PHARMING THE FUTURE

VIREN MERCHANT FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN OF ENCORE HEALTHCARE IS NOW TRUSTING THE NEXT GEN ANJALI MAJITHIA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL MARKETS AND RADHIKA AMBANI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DOMESTIC MARKETING, TO TAKE OVER THE LEGACY. THE COMPANY IS COMMITTED TO PROVIDING HIGH QUALITY PRODUCTS

- SHRABONA GHOSH

There is never a perfect time to do an interview, so carpe diem! It was a Monday morning; having managed to block the calendars of the Merchant family in Mumbai, I went up the thoroughfare to the office, conceptualizing the meeting to be copacetic. I finally met Viren Merchant, who agreed to give his first media interaction, since the inception of his company, Encore Healthcare. As we began the conversation, the tranquil founder gave an overview of how the next generation is taking over the reign of the pharmaceutical company. "Good luck to the children," said Viren Merchant, founder and chairman, Encore Healthcare, who is sanguine of his daughters, Anjali Majithia and Radhika Ambani, to take on the business. History dates back to 1996: the Merchant Group stepped into the field of pharma in the year by setting up a Derma Plant in Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh. The name of the company was ZYG Pharma Private Limited, which was later sold to Torrent Pharma in 2015. Meanwhile, in 2002, Merchant set up Encore Healthcare, a global contract manufacturer of tablets and capsules for the Indian pharma industry. The company today has a manufacturing capacity of a billion tablets a month.

The epiphany

"The idea to enter the pharma industry goes prior "to starting Encore. There was a vacuum for good pharmaceutical facilities. So, me and my wife Shaila Merchant decided to enter into this segment. Initially, we had put up a skincare manufacturing unit and that's how we began," said Merchant.