AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB Sweden has now taken a decision to invest Rs.119.2 crore into its Indian operations. The decision has come about at its board meeting where the management presented a comprehensive business plan.

According to the company’s corporate presentation, AstraZeneca Pharma India is currently setting up a state-of-the-art tablet manufacturing facility with a capacity of 1.2 billion tablets per year at a cost of Rs.1000 million or Rs.100 crore.

In this regard, the company has issued its statement to the BSE which stated that the amount will be used to make efforts to commence the operations of the new tablet facility. The company will also retrieve the market share of its products and supplies which were interrupted last year. All efforts would also be made to strengthen its brand presence. It will also make efforts to enhance sales force and improve its cost management.

The promote and parent company AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB Sweden is providing a voluntary non-repayable financial grant of around US$ 22.5 million to $26.5 million which is above Rs.140 crore over the three years period covering fiscal 2014 to 2016 under a subvention agreement of which the first tranche of US$ 14 million (Rs.740 million or Rs.74 crore) will be provided to the Indian operations during the current financial.

The company note to the BSE further stated that the company has factored the voluntary repayable financial grant by the promoter in its business plan. “The management is reasonably confident, barring unforeseen circumstances that its strategy plan will enable the company to achieve the medium-long term revenue growth ahead of market and return to profitability.”