Omkar Speciality Chemicals coverage in Business Standard online edition post the interaction Business Standard (14/09/2012)
Omkar Speciality charts Rs 50-crore spread
Firm plans to double active pharma ingredient capacity by adding 1,950 tonnes
Mumbai-based Omkar Speciality Chemicals Limited (OSCL), engaged in the manufacture and sale of speciality chemicals and intermediates, is embarking on a capacity expansion at its manufacturing plants in Maharashtra with an investment of Rs 50 crore.
“Though some high-end molecules are ready for commercialisation, we are facing capacity constraints. There is tremendous pressure from customers as well, both domestic and global, for supply of products,” OSCL chairman and managing director, Pravin S Herlekar, told Business Standard.
The company, which currently has an annual capacity to manufacture 1,700 tonne of products for the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) industry at Badlapur in Thane district, is planning to add 1,950 tonne with an investment of Rs 25 crore. Its 2,800-tonne a year plant to manufacture intermediates for anti-cholesterol, anti-depression and cardio-vascular drugs, coming up on the Mumbai-Goa Highway with an investment of Rs 25 crore, will go on stream next month.
“Work on the Badlapur expansion has already begun and we expect to start commercial production in eight to nine months from now,” he said, adding that the company would utilise part of the Rs 79 crore, which it had raised through an initial public offering in January 2011, to fuel the expansion.
According to Herlekar, around 25 molecules, primarily targeting life-saving drugs like anti-cancer, cardio-vascular and anti-HIV, are currently in the research and development stage, which will get commercialised in a couple of years, and in a phased-manner.
OSCL derives 60 per cent of its revenues from APIs, and the remaining from derivatives for the poultry and veterinary, glass and ceramic, and electro-plating and metal-finishing industries.
Stating that OSCL had reported a top line of Rs 161 crore in the last financial year, he said with the new molecules on the anvil and capacity expansion in progress. the company was expecting a growth of 40-45 per cent this fiscal.
OSCL works closely with almost all the pharmaceutical majors in the country, including Cipla, Divi’s Laboratories, Dr Reddy’s, Hetero Drugs and Aurobindo.
“Having a stronghold in Hyderabad, a hub of pharmaceutical and biotech industry, we are considering having a manufacturing base here via the inorganic growth route. We are currently looking at this option, but nothing has been finalised yet,” Herlekar said.