Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Govt must turn intentions into actions: Vodafone

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The world’s second-largest telecom company, UK-based Vodafone, has said the Narendra Modi-led NDA government must translate its good intentions into action.
“The programme of this government is good… the problem is implementation,” Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said on Wednesday. “The problem is the slow and sometimes contradictory regulatory process.”
Vodafone is facing a tax liability of over Rs. 11,200 crore, along with interest, on its 2007 acquisition of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa’s stake in Hutchison Essar in India.

Asked about the arbitration process with the government, he said it is in its early stages, and called it a “civilised process” to resolve disputes between companies and states.
He said Vodafone is planning to increase its investment in India in the short term. “I would love to list Vodafone India — there are banks knocking at my door — at the right moment, or if conditions are right,” said Colao. Those conditions, he said, include better merger and acquisition rules, as well as allocation of spectrum.
He said M&A rules are holding back consolidation in the telecom sector in India. The next round of spectrum auction (in February) could see Vodafone get deprived of its bandwidth in some important circles, with no alternative to buy in another band. “Our business is up for sale. This is predatory competition,” he said wrily.
He said India is ripe for consolidation. “We do think in India it has to happen. There are too many players not returning enough on their capital investment,” he said.
“I am waiting, like many international investors, to the see the new India,” Colao said. “I am more optimistic than I was, not because of the performance of the government, but of the business.”

PRADEEP KUMAR
PGDM 2sem

Philips to split off lighting business, form separate company

Reuters Amsterdam, September 25, 2014

First Published: 12:41 IST(2359/2014) | Last Updated: 12:47 IST(23/9/2014)

Philips said on Tuesday it would break its 120-year-old company in two, creating a stand-alone lighting business and merge consumer and healthcare divisions into a 15-billion euro business.
The company said the new structure would bring cost savings of 100 million euros (128.46 million US dollar) next year and a further 200 million euros in 2016. It expects restructuring charges of 50 million euros from 2014 to 2016.
"I do appreciate the magnitude of the decision we are taking, but the time is right to take the next strategic step for Philips," chief executive Frans van Houten said.

The light bulb manufacturer established by Frits Philips expanded into a multinational electronics company that invented the compact disc. It has shifted to focus on healthcare and advanced lighting products.
Philips said its latest move would create two market-leading companies, HealthTech and Lighting, with both companies using the Philips brand.
Philips said it would move the 7-billion euro lighting solutions business into a separate legal structure and consider various options for "alternative ownership structures with direct access to capital markets."
In a revised outlook, Philips said adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITA) in the second half of 2014 were expected to be slightly below a year earlier.
In the healthcare business, core profit in the second half of 2014 is now expected to be lower than the reported core profit in the second half of 2013.

MITHILESH CHAUBEY
PGDM 3 sem

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Samsung launches curved televisions in Indian market

South Korean consumer electronics major Samsung on Wednesday launched curved televisions in the Indian market priced between Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 4.49 lakh to tap high-end buyers ahead of the upcoming football world cup.

Under its curved range, the company is offering a range of ten television models with ultra high definition (UHD) and LED technologies ranging between Rs. 1.04 lakh to Rs. 4.49 lakh.
Commenting on the launch of the new product, Samsung India Deputy Managing Director R Zutshi said: "This technology should get adopted, we feel very strong. Its a global trend.

People are now looking at much and much better picture quality and immersive nature of the TV, which we do not have till now."

Optimistic about a good response from the market, he said: "We are looking forward this year for World Soccer Cup.

Soccer game on a curve TV would have an amazing experience. We would have a dramatic sales growth."
While he declined to put a number of the expected sales of the curved TVs, Zutshi said the new technology and World Cup would draw consumers to buy the new products.
Stressing that the curved UHD TV technology is at a nascent stage Zutshi said the expectation is that it would account for around 2 to 2.5 per cent of the total flat panel TV market with which is estimated to be over 6.5 million annually in India.

