The total assets of leading 30 pharmaceutical companies, excluding Piramal Enterprises Ltd, have shown a modest growth of 10.8 per cent during 2016-17 to Rs.2,76,289 crore as compared to Rs.2,49,404 crore in the previous year. The return on investments of these companies declined marginally to 9.3 per cent from 9.9 per cent and return on capital employed declined to 10.6 per cent from 11.4 per cent. The debt/equity ratio worked out to 0.38 as against 0.40 in the previous year.

The Pharmabiz sample of 30 companies, with net sales above Rs.1,000 crore, have registered fixed assets growth of 18.4 per cent during 2016-17 to Rs.59,452 crore from Rs.50,198 crore. However, the capital work-in-progress remained stagnant at Rs.12,709 crore despite lower interest regime in India. Similarly, the amount of goodwill declined slightly to Rs.20,694 crore from Rs.20,859 crore. The sample of 30 companies includes four multinational companies viz., GlaxoSmithKline Pharma, Sanofi India, Abbott India and Pfizer. Though Pirmal Enterprises has notched up net sales above Rs.8,500 crore, we excluded it as it diversified significantly in to financial services and other segment.

The non-current assets of 30 companies increased by 17 per cent to Rs.23,153 crore during 2016-17 from Rs.19,796 crore. Of this, investments increased by 29.4 per cent to Rs.3,725 crore from Rs.2,879 crore and deferred tax assets moved up by 5.7 per cent to Rs.7,625 crore from Rs.7,212 crore. Their long term loans declined by 7.9 per cent to Rs.1,918 crore from Rs.2,082 crore. Other non-current assets increased by 29.7 per cent to Rs.9,885 crore. Thus, the non-current assets of 30 companies increased by 17 per cent tto Rs.23,153 crore from Rs.19,796 crore.

The current assets of these companies increased by 7.2 per cent to Rs.1,34,385 crore from Rs.1,25,415 crore. Inventories increased by 8.8 per cent to Rs.39,754 crore from Rs.36,529 crore. Their trade receivable declined by 2.2 per cent to Rs.37,135 crore from Rs.37,974 crore. Cash & bank balance increased by 5.3 per cent to Rs.29,932 crore from Rs.28.420 crore. Short term loans amounted to Rs.3,702 crore as against Rs.2,318 crore and other current assets moved up by 17.8 per cent to Rs.12,483 crore from Rs.10,597 crore.

The net worth of these 30 companies increased by 13 per cent to Rs.1,54,101 crore during 2016-17 from Rs.1,36,353 crore in the previous year. The reserves& surplus increased by 13.2 per cent to Rs.1,52,191 crore from Rs.1,34,481 crore. The long-term borrowings went up by 19 per cent to Rs.33,884 crore from Rs.28,479 crore. However, short-term borrowings declined by 1.8 per cent to Rs.25,436 crore from Rs.25,893 crore. The debt equity ratio remained almost same at 0.38 as compared to 0.40 in the last year. Their trade payable increased by 12.3 per cent to Rs.26,312 crore from Rs.23,437 crore. Thus, non-current liabilities increased by 14.1 per cent to Rs.42,770 crore and current liabilities moved up by 5.1 per cent to Rs.79,418 crore.

The net sales Pharmabiz sample of 30 companies increased by 7.3 per cent to Rs.1,73,972 crore during 2016-17 from Rs.1,62,113 crore in the previous year. EBIDTA increased only by 3.5 per cent to Rs.43,282 crore from Rs.41,825 crore and net profit by 4.5 per cent to Rs.25,818 crore from Rs.24,696 crore. Thus, the return on investments worked out to slightly lower at 9.3 per cent as against 9.9 per cent and return on capital employed at 10.6 per cent as compared to 11.4 per cent.

The networth of four MNCs increased by 5.3 per cent to Rs.7,548 crore from Rs.7,169 crore in the previous year. The total borrowings of these companies is very small as compared to their business size. The total long term borrowings is only Rs.2.5 crore and short-term borrowings stood at Rs.0.99 crore. The net sales of these MNCs increased by 6 per cent to Rs.9,996 crore and net profit declined by 0.7 per cent to Rs.1,247 crore from Rs.1,256 crore.

Out of 30 companies, 13 companies registered growth of 20 in reserves during 2016-17. The highest growth in reserves clocked by Laurus Labs of 58.1 per cent to Rs.1,224 crore, followed by Syngene International of 47.1 per cent to Rs.1,213 crore. The reserves & surplus of Sun Pharmaceutical remained highest at Rs.36,400 crore during 2016-17 as against Rs.32,742 crore in the previous year, a growth of 11.2 per cent. Lupin has also build up strong reserves position of Rs.13,442 crore as against Rs.11,105 crore, a strong growth of 21 per cent. Aurobindo Pharma's reserves went up by 28.8 per cent to Rs.9,315 crore and that of Cipla by 9.4 per cent to Rs.12,803 crore. Dr Reddy's Laboratories' reserves declined by 2.5 per cent to Rs.12,179 crore from Rs.12,485 crore. Wockhardts' reserves declined sharply by 12.5 per cent to Rs.3,663 crore. The reserves of GlaxoSmithKline and Dishman Pharma also declined during 2016-17.