Pharma major Nicholas Piramal has effected a top management reshuffle with chief executive officer Francis Pinto handing over day-to-day administration of the pharmaceutical business to former Gujarat Glass managing director Vijay Shah. Gujarat Glass is another Piramal group company.
Shah is now chief operating officer of NPIL. The company's chief financial officer Mahesh Gupta has been elevated to the board of directors. While Gupta's appointment has to be approved by shareholders, Shah was already a board member. Asit Chawla, president (operations) is tipped to take over from Shah as managing director, Gujarat Glass.
Pinto, who would retain the designation of CEO, would henceforth look at international businesses including implementing acquisitions of companies in the US, Europe and Asia. He will oversee activities relating to the proposed American Depository Receipts (ADR) to be issued by the company later this year.
Confirming the development, Pinto told Business Standard: "We are looking at some big acquisitions domestically and abroad and our ADR issue is also coming up. I shall now spend some fifty per cent of my time outside the country."
The various joint ventures and alliances will be overseen by Swati Piramal, chief scientific officer of the company, also responsible for the Quest Institute of Life Sciences (formerly the Hoechst Research Centre).
The company will soon branch out into genomics and gene-related research. Pinto said a new head would be in place for this branch of the business in June.
"We want to give an opportunity to the younger generation in the new millennium and are preparing the second rung," Pinto explained. Pinto further added that though there had been speculation that he would step down he did not plan to resign.
Shah will have before him the challenge of getting the company to post higher growth rates than it is currently doing. In 1999-00, the company (sans its joint ventures and alliances) grew 13 per cent which is seen to be inadequate when compared with domestic companies like Sun Pharmaceuticals, which has shown a topline growth of 35 per cent.