When asked how the non-availability of high quality feed could affect Ultra HD TV sales in India, he said there would be evolution as HD channel transmissions could be upgraded to UHD as well.
NAME RAHUL SINGH 2
PGDM 3 SEM

HTC Desire 820 smartphone with 64-bit octa core to be launched today

Tags: HTC Desire 820, Desire 820 price, Desire 820 features, Desire 820 India, HTC Desire 820 India launch

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC is all set to launch Desire 820 smartphone in India today.

HTC will launch the smartphone at an event in New Delhi, the invites of which had been sent a couple of days ago.

The tech giant had unveiled the Desire 820 at the IFA in Berlin early this month.

The company hasn't revealed the official price of the handset however it is expected that the phone will be priced at Rs 26,000.

It is also the first smarphone by HTC to offer Qualcomm’s 64-bit octa core Snapdragon 615 processor and integrated 4G LTE Cat. 4 connectivity.

The HTC Desire 820 features a 5.5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) display. It offers a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and a 8MP front camera.

It also offers 16GB inbuilt storage memory which can be expanded to 128GB through a micro SD card.

The smartphone is the successor to HTC Desire 816. It supports dual-SIM and runs on Android 4.4 KitKat operating system with HTC Sense UI skinned on top.

Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, FM radio, Bluetooth, GPRS/ EDGE, GPS/ A-GPS, 3G and 4G LTE connectivity.

The smartphone comes packed with a 2600mAh battery which can up to 22.4 hours (3G) of talk time and 424 hours (3G) of standby time.

Ajeet Kumar
PGDM 3rd SEM

Monday, September 22, 2014

Maruti's hold on best selling car models in India continues

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Country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India continues its dominance on the Indian roads, with its four models, led by entry-level small car Alto, heading the top ten best sellers list in April-August period this fiscal.
According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data, the company's Dzire, Swift and WagonR were the second, third and fourth biggest selling models during the period.
Rival Hyundai's Grand i10 makes it to the fifth position during the April-August period, replacing hatchback Eon which moves on the seventh position.

The company's compact sedan Xcent takes sixth position replacing hatchback i10 from the top 10 list. Honda Cars India's sedan City stands at the eighth position.
It replaces compact sedan Amaze, which now moves to 10th position.
Maruti's Celerio occupies the ninth position during the April-august period of the current fiscal, followed by Honda Amaze at the 10th spot.
Maruti Suzuki India's (MSI) Alto sold 1,03,123 units in the April-August period this fiscal as compared to 91,665 units sold in the same period of previous fiscal.
It is followed by compact sedan Dzire, with 82,912 units sold during the period. The company had sold 75,112 units of the sedan in the same period of previous fiscal.
Similarly, compact hatchback Swift continues to hold on to the third position during the April-August period this fiscal with 80,861 units sold during the period.
Swift sales stood at 72,733 units in same period of previous fiscal. Wagon R, with 63,051 units sold during the period, comes at the fourth position in passenger car segment.
MSI had sold 61,298 units of the hatchback in the same period of 2013-14. Hyundai's Grand i10 comes in at fifth position, with 40,530 units sold during the period.
It has sold 1,847 units in same period of previous fiscal.
The South Korean car-maker's compact sedan Xcent sold 33,685 units during the period to take sixth position while the company's entry level car Eon comes at seventh position with 32,171 units sold during the period as against 39,463 units in the April-August period of 2013-14.
Honda's mid-sized sedan City sold 30,447 units during the April-August period to become the eight largest selling model in India. It had sold 9,855 units in the year-ago period.
MSI's Celerio, which was launched earlier this year at the Auto Expo, with 29,591 units sold during the period stood at ninth position.
Honda's compact sedan Amaze sold 28,887 units in the April-August period to take the 10th spot. It had sold 28,610 units in April-August period of 2013-14.

