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Indian laboratory chemical and equipment market in the country is on an over
drive. While the lab chemicals market in the country is estimated to be around Rs 200 crore and growing at 30 per cent annually, the lab equipment sector is
generating a turnover of $750 million with 10 per cent growth. Both sectors put
together are registering 40 per cent annual growth rates.
The main reason for the buoyancy in the lab chemical market is the fact that
Indian companies have been stepping up their R&D activity in pharmaceuticals and
biotech drug development. Indian companies are making inroads into global
markets, and a strong Intellectual Property Regime (IPR) pipeline will give them
an edge, stated VR Kannan, pharma consultant.
Companies are also strictly adhering to global norms and guidelines of good
laboratory practices to survive in a highly competent scenario, added Kannan.
In the lab chemicals space, Jubilant Organosys is one of the largest
speciality chemicals companies in the country. Other players are Ranbaxy (New
Delhi) SD Fine Chemicals (Mumbai), NICE (Kochi), Leonid (Bangalore and Loba
(Mumbai).
The market for lab equipment is dominated by multinational companies, like
Waters, Millipore, Sartorious Applera Corp, Thermo Electron, Agilent
Technologies, Perkin Elmer, Shimadzu, GE Healthcare, Bruker Group, Beckman
Coulter and Varian.
In the area of lab chemicals, there is cut throat competition in India for
quality and pricing with the presence of Chinese products, pointed out S Paul
Joshua, manager, quality control, Leonid Chemicals. In this regard companies are
gearing up for massive facility expansion to beat Chinese competition.
From
Sigma Aldrich to Jubilant, Waters, Sartorius have made facility expansion to
gear up for the Indian market needs largely driven by contract research orders,
stated Shyam S Bhartia, chairman and managing director, Jubilant Organosys.
Lab equipment players have also seen major expansion and growth. With Indian
pharma-biotech companies showing an increased awareness for the need for good
quality lab infrastructure, it is boom time for the business," stated Amit
Chatterjee, MD, Sartorius India.
For Waters India, the increased awareness on GLP is viewed as a great time to
come up with products having superior technology and competitive pricing, stated
KV Venugoplan, president, Waters India.
For the lab equipment majors, 43 per cent of the business is generated from
the research and development institutes. This is followed by analytical services
24 per cent, quality assurance and quality controls 20 per cent. In India with
the patent regime, there has a profile growth of the research and development
activities.
(Ref: Chronicle Pharmabiz dated August 2, 2007)
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