Bayer goes big on prenatal nutrition, eyes bigger share of India’s consumer health pie

Sandeep Verma, Cluster Head for South Asia at Bayer’s Consumer Health Division

German drugmaker Bayer AG is doubling down on India's booming consumer health market, leveraging the enduring appeal of brands such as Saridon and Supradyn while making a bold push into prenatal nutrition, a category it views as a multi-billion-rupee opportunity.

“We are looking at India as a 50-year story, not a five-year one,” Sandeep Verma, cluster head for South Asia at Bayer’s consumer health division told Moneycontrol in a recent interview. “This is one of our top four growth markets globally.”

Saridon, new energy

Saridon, a household name for headaches, remains Bayer’s flagship in pain management. According to Verma, the brand — acquired from Roche two decades ago — sells nearly 100,000 strips daily.

Despite its 60-year legacy, Saridon had faded from consumer mind until Bayer’s 2022 relaunch. The company revitalised the brand with new packaging and campaign. Saridon 2.0 doubles the paracetamol dosage from 250 mg to 500 mg, removing propyphenazone, and keeping caffeine at 50 mg.

“People used to ask me, ‘Does Saridon still exist?’ ” Verma said. “We had to reinvigorate the brand.”

The company has extended the Saridon brand, introducing Saridon Woman as a dedicated solution for menstrual pain, a first-of-its-kind product in India. While Verma did not disclose the exact sales figure, he did say that Saridon is a Rs 200 crore-plus brand in India. However, that this is "not as big as it can be," given the size of the overall headache market.

“Given that 90 percent of Indians have a headache at least once a month, and less than 10 percent use a medicine for it, the opportunity is huge,” Verma said.

Supradyn’s big leap

If Saridon is about recall, Supradyn is about its reach. The Rs 100 crore plus multivitamin brand, which has been in India for four decades, has become Bayer’s spearhead into the nutrition and wellness market. It remains the country's most affordable multivitamin, priced at nearly half of its closest competitor, Verma said.

As part of the prenatal nutrition bet, Bayer launched Supradyn Mom's and Supradyn Naturals Calcium+ in August, targeting India’s 23–24 million annual births and widespread micronutrient deficiencies.

“Over 50 percent of Indian women are anaemic, and 70 percent are calcium and vitamin D deficient,” Verma said. “Correcting just iron and folic acid isn’t enough. Our approach is IFA-plus.” He was referring to iron-folic acid-zinc supplement.

The bigger play

Unlike many of its multinationals, Bayer manufactures all of its consumer health products in India, with formulations tailored to local needs. Its prenatal range, too, was developed from scratch domestically, drawing on global learnings from Elevit, the company’s leading global prenatal brand.

India’s Rs 40,000–45,000 crore consumer health market is growing at 8–10 percent annually, outpacing FMCG. Bayer wants a bigger slice through innovation, aggressive media spends and deeper doctor engagement — its team of medical representatives (MR) grew 40 percent this year.

“We’re not just chasing market share, we’re building categories,” Verma said. “The idea is to make the pie bigger.”