MITHILESH CHAUBEY

PGDM 2sem

Sponsored

Who are India’s lowest-paid CEOs? Read more at: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/1ByVEuyR0TDXqvbDnTHz8J/Who-are-Indias-lowestpaid-CEOs.html?utm_source=copy

Who are India’s lowest-paid CEOs?

The analysis of the remuneration of chief executives and managing directors was carried out among BSE 100 companies. However, top executives who were also promoters of the companies were removed from the list. Public sector enterprises were also not considered. The analysis looked at the compensation declared as part of the annual report, which does not include long-term incentives such as the value of stock options. Cummins India’s chairman and managing director (CMD) Anant J. Talaulicar, who earned Rs.24 lakh for fiscal 2014, according to the firm’s annual report, was the least paid. A lifetime employee at the manufacturer of power generation equipment and engines, 53-year old Talaulicar has been associated with the Rs.3,899 crore company since 1988. He has been leading Cummins India as its CMD since 2003.

Cummins India is part of Cummins Group, which has eight legal entities. Cummins India is its only listed entity but Talaulicar is MD of the group as well. It wasn’t clear whether he also drew a salary at the group level. The company declined to comment on the compensation paid to Talaulicar. photo Another chief executive who has spent a lifetime at a company but earned among the least was Shriram Transport Finance’s MD Umesh Revankar. He earned Rs.48 lakh in the financial year ended March 2014. The 49-year-old joined Shriram Transport in 1987 and has been leading the country’s largest truck financing company since 2012. The company which, along with the rest of the industry, has gone through turbulent times in the last few years, reported a 7% drop in net profit to Rs.1,264.21 crore in fiscal 2014. Its stock gained 9.7% over the fiscal year in comparison to an 18.9% rise in the BSE Sensex. “Many of our senior executives including Umesh are part of the Owner Group whose compensation includes long-term benefits apart from their fixed salaries...Wherever, senior executives are not a part of the Owner Group their salaries are benchmarked to the respective industries,” said G.S. Sundararajan, group director, Shriram Group, in response to an emailed query. Of the 20 lowest paid CEOs, one-fourth were from banks and financial institutions. Federal Bank’s MD Shyam Srinivasan earned Rs.84 lakh and IndusInd Bank Ltd’s CEO Romesh Sobti earned Rs.3.1 crore in the year ended 31 March. Mails sent to the banks on 16 September remained unanswered. Globally, chief executives of banks are among those who earn the highest compensation; in India, the Reserve Bank of India in 2012 issued guidelines that included capping the variable component of the compensation of bank executives at 70% of the fixed pay in a year. “If you add the long-term incentives paid to bank executives, their compensation levels improve sharply to take them to the top bracket of pay in the country,” said Anandorup Ghose, rewards consulting practice leader at Aon Hewitt India, adding that about 70% of companies have long-term incentives by way of employee stock options or restricted stock units.

According to Ghose, Indian companies have moved from a structure of having 80% of fixed compensation and 20% variable pay to a 50:25:25 structure, with 50% being fixed and variable and long term incentives making up 25% each. A recent survey by Aon Hewitt on executive compensation pegged median CEO salary for fiscal 2014 at Rs.2.7 crore. Among the BSE 100 companies included in the analysis, salaries ranged from Rs.24 lakh to above Rs.21 crore. The highest earning executive in this list was Cipla Ltd’s MD and global CEO Subhanu Saxena, drawing Rs.21.6 crore, as per the company’s annual report. To be sure, Infosys Ltd recently hired Vishal Sikka at a salary of Rs.30 crore. Not surprisingly, executives from home-grown business houses appeared to be paid less than their multinational peers. Executives of companies like Tata Global Beverages Ltd, Tata Power Co. Ltd and Tata Steel Ltd made the list of 20 least-paid CEOs. Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd paid the CEO of its financial services arm Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services Ltd Rs.2.6 crore last fiscal and the CEO of JSW Steel Ltd earned less than Rs.5 crore last fiscal. Mails sent to each of these companies on 16 September remained unanswered. An executive’s compensation has a lot of nuances, explains Santrupt B. Misra, CEO, Carbon Black Business, and director, group human resources of, the Aditya Birla Group. “Any senior executive’s compensation is based on how long they have been in the position and the previous salary they were drawing. Salaries are benchmarked with industry, size of companies and the experience of the CEO,” Misra said. Chief executives of so-called core sector firms were also among the lowest paid. Core sector companies like power and cement are process industries, which, as a rule, offer a discount to compensation levels in consumer or financial services firms. In the latter, very often pay is driven by the incumbent than the role, says Ghose of Aon Hewitt. A company’s capacity to pay their executive also depends on the nature of business and the cycle of growth it is in, added P. Thiruvengadam, senior director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India .

