Vitabiotics plans foray into Indian OTC market

UK-based firm to set up new R&D, manufacturing units .

Vitabiotics, the largest UK-based nutritional and food supplement company promoted by Indian scientist Kartar Lalvani, plans to strengthen its presence in India by setting up manufacturing and research facilities. It also plans to launch its globally sold over-the-counter (OTC) products in the country.

Vitabiotics will foray into the country's OTC drug market with the launch of Wellman and Wellwoman range of health food supplements and Perfectil range of beauty products in the personal grooming segment. In the next five years, the company plans to introduce its entire range of over 30 products in the Rs 3,000-crore-plus nutritional and food supplement OTC market in India.

"We aim at a turnover of over Rs 1,000 crore revenue from the Indian market in four years, which will include half the revenues from OTC products," said Tej Lalvani, the head of the company's global operations and Kartar Lalvani's son.

Meyer Vitabiotics, the Indian arm of Vitabiotics, will manufacture the products at its existing units in Bangalore and Mumbai. The company plans to set up two new US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-compliant manufacturing units in Hassan (Karnataka) and at a suitable site in Himachal Pradesh, each at an investment of over Rs 70 crore.

Tej Lalvani said the company had recently set up a research and development facility in Mumbai at an investment of Rs 50 crore and would start a similar facility in Bangalore in the near future.

At present, Meyer Vitabiotics sells prescription products in the Indian market with a turnover of over Rs 200 crore and employs a field force of 1,200 and another 500 at its manufacturing units.

The company's prescription product for joint pain, Jointace, has a turnover of over Rs 30 crore. Another product Calcimax, a calcium supplement with sales of Rs 50 crore a year, was the second-largest selling calcium food supplement in India, next to Shelcal of Elder Pharmaceuticals, he said.

Vitabiotics currently sells its products in 90 countries with a turnover of above $250 million. The company was founded in London by K T Lalvani and H Meyer of Bonn University in 1971 by launching a mouth ulcer drug, named Oralcer, with a UK patent.

It also sells Omega-H3, a comprehensive multi-vitamin, which is now a leading nutritional supplement in many countries around the world.