7 June 2002, The Hindu

Arvind Remedies' revamp exercise

By K. T. Jagannthan


The Rs.100-crore pharmaceutical formulation maker Arvind Remedies
has gone in for a slew of restructuring initiatives on marketing, distribution, product and debt fronts to beef up both top and bottomlines in the near-term and secure itself a niche place in the local as well as international
marketplace over a period.

All these will lead to the establishment of a brand new manufacturing facility that will measure up to the U.S. FDA quality parameters.

These exercises have already seen the company reduce the number of layers in ' ethical marketing set-up ', replace high cost debt with low cost ones and opt for a focussed marketing of select branded products in the
ethical segment. The `re-engineering' of ethical market set-up has resulted in the reduction of number of layers to four from seven. According to Arvind
Shah, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, this in itself will adequately facilitate the company's projection for a 45 per cent revenue growth in the current financial year.

Mr. Shah told The Hindu that the company had taken a decision to direct its marketing focus on 25 select brands only in ethical product segment.

On the distribution front, too, Arvind had decided to reduce the channels to three from four.R. Karthikeyan, Chief Financial Officer, said the company would look for an interest swap vis-a-vis its term loan worth around Rs. 8.50 crores.

Arvind has a manufacturing and R&D facility at Kakkalur, about 45 km from here.

It has presence in both allopathy and ayurveda segments. Development of drug delivery systems, new formulations and process development of various dosage forms would remain its focus areas in the coming years.

The company has just begun to look at exports.

The thrust in the coming days, according to Mr. Shah, would be on improving visibility in the OTC segment, introduction of traditional ayurvedic medicines, beefing up presence in the local branded market and breaking into high growth European and American markets. It would explore a range of options, from introduction of new generation molecules to acquisition of brands and co-manufacturing/marketing with foreign firms.