VIKASH CHANDRA MISHRA

PGDM 2^ND YEAR

SOURCE : MINT

Who are India’s lowest-paid CEOs?

Read more at: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/1ByVEuyR0TDXqvbDnTHz8J/Who-are-Indias-lowestpaid-CEOs.html?utm_source=

Mumbai: Lists dedicated to the top-paid corporate chief executive officers (CEOs) and their lucrative compensation packages abound. But ever wondered who the most reasonably paid top executives are? These are executives who run businesses for companies that are all part of the BSE top 100 list, but still get paid salaries that raise no eyebrows. A Mint analysis of the top 100 companies shows that the CEOs of Cummins India Ltd, Shriram Transport Finance Co. Ltd and Federal Bank Ltd were among the least-paid chief executives. The analysis of the remuneration of chief executives and managing directors was carried out among BSE 100 companies. However, top executives who were also promoters of the companies were removed from the list. Public sector enterprises were also not considered. The analysis looked at the compensation declared as part of the annual report, which does not include long-term incentives such as the value of stock options. Cummins India’s chairman and managing director (CMD) Anant J. Talaulicar, who earned Rs.24 lakh for fiscal 2014, according to the firm’s annual report, was the least paid. A lifetime employee at the manufacturer of power generation equipment and engines, 53-year old Talaulicar has been associated with the Rs.3,899 crore company since 1988. He has been leading Cummins India as its CMD since 2003. Cummins India is part of Cummins Group, which has eight legal entities. Cummins India is its only listed entity but Talaulicar is MD of the group as well. It wasn’t clear whether he also drew a salary at the group level. The company declined to comment on the compensation paid to Talaulicar. photo Another chief executive who has spent a lifetime at a company but earned among the least was Shriram Transport Finance’s MD Umesh Revankar. He earned Rs.48 lakh in the financial year ended March 2014. The 49-year-old joined Shriram Transport in 1987 and has been leading the country’s largest truck financing company since 2012. The company which, along with the rest of the industry, has gone through turbulent times in the last few years, reported a 7% drop in net profit to Rs.1,264.21 crore in fiscal 2014. Its stock gained 9.7% over the fiscal year in comparison to an 18.9% rise in the BSE Sensex. “Many of our senior executives including Umesh are part of the Owner Group whose compensation includes long-term benefits apart from their fixed salaries...Wherever, senior executives are not a part of the Owner Group their salaries are benchmarked to the respective industries,” said G.S. Sundararajan, group director, Shriram Group, in response to an emailed query. Of the 20 lowest paid CEOs, one-fourth were from banks and financial institutions. Federal Bank’s MD Shyam Srinivasan earned Rs.84 lakh and IndusInd Bank Ltd’s CEO Romesh Sobti earned Rs.3.1 crore in the year ended 31 March. Mails sent to the banks on 16 September remained unanswered. Globally, chief executives of banks are among those who earn the highest compensation; in India, the Reserve Bank of India in 2012 issued guidelines that included capping the variable component of the compensation of bank executives at 70% of the fixed pay in a year. “If you add the long-term incentives paid to bank executives, their compensation levels improve sharply to take them to the top bracket of pay in the country,” said Anandorup Ghose, rewards consulting practice leader at Aon Hewitt India, adding that about 70% of companies have long-term incentives by way of employee stock options or restricted stock units. According to Ghose, Indian companies have moved from a structure of having 80% of fixed compensation and 20% variable pay to a 50:25:25 structure, with 50% being fixed and variable and long term incentives making up 25% each. A recent survey by Aon Hewitt on executive compensation pegged median CEO salary for fiscal 2014 at Rs.2.7 crore. Among the BSE 100 companies included in the analysis, salaries ranged from Rs.24 lakh to above Rs.21 crore. The highest earning executive in this list was Cipla Ltd’s MD and global CEO Subhanu Saxena, drawing Rs.21.6 crore, as per the company’s annual report. To be sure, Infosys Ltd recently hired Vishal Sikka at a salary of Rs.30 crore. Not surprisingly, executives from home-grown business houses appeared to be paid less than their multinational peers. Executives of companies like Tata Global Beverages Ltd, Tata Power Co. Ltd and Tata Steel Ltd made the list of 20 least-paid CEOs. Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd paid the CEO of its financial services arm Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services Ltd Rs.2.6 crore last fiscal and the CEO of JSW Steel Ltd earned less than Rs.5 crore last fiscal. Mails sent to each of these companies on 16 September remained unanswered. An executive’s compensation has a lot of nuances, explains Santrupt B. Misra, CEO, Carbon Black Business, and director, group human resources of, the Aditya Birla Group. “Any senior executive’s compensation is based on how long they have been in the position and the previous salary they were drawing. Salaries are benchmarked with industry, size of companies and the experience of the CEO,” Misra said. Chief executives of so-called core sector firms were also among the lowest paid. Core sector companies like power and cement are process industries, which, as a rule, offer a discount to compensation levels in consumer or financial services firms. In the latter, very often pay is driven by the incumbent than the role, says Ghose of Aon Hewitt. A company’s capacity to pay their executive also depends on the nature of business and the cycle of growth it is in, added P. Thiruvengadam, senior director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd.

