Date:10/03/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/03/10/stories/2004031001210200.htm

Back Ranbaxy turns billion dollar co

Our Bureau

New Delhi , March 9

RANBAXY Laboratories Ltd has achieved its vision of crossing the billion-dollar mark by 2004. During February, the global sales of the company touched $1billion (on a moving annual total basis).

According to a company statement, "In the year 1993, Ranbaxy enunciated its vision to become a $1-billion company by 2004. The credit for this successful achievement truly belongs to the combined efforts of the over 9,000-strong Ranbaxy family."

It is currently pursuing its goal of becoming a $5-billion company by 2012 as part of the Garuda Vision. And to achieve this, Ranbaxy is spreading its wings across the globe.

Besides setting up a Spanish subsidiary and picking up stake in France-based RPG (Aventis), it is also eyeing the Mexico market. The company is selling its products in over 70 countries and has manufacturing operations in seven countries.

While the international markets continue to be the focus area for the company due to high margins, it will not lose sight of the domestic business. It plans to launch over 20 products this year and the main therapeutic areas would be cardiovascular, anti-infective, gastro-intestinal and central nervous system.

Analysts tracking the pharmaceutical sector said: "We were expecting the company to cross the $1-billion mark during the early part of 2004 as it had registered sales of $969 million during the 2003 calendar year, clocking a growth on 22 per cent." However, they felt that while the size of the Indian market is miniscule compared to the global size, an Indian company crossing the billion-dollar mark augurs well for the industry.

On a day when the markets fell by over 80 points, Ranbaxy shares on the BSE rose by a marginal 0.93 per cent or Rs 9.10 to close at Rs 990.60.