Nicholas Piramal India Ltd will set up a 100 per cent subsidiary of the company in US by the beginning of the next financial year, according to Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Nicholas Piramal India Ltd. This subsidiary will act as a business development tool of NPIL and will facilitate communication of the company with MNCs operating in these regions on all aspects including exports, custom outsourcing and clinical trials, said Piramal.

Also, NPIL is planning business development offices in Singapore and Europe in the near future. This Singapore office will look after the business development activities for the lucrative Japanese market. The European office, which will be set up in either London or Paris, will look at the business development in the entire region. However, unlike the US subsidiary, the offices in Europe and Singapore would primarily target towards attracting business relating to outsourcing of APIs and intermediates. However on a latter date these offices would also focus on other side of business like conducting clinical trials.

Confirming this plan, the company’s Executive Director (International), J.C. Saigal said NPIL is in talks with various Japanese and European firms for outsourcing of APIs and intermediates.

According to Saigal, the current Japanese and European pharmaceutical market is $ 100 billion and $ 150 billion respectively. The overall global pharmaceutical market is $ 450 billion of which the total outsourcing market is $ 42 billion, he said.

In the meanwhile, Nicholas Piramal India Limited (NPIL) registered a net profit of Rs. 37.3 crore for the third quarter ended December 2003, a growth of 76.1 per cent compared to Rs. 21.19 crore, a year ago. Net sales for the same period grew by 19.3 per cent to Rs. 262 crore compared to Rs. 219.5 crore, a year ago. NPIL’s domestic formulations business grew by 13.4 per cent against an industry growth rate of 5.1 per cent (ORG-MARG MAT Dec-03). Top-10 brands formed 36 per cent of the portfolio.