The Pharmabiz study of the performances of India’s top 100 listed pharmaceutical companies during 2015-16 brings out a complex profile of this key industry of the country. The net sales of these 100 companies increased by 10.3 per cent to Rs. 190,627 crore during 2015-16 from Rs. 172,842 crore in the previous year. That is certainly a good sales growth rate considering the hard times several industries are going through for some time now. Among the 100 companies, 30 recorded net sales of over Rs. 1,000 crore during 2015-16 contributing to 88 per cent of the aggregate net sales. The net sales of these 30 companies increased by 11.9 per cent to Rs. 167,152 crore during 2015-16 from Rs. 149,430 crore in the previous year. Among all the pharmaceutical companies, Sun Pharma stands out at the number one position with a net sales of Rs. 27,744 crore in 2015-16 as against Rs. 27,245 crore after merger of Ranbaxy Laboratories in the previous year. Dr Reddy's Laboratories kept its No 2 position with net sales of Rs. 15,471 crore and Lupin stands at the third spot with net sales of Rs. 13,702 crore. The sales of these three top companies, however, improved only by single digit at 1.8 per cent, 4.4 per cent and 8.7 per cent respectively during 2015-16. Alkem Labs and Syngene International are the two companies which entered the list of 30 during last year with net sales of Rs. 4,877 crore and Rs. 1,086 crore. Both the companies entered capital market during 2015-16 with public issue of shares. At the same time, Orchid Pharma failed to continue in the list of 30 as its net sales declined by almost 50 per cent to Rs. 860 crore from Rs. 1,714 crore. In all, net sales of 21 companies from the sample of 100 declined during 2015-16. Prominent among them are Novartis, Suven Life Sciences, Parabolic Drugs, Panacea Biotec, Venus Remedies, Ind-Swift and Lyka.

As in the case of sales, profitability of several companies of the list of 100 were not up to the mark during 2015-16. Net profits of Dr Reddy's Labs, Lupin, Piramal Enterprise, Wockhardt, Strides Shasun, Ipca Labs, GSK, Nectar Lifesciences, Aarti Drugs, Marksans Pharma, Ind-Swift Labs, Panacea Biotec and Venus Remedies declined during the year. DRL’s net profit fell by 9.8 per cent and that of Lupin's declined by 5.5 per cent during the year. And the number one company, Sun Pharma's net profit increased only by 3.9 per cent. The net profit of a few companies like Torrent Pharma, Pfizer, Novartis, Morepen Laboratories, Albert David, Mangalam Drugs and Themis Medicare, however, increased by over 100 per cent during the year. The main reason for the overall poor performances of the pharmaceutical companies is the setback in the export front. Sales and profit growth of Indian pharmaceutical industry used to be largely on account of its exports to the US and European markets. In both these markets, growth in exports was poor and profitability has been under pressure. Repeated regulatory actions by the US and European authorities against top Indian companies on quality issues are still haunting this sector. Unless these issues are addressed seriously by the individual companies, future may not be that bright for this sector.