Cipla Ltd hopes to transform itself into a global healthcare organisation with a sharp focus on strengthening its presence in the US market, along with doubling its Indian business, said pharma major's Global Managing Director and CEO Umang Vohra on August 22.
In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Vohra stated that he sees "incredible amounts" of deepening of the Indian healthcare market. "We are seeing a wave towards wellness and both of these are opportunities we are trying to capitalise on not just for India, but also for the rest of the markets across the world." He added that the pharma major is looking at China, Brazil, South Africa, and Australia as key markets, with Australia likely to be a $100-million market shortly.
When asked about the growth strategy in the US market, Vohra added that Cipla, the third largest pharma company in India, is looking at innovation and R&D in the US market that can perhaps take them to new areas like biosimilars, mRNA technology and more, along with seeing benefits of respiratory and peptide pipelines there.
In terms of its emerging markets, Vohra believes that things are beginning to bottom out after taking a deep hit due to the outbreak of pandemic, adding that they might be at an inflection point considering where the world has been in the last two years.
On aspirations of building on the wellness segment, especially inorganically and via its size in the business, Vohra said that Cipla has very large organic brands in that space and its objective is to grow organically first. "Of course, inorganic is a part of the strategy," he observed.
Expressing that he is very bullish on the wellness space, he added that the company has several brands which are Rs 200-odd crore big and the total business now is about Rs 600 crore. "We can see this business growing on the health side itself close to about Rs 2,500 crore -Rs 3,000 crore in the next 5 years," Vohra noted, adding that the company is planning to create more brands in the cough and children segment.
Further, on its growth strategy inorganically, Vohra said, "We see growth coming from both organic and inorganic opportunities. There would be an inorganic lift in the consumer wellness business."
He also highlighted that the company has the potential to double US business on the back of new launches in the next 5 years.
Overall, the Cipla CEO said that the company hopes to double its Indian business from the current Rs 10,000 crore in the next five years
Cipla's shares on BSE ended 0.76 percent lower at Rs 1,022.55 apiece. The stock is up nearly 10 percent year-to-date versus the Nifty Pharma index, which is down 11 percent.
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