The Indian pharmaceutical retail market grew by a robust 9 per cent over the last half-year according to the ORG-IMS. In line with the overall growth of the market the top 10 companies by contribution too witnessed a largely positive trend in term of value growth. "A large proportion of this growth has come from compensation of the loss that happened last year due to lesser retail purchases on account of the VAT uncertainties. The market has also witnessed some stabilization on price declines this year", says Shailesh Gadre, managing director, ORG IMS.

The faster growing companies amongst the top 10 appear to be Indian companies Sun Pharmaceuticals and Aristo within this period. Aristo grew by 17 per cent on a year on year basis and Sun's performance indicates a positive uptrend of 14 per cent in value terms. "Its interesting to note that the two fastest growing companies - Sun and Aristo have garnered growths from altogether diverse categories. While, Sun notched up almost a 20 per cent growth in Anti diabetics and Anti epilepsy, Aristo's growth came mainly from Cephalosporins", says Gadre.

Sun and Aristo are followed by Cipla, which clocked a double-digit growth of 11 per cent for the same period. MNC pharma majors GlaxoSmithKline and Aventis too, have turned in a positive growth of 4 per cent. "It is commendable for both GSK and Aventis, to have maintained fair growths, when they are competing in a price-competitive market that is flooded with new products. Consistent brand-building efforts have yielded results for these companies", commented Gadre.