Indian drug companies, which have introduced copies of biotechnology drugs in the country, are bullish over the marketing prospects of 'biogenerics' after patents expire in developed markets. Experts say Indian companies may not repeat the success they achieved in selling generic medicines in biogenerics. The cost of clinical trials and the absence of substitutability will ensure that only those with deep pockets to launch such products globally will succeed, they feel.
Tata Motors, India's largest commercial vehicle maker, is in the process of raising Rs 5,000 crore through a bond issue to refinance the remaining $ 2 billion (Rs 10,000 crore) bridge loan it took to acquire Jaguar and Land Rover.
Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, has filed patent infringement suits against Sun Pharma, Wockhardt Ltd and Lupin Ltd to prevent these companies from securing marketing approvals for the generic equivalents of its high-selling neuropathic pain management drug Lyrica in the United States.
"That plant has a high cost of production and it is not feasible to operate it when aluminium prices have dropped significantly," said a company executive. It has started reducing output and full closure is expected soon. Aluminium prices fell to $1,251 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange from last July's all-time high of $3,271, as the global credit crunch and economic slowdown curbed demand for the base metal. On Wednesday, the metal's LME price was $1,421 a tonne.
Ripples of Indias largest corporate scam along with poor quarterly performance have made more than half of the actively traded companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opt not to disclose their fourth quarter un-audited results this month. Instead, they would announce only their annual audited results, before the end of June.
The National Aluminium Company (Nalco), India's second largest producer of the base metal, avoided a production cut by offering discounts to its key clients that helped it boost sales and trim rising inventory.
In yet another setback to Swiss drug multinational Novartis AG, the Indian patent office has rejected its application to secure a patent for an alfa crystal form of its blockbuster cancer medicine, Glivec.
Tech Mahindra, the highest bidder for Satyam Computer Services, has tied up Rs 875 crore funding from mutual funds and insurance companies and is in talks with banks to mobilise Rs 1,000 crore bridge loans.
Tata Motors, India's largest commercial vehicle maker, has postponed plans for an overseas equity issue and sale of investments to repay the $3 billion bridge loan it took in June last year to acquire the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford.
Recently, DLF, the country's largest real estate developer, wrote to buyers of its new housing project in Gurgaon about a cut in apartment prices by 20 per cent. According to the new plan, buyers will get 5 per cent discount over the basic sale price, another 10 per cent as timely-payment rebate and an increase in the compensation rate for delay from Rs 5 per sq ft per month to Rs 10 per sq ft per month.
This comes right after DLF, the largest property developer, brought out a range of measures to soothe restive customers at a couple of other housing projects at Gurgaon. The Unitech customer ire is due to alleged delay in completion of World Spa, apartments and villas that carry an average price tag of over Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) per unit.
DLF, the country's biggest property developer, may announce a "relief package" for customers of its second Gurgaon project, 'Express Greens', a few days after it announced a similar package for those who had booked at its 'New Town Heights' residential project, also in Gurgaon.
The first to pass on the baton will be Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant. He retires in June, according to the group's policy that all executive directors must retire at the age of 65 years. The other two are the MD of Tata Steel, B Muthuraman, and his long-time counterpart at TCS, S Ramadorai. They retire in September and October, respectively.
Unitech is pinning its hopes on the sub-Rs 5 lakh category of flats to counter the slowdown in the property sector. So are a host of others. Apart from Unitech, others such as Omaxe, Raheja, Tata Housing and Ansal API are planning new projects in the suburbs of satellite towns or smaller cities to target the bottom segment, to generate more cash.
The move comes in the backdrop of the failure of the health ministry's World Bank-sponsored National Pharmacovigilance Programme to generate sufficient ADRs from select medical colleges. The central government also intends to provide financial support to institutions to run such monitoring centres. The health ministry has asked the finance ministry to introduce a budgetary head specifically for ADR monitoring, to ensure sustained government funds for the project.
The company had reported less than 1 per cent of the revenue of Rs 781 crore (Rs 7.81 billion) in 2007-08 from the dredging business. For the nine months ending December 31, 2008, it reported revenue of Rs 853 crore (Rs 8.53 billion), a 61.1 per cent growth over the corresponding period of the previous year as it largely deployed its ships on long-term contracts.
Currently, the public sector major has an inventory of 20,000 tonnes as against the usual level of 5,000 tonnes. Analysts expect the inventory to reach 25,000 tonnes by March-end. "We expect aluminium prices to remain below the cost of production for the next six to nine months," said Vipul Shah, an analyst with Mumbai-based brokerage K R Choksey Shares. "The outlook for aluminium is grim," he said.
At least a dozen global firms, including Roche, Pfizer and Astra Zeneca got a nod from the Drugs Controller General of India to conduct over 50 clinical trials on Indian volunteers this month, official data reveals. The global clinical research outsourcing market is projected to touch $23 billion by 2011, with consultancy firm KPMG estimating that India will corner 15 per cent of this in two years.
Despite the ongoing trouble India's largest drug maker, Ranbaxy, is facing in the United States, domestic pharmaceutical companies are betting high on the world's largest drug market with added vigour.
India's largest refiner, Reliance Industries Ltd, is in talks with public sector oil marketer Hindustan Petroleum Corporation for a tie-up to run the former's fuel retail outlets, closed a year earlier.HPCL has issued a limited tender to five merchant bankers to advise it on the deal.Last year, RIL closed 1,400 petrol pumps -- 900 owned by the company and the rest managed by dealers.
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