Bangalore-based British Biologicals, a dedicated nutraceutical major in the country has an aggressive strategy in place to pursue its future growth efforts. In this connection, the company is focusing on disease-specific nutritional products. V S REDDY, chairman and managing director, British Biologicals in an email interaction with NANDITA VIJAY provides an overview of the nutraceutical sector and the developments at his company . Excerpts:

How would you describe the current scenario of  nutraceuticals in India?
India has  a long lasting tradition of maintaining health by the intake of appropriate food and nutrition. Now, with increased urbanization and disposable income, people are more interested about the ready mix formulations so that they remain fit and nutrition-rich.

Due  to increased working hours and paucity of  time to cook food at home, people are now forced to eating out from  fast food restaurants among other instant dine centres including street foods joints. The type of  food may not have the required nutrition. This results in a need to supplement the nutrition deficiency.

Although different agencies offer different market sizes, all that I can say it that  the nutraceutical sector is  registering a healthy double digit growth. The concept of preventive care is set to drive growth opportunities in the nutraceutical market.

What are the country’s key strength in nutraceuticals?
Scientific manpower, approach towards good  manufacturing practices, excellent distribution system to reach a substantial proportion of population, ever increasing disposable income, stable national food policy and the awareness among the medical experts  to place nutrition in their treatment ‘algorithm’.

British Biologicals has been a well known nutraceutical player in the field. How has the company  fared in last 36 months?
We have been going strong with a 22 per cent  growth and is poised to  growth further with our range of products.

To what extent the economic slowdown has  impacted the company?
Indian healthcare industry by and large had remained unaffected by  recession. In this regard, the downturn was less traumatic. There were always  opportunities to explore the market and tap demands during the slowdown.

Which are the fastest growing products of the company?
From our range of products which cover general health with ‘B Protein’, women’s health with ‘Pro PL and ‘Meno Pro’, child health with ‘Kids Pro’ diabetes with ‘D Pro’, cholesterol management with Colred, Liver with ‘Hepa Pro’, weight management with Medislim and Pulmonary distress with Pulmocare, and Pulmoplus, we have found that Hepa pro, Pulmocare, and Pulmoplus are the fastest growing in the range.

Has the company slated any investments for the  growth of  the business?
Yes. We have invested in our criticare division with international collaborations and is introducing products which cover all segments of healthcare and nutritional science. We would be focusing more on international markets going by the opportunities in the arena and this move would also help to increase the export earnings in the coming years.

As a part of the expansion process, there would also be an increase in  the personnel strength and efforts are on the cards to hire more  including scientific manpower for the research and development division.

Is there any expansion plan  in Bangalore?
We would like to set up a new manufacturing plant as per the USFDA regulations in Jigani Industrial area on a four acre plot. The plant would span over an area of 1.5 lakh sq.ft, out of which 25,000 sq. ft would be a dedicated area for  R&D and quality control labs of world-class standards.

Has the company planned any future research efforts for  new products?
Yes, we are actively working on neuro and ortho segments. These are  viewed among the future areas of growth going by the need for a nutritional supplement.

What are your  future efforts to take the company forward?
As already indicated, with the promising prospects in the market, we would like to tap every opportunity for growth. Therefore our  future efforts would be to increase the manpower strength,  devise strategies to augment  market share, expand product offering and make the right moves for global forays.

Do you see a consolidation of the industry and does your company look at M&As as a part of  future growth efforts?
Inorganic growth efforts would be a way for future growth. In this regard, we are open to acquisitions. If there is a prospective company with a strategic fit to our business mandate, we could consider a take-over of  brands in the nutrition category.

What are the novel trends in marketing  nutraceuticals?
As of now, we do now see any  such trends, expect for the fact that companies in the nutraceutical space will see ample growth prospects which are driven by awareness and disposable incomes. Therefore there is need for a sound business model to expand the product range and enter new markets.

What would be the future of the sector in terms of growth and development in India and globally?
People all over the world are interested to consume nutrition as a preventive measure to avoid diseases. The concept of preventive care is fad now in India too and is evolving  here as well.

India is slowly becoming a hub for the production of nutraceuticals.  Government needs to take a call on regulations in the standardization of quality and incentives to the manufacturer to  expedite the process.