Drug firms sitting on huge stocks pile

March 2004March 2005 Nicholas Piramal14.84-77.62 Ranbaxy Laboratories-2.17-70.88 Orchid Chem & Pharma-8.01-54.75 Cipla5.11-51.72 Aventis Pharma-28.2-33.8 GlaxoSmithkline Pharma35.44-26.3 Novartis-0.04-23.2 Torrent Pharma-2.89-22.79 Elder Pharma-11.16-19 Cadila Healthcare3-17.4 *inventory of finished goods during the quarter ended  Nicholas Piramal piled up stock in trade worth Rs 77.62 crore during the period against a reduction of Rs 14.84 crore worth of stock in the corresponding quarter ending March 2004.  Ranbaxy Laboratories increased its finished goods inventory by Rs 70.88 crore. Major pile-up of inventory was also seen in Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (Rs 54.75 crore), Cipla (Rs 51.72 crore), Aventis Pharmaceuticals (Rs 33.80 crore) and GlaxoSmithkline Pharmaceuticals (Rs 26.30 crore).  The decline in sales affected the profitability of pharmaceutical companies with the net profit of 47 companies declining by 38.6 per cent.  Companies like Nicholas Piramal, Novartis, Orchid Chemicals, Cadila Healthcare and GlaxoSmithkline Pharmaceuticals posted over 10 per cent decline in sales turnover.  Wyeth Ltd, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Novartis and Torrent Pharmaceutical slipped into the red in the last quarter while Ranbaxy Laboratories and Cadila Healthcare posted about 50 per cent decline in net profit.  PR Joshi, president, Cadila Healthcare, told Business Standard: