Cipla Limited,  a Rs. 10,800 crore pharma major from Mumbai, announced that its board has approved an investment by Fidelity Growth Partners India and US-based Fidelity Biosciences, through FIL Capital Investments (Mauritius) II Limited or its affiliates, in its recently launched consumer healthcare business which is under incorporation. The investment is subject to execution of definitive agreements, and regulatory approvals.

Fidelity Growth Partners India (FGPI) is the India-focused private equity arm of Fidelity International, focused on cross-sector growth capital investing.

Through Cipla consumer healthcare, the company has entered the rapidly growing over-the-counter (OTC) healthcare market in India. The vision is to improve the lives of Indian consumers, building on Cipla’s strengths in bringing good science to good medicine, while also leveraging its market outreach and equity with the Indian healthcare system. The idea is to leverage Cipla R&D and innovation platform to provide innovative solutions to meet the unmet needs of the Indian consumer. The business will focus on opportunities arising from the shift from illness to wellness and self-care.

Samina Vaziralli, executive director, Cipla Ltd, who has incubated this business at Cipla New Ventures said “Partnering with a long-term strategic and financial investor like Fidelity Growth Partners on this journey will help us create a best-in-class consumer healthcare business. In the consumer healthcare business we need a strong FMCG talent pool and the right ecosystem with a ‘pharma in/ FMCG out’ mind-set. We already have great talent on board.”

Raj Dugar, senior managing director, Fidelity Growth Partners India, added “Over-the-counter consumer healthcare is a nascent but rapidly growing market in India, and one we are very excited about. This is a unique opportunity for us to partner with Cipla, a company that has long been associated with changing the paradigm of care to build a robust platform that delivers differentiated, high quality products for the Indian consumer. Using our combined knowledge and resources, we intend to provide OTC products that will bring significant benefits to the consumer.”

Commenting on the development, Subhanu Saxena managing director and global chief executive officer, Cipla said “It is great to see Cipla in consumer healthcare. It has been my aspiration since joining the company that every person in India should have access to Cipla’s healthcare products that are available at a price affordable to them. The consumer healthcare business will help us to achieve this vision faster. This partnership with Fidelity clearly reinforces trust in our vision of having a word-class consumer healthcare business.”

The Indian consumer health care (CHC) market is currently a $4 billion market and is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15 per cent. It is expected to be a $10 billion market by 2020. Cipla’s CHC division recently launched its first product Nicotex, a gum which helps smokers quit the habit. This product is a switch from our prescription business and has had a very successful launch in the South of the country.