Strike in Shasun Pharma's Pondicherry facilities ends

Company estimates loss of production at around Rs 25 crore

Shasun Pharmaceuticals Ltd has said that the strike in its manufacturing facilities in Pondicherry has been settled amicably. The strike, which lasted for around 14 days now, would have made a loss of around Rs 25 crore, said a senior management official from the company.

The company today informed stock exchanges that "an amicable settlement has been reached with the workers at the Company's Pondicherry facility. The strike has been called off and operations resumed from yesterday night."

The issue was related to taking the contract labours as permanent employees, said the company officials.

"It is around 14 days' loss of production. There would be around Rs 21-25 crore loss, but it will be made up in the coming months," said S Abhayakumar, managing director of Shasun Pharma. While it might have an impact in the results of the current quarter, there would not be any impact on the annual performance, he added.

The company, on June 17, informed Bombay Stock Exchange that "an illegal strike was resorted by the workers at the Company's Pondicherry facility (API and Formulation) on June 15, 2013."

There are around 400 workers each in the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and formulations facilities. The number of contract workers in both the facilities together would be around 200, said AbhayaKumar.

According to the company reports, the API manufacturing facility, established in 1986, is dedicated to the manufacture of anti-inflammatory Ibuprofen for supply to world markets. The company is also part of the Boots Co, UK supply chain, the original innovator of Ibuprofen, according to the company.

The formulation facility was commissioned in 2005, to handle oral solid dosages with annual capacities of over 3 billion tablets and over 120 million capsules.