Piramal Pharma deploying $85 million capex this fiscal year: Nandini Piramal

Piramal Pharma is utilising a capex of about $85 million for various initiatives, including capacity expansion, maintenance and de-bottlenecking of CDMO sites, in the current fiscal, according to its Chairperson Nandini Piramal.

The Mumbai-headquartered firm, which aims to cross $2 billion in revenue by FY30, has already invested around $30 million in the first half of the ongoing fiscal on the initiatives.

"We expect the capex this year to be at a similar level as last year, which is about $85 million," Piramal told PTI in an interaction. A part of the capex is planned for the domestic market while some of it would also go into the US business, she added.

"Some part of it, around $30 million, is maintenance capex, and the rest would go into capacity expansion in Telangana and Dahej (Gujarat) plants and also towards de-bottlenecking of some of the CDMO sites," Piramal noted.

The company last week reported over four-fold increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 23 crore for the second quarter ended September. The drug maker also reported revenue of Rs 2,242 crore for the second quarter compared to Rs 1,911 crore in the year-ago period.

Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS), the global contract manufacturing division of Piramal Pharma, has already announced an investment of USD 80 million in expanding its sterile injectables facility in Lexington, Kentucky (US). "It will be completed in FY 27," Piramal said.

Piramal Pharma is aiming to be an over $2 billion global pharma, health and wellness firm by FY30. In the next five years, the company is targeting its Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) vertical to become a $1.2 billion entity.

Besides, the company expects its critical care vertical to touch USD 600 million by FY30 and the consumer healthcare vertical to become a USD 200 million entity. Piramal stated that the company also continues to look at inorganic growth to achieve its stated targets.

Piramal Pharma includes Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS), an integrated contract development and manufacturing organisation; Piramal Critical Care (PCC), a complex hospital generics business; and the India Consumer Healthcare business selling over-the-counter products.