biologicals," Mr Jha said.
Dr Reddy's is in the process of building a manufacturing plant with a bigger reactor at an investment of $35 million to meet the potential outcome of its efforts in biologicals. Plans are to launch at least one product every year in the next five years and emerge among the top three players in the segment.
The rate of attrition in the company is 17 per cent against the industry average of 22 per cent. "I would have been happier if it were less than this. But it is very difficult to control the new generation for whom shifting from one job to another is more a norm than necessity," he pointed out.
