Flamingo plans Rs 200cr foray into north

In order to cater to the northern region's pharma market, Mumbai-based Flamingo Pharmaceuticals Ltd is contemplating setting up a unit either in Himachal Pradesh or Uttarakhand with an outlay of Rs 150 crore to Rs 200 crore, which is likely to be funded through private equity, bank loans and internal accruals. At present, it has two manufacturing facilities in Maharashtra.

Commenting upon the new unit, Director KK Puri said, "The location is yet to finalised as we are looking for options in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. If everything goes well we would infuse fresh capital of Rs 150 crore to Rs 200 crore in this unit."

The company today launched in Punjab and Haryana a comprehensive range of innovative and quality formulations covering anti-infectives, gastroenterologists and orthocare.

"Northern India accounts for almost Rs 2,000 crore of the Indian pharma market. We have already launched operations in south India, western India & parts of eastern India and plan to create a pan-India presence for our products by September 2007. The launch in northern India is aimed at spearheading our company plan to cross the target turnover of Rs 500 crore in the next 3 years. We are targeting a four-fold increase through a two-pronged strategy of entry into domestic market and leveraging the export opportunity in contract manufacturing," he added.

In northern India, Flamingo is targeting revenues of approximately Rs 20 crore and a market share of 1 per cent on an annual basis. In the last financial year, the turnover of the company was Rs. 125 crore and this financial year it is hopeful to touch Rs 200 crore.

The company is engaged in manufacturing formulations for some of the world's reputed pharmaceutical companies with presence in over 45 countries across five continents. It exports to Europe, Central & South America, Africa, the Gulf, etc, as also to the regulated markets such as the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Flamingo has set up two manufacturing units. One is at Rabale (on the outskirts of Mumbai) and other at Taloja (in Raigad district in Maharashtra). The company also plans to put up a new unit in Nanded with an investment of Rs 70 crore to Rs 100 crore.

He said, "Domestic demand in Pharmaceutical has been showing growth & is estimated to be worth Rs 27,000 crore."