US-based CVC Technologies Inc has opened a branch in India with the objective of tapping the potential domestic pharma industry with its range of sophisticated equipment used by formulation units.

The branch is exploring possibility of sub-contracting manufacture of critical/non-critical parts with Indian pharma machinery sector. Plans are also underway to float an Indian company- ''CVC Technologies India'', to enable setting up a sales and spares network of CVC product range, V Venkitachalam, CEO, CVC Technologies Inc, India branch told Pharmabiz.com.

The game plan of the company is to change the mindset of the Indian pharma-biotech industry to invest in fully automated, unmanned, flexible and time saving machinery to increase and maintain consistency in quality. "We hope to source the parts and assemble our machinery with the local manufacturers and considering various options with Indian pharma machinery sector," he added.

The one-month-old branch office in India, which is based in Bangalore has already started receiving serious enquiries from the India pharma companies like Dr. Reddys, Cipla, Eros Pharma, Torrent, JB Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca Pharma India, Kemwell etc. "We are not keen to rush through these orders as much as educate customers on the need for efficiency in production. There are new pharma-biotech plants coming up in the country where we can offer the complete range or look at companies who are interested in replacement of existing equipment with CVC range," informed Venkitachalam.

The multi national pharma companies are looking at India to set up a base for manufacturing because of low cost labour and skilled manpower. CVC Technologies hopes to en-cash on these ventures. "The mandatory requirements of FDA/GMP (Food & Drug Administration/Good Manufacturing Practises) approved plants will help us to garner orders," he said.

Although the company is yet to get off the mark in bagging orders from Indian pharma companies, it is more keen to educate the customers on the importance of automated technologies in critical areas of drug production. Going by the expansion plans in the pharma-biotech sector in the country, CVC Technologies plans to have a sales-service network for the range of product.

Currently, in India there is no company offering a range like CVC Technologies, but there is competition for some products. "We are undeterred by the presence of local players for a few of the products as we single out as leaders in the broad spectrum of technologies we can offer," averred Venkitachalam.

The company is not looking at its pricing to lose out on orders as automated processes from CVC Technologies are more of an investment in the long term to help maintain international standards in production, he said.