Path finder

After closing the acquisition of Axicorp to give her company a firm foothold in the European market, Biocon Chairman & MD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw appears to have trained her guns on the lucrative North American market.

Although the company was reported to be in talks for a $400-million (Rs 1,600-crore) deal to enter the North American market, she denies having struck such a deal, but admits that the region remains a key focus for her firm. “We will look at other regions, including West Asia and North America, after sealing the AxiCorp deal. We have put in place building blocks for the short-, medium- and long-term growth of the company,” she says.

From a company that earned most of its revenues from the manufacture and sale of enzymes, she has recently steered it in a different direction, focussing more on the bio-pharma market. She sold her flagging enzymes business to Novozymes and has since turned her attention to other areas such as her novel drug programme.

At the same time, she has focussed on creating more value for Biocon subsidiaries Syngene (contract research) and clinical trials outfit Clinegene. “We have to create value independently for these businesses,” she says. Worries over Biocon’s sluggish stock price, and concerns over the declining margins of her company notwithstanding, Mazumdar-Shaw hasn’t been afraid to take on the establishment, telling anyone who will listen that biotech and the more prosperous IT industry can’t give the same returns.

Name: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Age: 55 Designation: CMD Company: Biocon

For the last financial year, Mazumdar-Shaw has continued on the growth path; margins were up 2 per cent and net profit by 13 per cent.

“The biotech industry has shown great promise over the last couple of years, but some quick changes are needed in regulations for India to maintain its competitiveness,” she says. “The government has been fairly proactive in aiding the biotech industry,” she admits, “but it could do more.” Mazumdar-Shaw, who started Biocon in 1979 from her garage as an enzymes extracting business, has now set her sights higher. Will Biocon’s new path deliver results? Watch this space.

— Rahul Sachitanand