Novartis India, a Rs 550 crore plus MNC, has suffered minor setback during the second quarter ended September 2008 and its net profit declined to Rs 29.19 crore from Rs 30.39 crore in the corresponding period of last year. The company's net sales, however, increased 4.5 per cent to Rs 154.49 crore from Rs 147.88 crore. The earning per share worked out to Rs 9.13 as against Rs 9.51 in the last period.

The company's pharmaceutical sales increased to Rs 105.30 crore during the second quarter from Rs 104.19 crore in the last period. The generic sales improved to Rs 14.43 crore from Rs 12.83 crore and OTC sales reached at Rs 21.13 crore from Rs 18.92 crore.

For the first half ended September 2008, Novartis's net sales increased by 7.5 per cent to Rs 308.17 crore from Rs 286.71 crore in the similar period of last year. The net profit also went up to Rs 58.83 crore from Rs 53.23 crore, representing a growth of 10.5 per cent. The pharmaceutical sales for the first six months of 2008-09 improved by 5.3 per cent to Rs 210.49 crore and that of generic moved up by 23/2 per cent to Rs 33.14 crore from Rs 26.90 crore. The earning per share for the firs half touched to Rs 18.41 as against Rs 16.65 in the last period.