Read more at: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/1ByVEuyR0TDXqvbDnTHz8J/Who-are-Indias-lowestpaid-CEOs.html?utm_source=copy

Who are India’s lowest-paid CEOs?

Read more at: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/1ByVEuyR0TDXqvbDnTHz8J/Who-are-Indias-lowestpaid-CEOs.html?utm_source=copy

Who are India’s lowest-paid CEOs?

Read more at: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/1ByVEuyR0TDXqvbDnTHz8J/Who-are-Indias-lowestpaid-CEOs.html?utm_source=

Who are India’s lowest-paid CEOs?

Read more at: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/1ByVEuyR0TDXqvbDnTHz8J/Who-are-Indias-lowestpaid-CEOs.html?utm_source=copy

Monday, September 15, 2014

ArcelorMittal, Gerdau to sell US steel mill for $770 million

World's biggest steel producer ArcelorMittal on Monday said it has inked a pact with Brazil's Gerdau to sell their 50% stakes in US-based Gallatin for $770 million, as part of its strategy to divest non-core assets.
"ArcelorMittal and Gerdau jointly announced today (Monday) that they have entered into a definitive transaction agreement to sell their respective 50% interests in Gallatin Steel Company (Gallatin) to Nucor Corporation for a total cash consideration of $770 million, subject to customary closing adjustments," the steel giant said in a statement.
Gallatin Steel is a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Gerdau. Gallatin is a flat rolled mini-mill located in Gallatin County, Kentucky, USA that melts scrap, pig iron and hot briquetted iron from various sources, and processes the material to produce flat rolled steel.

