'WE CONTINUE TO GROW FASTER THAN THE INDUSTRY'

Sun Pharma Founder & MD Dilip Shanghvi on new targets and the way forward for India's largest pharma company

- NEETU CHANDRA SHARMA

UNDER DILIP SHANGHVI, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, India's largest pharma company, is building additional engines of growth with an eye on the future, especially the specialty business, even as it simultaneously focusses on making the organisation more efficient and profitmaking. The 67-year-old Managing Director of Sun Pharma, in a rare interview and an exclusive one with BT, talks about his vision for the company, the strategy for success, new targets and the way forward. Edited excerpts:

What is your vision for the company and where is it headed?

I don't have the ability to predict the long-term future because there are a large number of variables. However, our focus has always been that each of our businesses should focus on improving its performance over what we did last year. If I look at our major businesses-India, global specialty, and generics businesses in the US and Europe, emerging markets and Japan-I'm expecting each of these businesses to do better than last year. It's only because we keep on improving consistently year after year and we continue to grow faster than the industry. At the same time, we also make research and development (R&D) investments in such a way that some of them produce short-term returns and some produce mid-term returns. And when longterm returns start, it is a step change in terms of the company's growth. We've been making large investments in the specialty business over the past five years, and we are at a position where it will start contributing to the profitability and future growth of the company in a much more meaningful way.

Sun Pharma has recently launched several new products, including specialty drugs. How does the company plan to differentiate itself in these competitive markets, and what are some of the key growth drivers for these products?