Signet Chemical Corporation, the Mumbai based speciality excipients major, is eyeing an exponential growth in the coming years, thanks to the booming generic pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in India.
The company, one of the largest importer and distributor of specialty excipients in the country has been recording a steady growth of an average of 30 percent year after year for the past several years. The company has selected a niche area of specialty excipients for a client bank spread over the entire pharmaceutical industry all over the country.
Started in 1985 with a wide range of pharma excipients sourced from different parts of the world, the company currently sources more than 250 products from 20 distribution tie-ups, these mostly being specialised higher end products from US, Europe and Japan.
"The specialty excipients market in India has been fantastic since the last few years and continues to be so. To keep pace we leverage our strengths to grow with our customer requirements by constantly raising the levels of our service. There is a growing realisation in the pharma industry that excepients are as important as actives in the final performance of the formulation" explained Harish Shah, managing director, Signet Chemical Corporation.
Though there is a positive trend in the specialty chemicals sector in India, hardly any players have entered into manufacturing excipients, he added. This is because to succeed, excipients manufacturing companies would have to find a much larger market base if they were to set up facilities and cater the market with very high quality products.This is not very practical in the current scenario in India. The excepients trade in India however has a better time ahead .Of course one one hand it has to face the generic market pricing issues and on the other it has to to constantly upgrade according to emerging trends. Sophisticated technologies and Novel applications have to be developed from time to time, according to Wilson D'Souza the Sales Manager of the company.
Signet , at present is targeting pharmaceutical formulators that export to the US and EU countries, which call for excepients prepared in very high standard and FDA approved facilities. The company focuses on adding more products to its product line alongwith plans to add new companies as its distribution partners in the coming years. It is in advance stage talks with two global majors..
"One of the main areas we focus on is keeping our customers technically informed about our products and the new trends. For this, we have a well equipped team comprising of pharma professionals that works in harmony with the marketing team which makes us much more than just a distributing firm," said Dr. Vora in charge of Technical Support .Not only is product information given but technical assistance for usage, trouble shooting, regulatory assistance, seminars etc is all part of the value service offered continues Ramchandra Rao another technical manager of the company's branch at Hyderabad. To offer enhanced technical support,
the company along with its majors has a plan to set up an application laboratory. This will narrow the gap between the R&D scientist and excipient producers significantly.Signet is expected to record a growth of around 40 percent in the current fiscal year to reach a turnover of Rs 150 crore in the financial year 2006-07 and Rs.250 crores by the turn of the decade. Signet's vast product line now represents the world's leading manufacturers from the USA, Germany, France, Japan, Belgium, Portugal, Norway and others.
Its MNC principals currently include FMC BioPolymer, Roquette Freres, ShinEtsu, Aqualon -Hercules, BASF, Rhodia, CP Kelco, Rio Tinto, Ferro, Kronos, Dead Sea Periclase, Asahi, American Colloid Company, Stepan, Scora, Tereos, Werner and some others. Global brands like Avicel, Ac-Di-Sol, Pearlitol, Kleptose, Pharmacoat, Klucel, Kollidon, Lutrol, Celphere, Di-Tab, Calipharm, Xantural, Luzenac Talc form an important part of Signet's product portfolio.