Going the extra mile

Going the extra mile
19 Nov, 2007, 0332 hrs IST,Vikas Kumar, TNN

As we chat up Ramesh Chandra Juneja, 55, in his sparse, yet modern office in New Delhi’s Okhla Industrial Area, his head of product management drops by with an update on Mankind Pharma’s latest achievement.

The company has been ranked 2nd in India, after Glaxo, on prescriptions per doctor per month as per latest ORG-IMS audit data, while on secondary stockist sales value, it’s at the 14th position. “This gap between the two figures shows how we have managed to grow with our core philosophy,” beams Juneja.

The proverbial David among the Goliaths of global pharma in India, Mankind is now rated amongst the fastest growing pharma companies with a CAGR of over 60% in revenues, which touched Rs 515 crore last year. Juneja’s success mantra is making drugs affordable for the masses. And mankind has returned the favour as well. Sample this: Of the estimated Rs 150-crore organised market for erectile dysfunction (ED) drugs in India, his brand Manforce occupies a third at Rs 50 crore.

The key is pricing — while Pfizer's global blockbuster Viagra retails at around Rs 350 a tablet, most others, including Manforce, sell in the Rs 20-25 range. Says Juneja: “In the past 12 years that we have been around, we’ve saved consumers an estimated Rs 2,000 crore by forcing others to drop prices.”

A science graduate from Meerut, Juneja began his career with Lupin Laboratories as a medical representative (MR) in 1975. Eight years later he left to start Bestochem with his brothers. After a split, he launched Mankind Pharma in 1995 along with brother Rajeev, with an initial capital of Rs 50 lakh, 20 employees and a small factory in Gurgaon.

Pitted against bigger, well-known brands, Mankind’s MRs had to fight a tough battle at the doctors’ clinics. “When we started, our competitors were skeptical. But we never compromised on quality, so doctors gradually started to recommend our products,” says Juneja. By the second year, the company was well on its way to becoming a serious player in the Indian pharma market, and that’s when Juneja’s first million also happened. “After making Rs 5 crore from a scratch, we knew we were on the right track.”

But the turning point came in 2001 when the company touched the magical Rs 100-crore figure. “That’s when we first entered the league of India’s top 50 pharma companies.” It was also the year when Mankind entered the ED segment with ‘Manforce’, which has been extended to condoms. Juneja now plans to launch an ayurvedic version of Manforce by January 2008.

While its OTC business is just six months old, also on the cards are anti-cancer, veterinary and psychotropic drugs. Juneja is gunning for Rs 700 crore revenue this year and Rs 1,100 crore by 2010. Early this year private equity firm ChrysCapital invested $24 million in Mankind, and Juneja says the next funding will be through an IPO but that’s a couple of years away.

Managing the next level of growth may require a different formula, but for now the key is in keeping a lean organisational structure. “We don’t have a thick layer of management,” says Juneja. “Ours is a unique and transparent style of functioning, without the frills of a large organisation, and I think no one can copy us or follow us.” He didn’t either.