Novartis India, a Rs.844 crore MNC, has suffered setback during the third quarter ended December 2012 and its net profit declined sharply by 24.4 per cent to Rs.29 crore from Rs.38.35 crore in the corresponding period of last year. EBDITA also declined by 24.1 per cent to Rs.43.20 crore from Rs.56.88 crore. Its net sales improved marginally by 5.1 per cent to Rs.233.54 crore from Rs.222.32 crore.

During the quarter, its pharmaceuticals business registered income of Rs.161.8 crore as against Rs.153.3 crore. The generics business recorded total income of Rs.15.7 crore from Rs.14.2 crore. The Animal Health business income touched to Rs.23.7 crore as compared to Rs.20.7 crore. OTC sales declined marginally to Rs.32.3 crore from Rs.34.2 crore.

For the nine months period ended December 2012, Novartis' net sales improved by 7.7 per cent to Rs.690 49 crore from Rs.641.42 crore. However, its net profit declined by 20 per cent to Rs.95.32 crore from Rs.119.10 crore. The pharmaceutical sales improved to Rs.492.4 crore from Rs.448.9 crore and that of generic sales improved to Rs.46.3 crore from Rs.43.3 crore.