It produces a wide range of steels from low to high carbon grades with an annual capacity of around 1.8 million tonnes.
"The sale of Gallatin unlocks substantial value for ArcelorMittal's shareholders and is consistent with ArcelorMittal's stated strategy of selective divestment of non-core assets. I would like to thank all our employees in Gallatin for their hard work and commitment during the years that we have co-owned this mill," said Aditya Mittal, CFO of ArcelorMittal.
"The decision to sell Gallatin was made in order for Gerdau to focus on its core assets in North America. On behalf of Gerdau's management, I would like to express gratitude to the whole team at Gallatin for their efforts in making Gallatin a great company", said Gerdau's chief executive officer (CEO) Andre B Gerdau Johannpeter.
The company said completion of the sale is subject to customary closing conditions, including expiration of the Hart Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act waiting period. The closing of the transaction is not subject to any financing conditions and is expected to be realised by the end of 2014.
Gerdau is the leading manufacturer of long steel in the Americas and a major global supplier of special long steels.
The company recently began operations in two new Brazilian markets, with the production of flat steel and the expansion of its iron mining activities. Gerdau has industrial operations in 14 countries - the Americas, Europe and Asia - with a combined installed capacity of more than 25 million tonnes of steel a year. It is also Latin America's biggest recycler and, worldwide, transforms millions of tons of scrap metal into steel every year.
ArcelorMittal is the world's leading steel and mining company, with a presence in more than 60 countries and an industrial footprint in over 20 countries.

Onika Jaiswal
PGDM 3 sem

Samsung launches curved televisions in Indian market

South Korean consumer electronics major Samsung on Wednesday launched curved televisions in the Indian market priced between Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 4.49 lakh to tap high-end buyers ahead of the upcoming football world cup.

Optimistic about a good response from the market, he said: "We are looking forward this year for World Soccer Cup.

Wholesale inflation at 5-year low, food prices dip

India’s wholesale inflation rate plunged to 3.74% in August, the lowest in almost five years, aided by a sharp drop in vegetable and petrol prices, data released Monday showed.
The more than one percentage point drop in wholesale inflation rates over July’s 5.19%, should bring cheer to the NDA government that rode to a landslide election victory promising to bring down prices of essentials as part of its poll pledge to usher in `Aachen din’ (Good days).
It was also the lowest since 1.79% of October 2009, a period when demand for goods fell sharply battered by the worst global recession in 80 years.

Besides, with crude oil prices falling to two-year low of $97 dollar a barrel, expect retail petrol and diesel prices to come down further.

Wholesale food inflation, a measure of how costly the platter has become, grew 5.15% compared to the previous month’s 8.43%. Wholesale vegetable prices fell 4.88% in August on a year-on-year basis, while onion prices plunged 41%.
Prices of protein-rich food items such as pulses, milk, and fruits have risen faster that overall food prices growing at 7.81%, 12.18% and 20.31% in August.
As the tens of millions of people shift to higher standards of living, the focus is changing from basic needs of nutrition to such as rice and coarse grains to more aspirational protein-rich products, a trend that economists describe as structural inflation.
`Manufactured products inflation’—a broad index to gauge price movements of industrial goods—was only marginally lower at 3.45% in August compared to July’s 3.67%, but significantly higher than last August’s 2.31%.
In the current context, high manufactured products’ inflation implies greater demand and sales of consumer and investment goods, mirroring revival signs in the Indian economy that is battling to claw out of a quarter-century slump.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has made taming inflation one of its top priorities, despite business leaders clamouring for rate cuts.
"I have no desire to keep interest rates high for even a second longer. I want to bring down interest rates when it is feasible and that would be when we have won the fight against inflation," Rajan said in Mumbai.
"There is no point in cutting interest rates to see inflation pick-up again," Rajan said, adding that right now he thinks the central bank is continuing the way it proposed recently.
Retail inflation eased in August to 7.8% year-on-year from 7.96% the previous month, data showed last week, although that is still above the central bank's target of 6% by 2016.
Industry leaders have been ratecthing up their demand for lower borrowing costs to assist investment plans, critical to spin jobs and multiply income.
“Coming shortly before the monetary policy, this (low inflation rate) should also provide the necessary maneuvering space to the RBI, “ said Chandrajit Banerjee, CII director general.
Analysts, however, cautioned that the time to open the bubbly may be still far away as part of the fall in wholesale inflation, is also because of a high base effect—a statistical phenomenon that magnifies small changes, although the real fall may not be very large.
The rupee’s value—it fell 48 paise to close at 61.13 to a dollar on Monday—can also partly offset the gains from falling crude oil prices.
Every time the rupee depreciates by one rupee against the US dollar, the fuel subsidy bill bloats by Rs. 8000 crore is added to the fuel subsidy bill.
“It remains to be seen how agricultural produce prices move from here on and particularly in the October – November ’14 period given the monsoon this year has been delayed and largely subdued.
We do not expect any change in RBI’s policy stance later this month and thereby expect the repo rate to be status-quo at 8%,” Care Ratings, a credit ratings agency, said in a research report.

