Hikal Limited has commissioned a new pilot plant at Taloja, a new API manufacturing unit at Bangalore and a cGMP kilo lab at Jigani. The facilities, set up at a cost of Rs. 50 crore, will help Hikal significantly enhance its capabilities to become the preferred outsourcing partner for the global life sciences companies.

A new pilot plant at Taloja has been set up to manufacture an agrochemical product for a global chemicals company. The pilot plant will start operations in August 2006 and a full-scale multi-purpose agrochemical plant is expected to be commissioned by 2008.

Hikal has set up a new API manufacturing unit in Bangalore that will manufacture a new veterinary drug for a global pharmaceutical company. The multi-product API plant is expected to start full-scale production by end-2007.

The company has set a new cGMP Kilo Lab at Jigani in Bangalore. The new facilities will enable Hikal to offer the complete range of outsourcing services to global life science companies through various stages of the product development cycle.

Jai Hiremath, vice chairman and managing director, Hikal said, "In the last few years, the need to outsource for the global life science majors has increased considerably, and outsourcing is moving from being just a tactical option to a more strategic one. Hikal will continue to expand and strengthen our capabilities to garner a larger pie of the multi-billion dollar opportunity."

Mumbai headquartered Hikal Limited has a 2005-2006 turnover of Rs 241.7 crore with a 24 per cent growth. Net profit for the year stood at Rs 41.4 crore, a 21.4 per cent growth from Rs 34.1 crore in 2004-2005. Revenues from the pharmaceutical division stood at Rs 83.4 crore, growing at 68 percent while the agrochemical division had revenues of Rs 147 crore, showing a 7 per cent growth.