In order to survive the Centre’s MRP-based excise duty and Schedule M mandate, Bangalore-based Bentley& Remington Private Limited has gone in for a Rs 2-crore investment to set up a new Schedule M compliant facility. With this good manufacturing practice unit, Bentley will for the first time make its appearance in the international arena with its antibiotics and pain killers in African countries and Germany. The company is undeterred by the cost of product registrations since it aims to acquire a global image.
A relatively low profile quality generic manufacturer, Bentley has a list of buyers who would ensure a market for its products in the international market, thus enabling its product registrations in those countries to be handled.
With the setting up of the new plant, Bentley now has three blocks at its facility located in the Peenya Industrial Area in Bangalore. Two units are dedicated facilities for contract manufacture and the third is a tablet-capsule production unit for formulations in painkillers, anti inflammatory, mucolytics, anti-spasmodic and antibiotics.
“The facility has full-fledged production and quality control departments. We have also applied for new molecules off patent for production, which will allow us to increase the product range,” B Vasant Ranka, managing director, Bentley & Remington Private Ltd., told Pharmabiz.com
On the state of the country’s small scale industry in the wake of the Centre’s MRP based excise duty rule, imposition of fringe benefits tax and elimination of concessional rate of duty up to Rs 1 crore turnover, Ranka said small-sized companies growth is severely hampered by these issues.
He said that it would be a big risk for small units to move to tax-free zones of Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Jammu & Kashmir because of finance, manpower and infrastructure which are critical components to exist. Now the movement of large companies to these zones would seriously affect the contract manufacture business orders which is the mainstay for small companies. Although Bentley’s contract manufacture business has still not been affected, Ranka said there was a constant fear of losing orders under the MRP-based excise duty regime.
To escape the impact of the DPCO, Bentley has withdrawn production of all drugs coming under its purview. “There is no progress in the domestic market for generics which is manufactured by over 2,000 companies. There is cut-throat competition leaving small scale units in a tight spot,” he added.
Under the current uncertain scenario which calls for competency and capacity building, small scale industry must aggressively gear up with innovative strategies and shape up to be on par with the multinational companies, otherwise small-sized operations would cease to exist within the next five years, opined Ranka.