Square Foot, a leading flooring solutions provider is looking forward to expand its operations in the Indian pharma sector. The company provides premium quality floor coverings specific to pharma sector such as vinyl floor and wall coverings used in clean room and packaging areas. The specialized flooring solutions are maintenance free.

For the company, pharma sector will continue to be a sunshine sector and expects to have a 10 per cent growth year-on-year for the next five years according to Gaurav Saraf, director, Square Foot Flooring.

The company has been serving over 100 pharma companies including Zydus Cadilla, Wockhardt, Serum Institute, Biological Evans, Shantha Biotechnics and Kemwell.

“The pharma grade flooring is a key differentiator for Square Foot. For clean room, manufacturing or classified areas, the flooring functionality is more important than aesthetics,” stated Saraf.

As part of its business development strategy for the pharma sector, its partnership with the France-based Tarkett range for clean room tested flooring gives it an edge in the market. Stringent installation standards to ensure seam welding, according to international norms helps the drug manufacturers get the required clearances during audits by national and global regulatory authorities. The products come with chemical reactivity tests for each product with 50 different types of acids, alkalis, organic solvents. Most of its vinyl floorings are at least 25 per cent recycled and conform to all VOC (volatile organic compound) emission norms according to EN and US standards. The products earn 2 leed points according to LEED. The adhesive used also conforms to all VOC standards.

At Kemwell Pharma, Bangalore, the flooring solutions from Square Foot were used at its oral solid Export Oriented Unit which bagged the EU GMP certification from MPA (Medicines Product Agency) Sweden and the NDA (National Drug Agency) Uganda, stated S Jagmohan, vice president – Projects; Kemwell Pharma.

As India slated to emerge as the 10th largest pharma market by 2015 with expected production of US$ 50 billion, the country could become the global hub for outsourcing giving opportunities for new facility expansion. “Every pharma company makes different products with different chemicals. For each company, we need to check our chemical compatibility and then suggest products. The challenges in the area of flooring solutions are to get the right clients opt for globally accepted floorings which are long lasting,” said Saraf.