Aurobindo outpaces Dr Reddy’s in pharma business

Hyderabad: For over three decades, Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited has been the bellwether company for Hyderabad’s pharmaceutical industry and has played key role in the city’s gradual transformation as one of the country’s leading hub for pharma sector. But this country’s second largest drug maker seems to be slowly losing sheen and giving away its flagship role to other companies.

For instance, Aurobindo Pharma Limited, another city-based pharma major, has outpaced Dr Reddy’s in revenues as well as net profit in the first nine months of the current financial year, thereby replacing the latter as Hyderabad’s leading pharmaceutical player.

Aurobindo Pharma, founded in 1986, clocked a total revenue of Rs 11, 448 crore during April-December, 2016, registering a year-on-year growth of 12.6 per cent from Rs 10,209.3 crore in the same nine month period last fiscal. Its profit-after-tax (PAT) zoomed by 20 per cent to Rs 1,763 crore during the period, from Rs 1,469.2 crore a year ago.

In contrast, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, founded by Kallam Anji Reddy in 1984, saw a significant erosion in its revenues and net profit in the current fiscal. The drug maker posted total consolidated revenues of Rs 10,584.2 crore in the first nine months of the current financial year, a fall of 8 per cent from Rs 11,552.4 crore in the same period a year ago.

The company’s net profit in this period nosedived by 53 per cent to Rs 929.9 crore from Rs 1,991 crore a year ago. For the first in its history, Aurobindo outdid Dr Reddy’s by Rs 864 crore in revenues and Rs 833 crore in net profit in a nine month period. Going by the current trends, the company is likely to emerge as the Hyderabad’s largest pharmecautical company this fiscal, replacing Dr Reddy’s from the coveted position.

By P Madhusudhan Reddy