Richcore to set up enzyme, nutraceutical units

Richcore, a bio-pharmaceutical firm, is in the process of setting up enzyme and nutraceutical formulations manufacturing units on four acres in Malur, near Bangalore, at an investment of around Rs 4.5 crore.

"We have applied for land and the approval from the government is awaited," R Subramani, founder of Richcore told Business Standard.

The manufacturing unit for enzyme formulation, in which the company will be spending about Rs 30 lakh, is expected to be ready by the end of this year. It will be developing this facility phase-by-phase and the total investment may go up to Rs 1 crore in near future.

The nutraceutical formulation facility is expected to be ready by 2008. The facility, which will manufacture a range of nutraceuticals and digestive supplements, will cater to the export markets like US and Europe. The company will be funding the projects through internal accruals and borrowings from banks.

Subramani said that a non-resident Indian, who will be joining the board of Richcore in the next 2-3 months, will be bringing in some finance.

Both manufacturing facilities would be World Health Organisation and Good Manufacturing Practice (WHO-GMP) compliant, he said adding that the company would be strengthening its distribution network before commencing manufacturing operations. Besides India, it has set up its distribution network in US, Europe, Sri Lanka and Africa.

Bangalore-based Richcore was established in 2001 as a firm dealing in industrial enzymes. It is into integrating the best biotech inventions and discoveries around the world and creating products and applications which are tailormade for specific industry needs. Its biotech solutions include use of microbial cultures, enzymes and active bio-systems.

It procures enzymes from international enzyme manufacturers and produces formulations of several enzymes for varied applications. Its tailormade biotech formulations are used in a wide spectrum of indutries like detergents, sugar and distillary, leather, paper, textiles, animal feed and nutraceuticals to improve process efficiency and reduce environmental degradation.

"We are into bridging the knowledge gap between the original enzyme manufacturers and end customers," he said adding that the global application research costs were high and there was lack of flexibility of product customisation.

At presen, the company does not have manufacturing facility. But it has established contract manufacturing agreements with a few pharma companies for its products. Anticipating future needs, the company is keen to have its own facility for producing formulations of enzymes.

It will be spending Rs 10-15 lakh to upgrade its research facility into a state-of-the-art research and technology facility.

In future, the company plans to undertake contract manufacturing of biotech/bio pharmaceutical products and to develop a global pharmaceutical brand for generics.

Richcore sees huge market for effluent products, for which the market size is estimated at about Rs 3000 crore. The company is presently in the process of improving its enzyme forumulation for effluent management. It has already completed trials and targets to put this products on stream in the next 3-4 months

The company is also into providing marketing services to pharmaceutical and nutraceutical companies in the US and Europe and also in unregulated markets.