Mithilesh Chaubey
PGDM 3 sem

Ranbaxy, Epirus win India approval for arthritis biosimilar drug

Epirus Biopharmaceuticals Inc. said India’s drug regulator has approved its copy of a top-selling arthritis treatment, paving the way for its launch in the country early next year.

The company’s Indian partner, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, will sell a copycat version of Johnson and Johnson’s and Merck and Co. Inc.’s Infliximab, an anti-inflammatory drug with annual sales of about $6 billion.

The market for copycat biotech drugs, known as biosimilars, is becoming more lucrative as patents expire on older, high-priced antibody drugs that rank among the pharmaceutical industry’s biggest sellers.

With changing regulations and a looming biotech patent cliff, the global market for biosimilars is forecast to rise to $24 billion in 2019 from about $1.2 billion last year, according to market research firm Frost and Sullivan. Infliximab, sold under the brand name Remicade, is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s Disease, psoriasis and other inflammatory conditions.

In India, it sells at about Rs.70,000 per month.

Like its main rivals, Amgen Inc.’s Enbrel and AbbVie Inc.’s Humira, the drug works by blocking a protein called tumour necrosis factor.

Epirus, a Boston-based biopharmaceutical company that focuses on developing biosimilar drugs for sale, said it would launch the Remicade biosimilar in India under the name Infimab by the first quarter of 2015.

Chief executive Amit Munshi, citing various estimates, said the Indian market for Remicade was worth $8 million to $10 million a year.

He declined to say how much Infimab would cost or to estimate how many patients might use the drug. The drug will be made in Mumbai by Reliance Life Sciences, part of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group.

Remicade copycats are already being sold elsewhere. South Korean drug maker Celltrion Inc. won approval in July for its version in Japan and is hoping for US approval in 2015.

Epirus is also in talks with Ranbaxy, as well as other Indian and international companies, about expanding sales of its biosimilar drugs in other regions, Munshi told Reuters.

“Ranbaxy has, under their license, quite a few markets in southeast Asia and North Africa,” he said. “We’re also working with other partners in places like Latin America.” Ranbaxy is not the only Indian drug maker to explore production of biosimilar drugs.

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, for example, is developing biosimilars with Germany’s Merck KGaA. Biocon Ltd has a tie-up with Mylan Inc., while Lupin Ltd has entered a deal to sell a biosimilar version of Sanofi SA’sblockbuster insulin, Lantus, in India. Reuters

Rahul kumar Gupta

PGDM, 2nd Year

SOURCE:-MINT

Ranbaxy, Epirus win India approval for arthritis biosimilar drug

Read more at: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/bGpIOGoU9ki2ArvqezFqUO/Epirus-Ranbaxy-win-India-approval-for-arthritis-drug-copy.html?utm_source=copy