Ipca Labs is planning to set up a new formulation facility at Indore special economic zone at an investment of Rs 60 crore. It has identified a 52-acre area of land in the SEZ, which will be utilised for manufacturing generic formulations targeted exclusively to the US market, said senior company officials. The company currently exports only six APIs to US. The investment will be funded by way of internal accruals and borrowings.

"We have received a letter of permission for the project from the MP Government. The construction will begin by March 2005 and is expected to be completed within 12-15 months. After a US FDA approval for the plant, we plan to export products in the areas like CVS and diuretics from the plant to US," said A K Jain, executive director, Ipca Labs.

For the current financial year, Ipca's capital expenditure is worth Rs 120 crore, which will be utilised in the expansion of Silvassa and Ratlam plants. The balance will be utilised in R&D and infrastructure development, said Jain.

Ipca manufactures its products from facilities located at Athal, Indore, Silvassa, Kandla and Ratlam. The company is currently exporting its products to countries like Europe, US, South Africa, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Brazil.

For the quarter ended September 2004, IPCA achieved sales of Rs 190.23 crore compared to previous corresponding period's Rs 170 crore. The company achieved a net profit after tax (before exceptional items) of Rs 23.75 crore compared to Rs 22 crore.

For the year ended March 2004, IPCA achieved net sales of Rs 677.23 crore and a net profit of Rs 79.26 crore.