Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) has initiated its Vitamin A and premixes exports after the company closed an agreement with MNC Royal DMS by which it ceases to exist as the licensee of Royal DMS in its Vitamin A and premixes business. So far, the terms of the agreement did not allow Nicholas Piramal to export these products.

"After the agreement signed with Royal DMS in January 2003, NPIL has initiated exports of Vitamin A and premixes. The company's Vitamin exports till March 2003 has been worth Rs. 1.44 crore," said an official spokesperson of NPIL.

Originally, NPIL was a licensee under F. Hoffmann La Roche for the manufacture and marketing of Roche's Vitamin A and premixes business in India. However, the license was later transferred to Royal DMS, when Roche divested its global Vitamins and fine chemicals business to Roche.

For the year ended March 31, 2003, the vitamins and fine chemicals business of NPIL stood at Rs. 82.22 crore, a growth of over 33 per cent compared to previous corresponding period's Rs. 61.68 crore. The turnaround has been engineered through several new initiatives in marketing, resource productivity and outsourcing initiated in the recent past.

Nicholas Piramal inherited its vitamin A business when it acquired Roche from Hoffman La Roche in 1993. Manufacturing vitamin A is a complex technology-intensive process involving high capital costs. The primary compound is citral, obtained from lemon grass oil. Citral is processed through a 12-step chemical synthesis to produce vitamin A acetate.

Innovative regional branding and new product launches have helped the company's vitamin division maintain a sustainable growth performance, despite the large scale dumping of Vitamin A and its other commercial forms into India. The division is diversifying its product portfolio to include technology-driven high value molecules and perfumery products for niche markets, said a company report.