Sharon Bio-Medicine is looking for approval for a drug called Memantine: Mohan P Kala

Sharon Bio-Medicine is currently not supplying to the US markets because it is yet to receive the US certification for the plant.

CFO of Sharon Bio-medicine Mohan P. Kala in a recent interview with CNBC-TV18 spoke about a few aspects of his company.
 
According to Mr. Mohan, USFDA has been frequenting the company for the inspection of its plants. The USFDA inspected the company’s Dehradun plant in August this year and hopes to get the certification at the earliest, preferably this month. The company’s Taloja plant was also recently inspected, and Sharon Bio-Medicine is still waiting for the results of the Inspection from the USFDA.
 
Sharon Bio-Medicine is currently not supplying to the US markets because it is yet to receive the US certification for the plant. Nevertheless, the total market size of the product is around $150 million. The company is trying to get around $10 million to $15 million of the total size for the US market.
 
The $1 million pending payment for the FDA
 
Mr. Mohan stated that the company is yet to make the payment that amounts to $1.1 million. He also added that Bio-Medicine plans to make the payment very soon, probably within a week's time.
 
The Dehradun plant
 
Mr. Mohan revealed that the company has already received approval for the Dehradun plant from the FDA. The firm is yet to start manufacturing and commercial sales in the United States because it is yet to receive certification but once it does, it will have the tier for the US market. So the supply of the product to the US market will be initiated very soon.
 
The company is expected to boost its revenue margins through the launch of the product in the US. This will boost the firm’s performance. Sharon Bio-Medicine received a warning letter from the USFDA for not paying the generic drug user fee since 2013. The US regulator had threatened to block the Dehradun plant from shipping its products to the United States if the company failed to clear the fee.

Stock price movement

Sharon Bio-Medicine Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 29.7, up by Rs. 0.75 or 2.59% from its previous closing of Rs. 28.95 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 29.4 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 30.3 and Rs. 28.8 respectively. So far 1361864(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 344.32 crore.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 49.55 on 15-Dec-2014 and a 52 week low of Rs. 12.45 on 06-Jul-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 32.3 and Rs. 20.65 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 59.51 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 5.24 % and 35.25 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 50 DMA

Jain Irrigation gains 1%; AP govt allots 623 acre land in Kurnool

Goverment of Andhra Pradesh has alloted 623.acre land in Kurnool, as per media reports

Jain Irrigation System gained 1% to Rs.42.80 after Goverment of Andhra Pradesh has alloted 623.acre land in Kurnool, as per media reports.

The scrip opened at Rs. 61.9 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 63.4 and Rs. 60.65 respectively. So far 27,75,162 (NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 2795.82 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 79 on 23-Jul-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 50.55 on 25-Aug-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 68.9 and Rs. 60.1 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 28.69 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 40.14 % and 31.01 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading above its 50 DMA.

Moody's: Fed rate rise would underscore US strength, but emerging markets face risks

"A rise in the short-term interest rate target by the Federal Reserve now appears likely this Wednesday," said Steven Hess, a Senior Vice President at Moody's.

A potential increase in short-term interest rates by the Federal Reserve after this week's FOMC meeting would confirm that the US economic expansion remains on track. However, higher rates could bring risks to some emerging market sovereigns, says Moody's Investors Service.

The direct impact of any rate increase on the US economy should be minimal. The fed funds rate will likely only rise by a small amount and any subsequent rate increases will be gradual, according to the report "Sovereigns -- Global: Likely Fed Rate Hike Reflects Strength of US Recovery, But Exposes Some EM Sovereigns to Volatile Capital Flows."

"A rise in the short-term interest rate target by the Federal Reserve now appears likely this Wednesday," said Steven Hess, a Senior Vice President at Moody's. "Such a move would reinforce our view that the US economy is on track for above-trend growth."

While a Fed rate hike would remove an element of uncertainty for emerging market sovereigns, some will remain at risk to adverse capital flows and investor sentiment. For example, there is a low risk of a disorderly reaction should investors abruptly adjust their expectations for yields.

The large emerging markets that will likely be most affected are those, such as Brazil, Russia, Turkey and to some extent South Africa, where severe domestic challenges have contributed to exchange rate and financial market instability. These sovereigns have little policy room to protect growth and buffer themselves from external shocks.

Infosys invests $3 million in sports startup whoop and other top Startup news of the day

Round up of the major headlines that dominated the Startup sector, nationally and internationally.

Infosys said with through this transaction it will acquire "minority shareholding, not exceeding 20 per cent of the outstanding shareholding of the company."

Mobile payments and commerce platform Paytm has roped in former Amazon India executive Vikas Purohit to lead its payments bank business.

In a bid to bring the Indian startup ecosystem on par with global leaders US and China, Venture Catalysts, a newly-formed seed funding and innovation platform, is looking to raise Rs 100 crore through crowd funding. It plans to deploy in the range of Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore per venture. The firm will initially invest in about 15-20 start-ups on an annual basis and scale up the number in the future.

Bengaluru-based newbie airline Air Pegasus has launched offers for startup companies, in a bid to tap into the corporate travel segment.

Haier, one of the world's largest consumer durables company, has hired a Bengaluru-based startup, Ideapoke, to help develop a technology that would enable refrigerators to detect pesticides and harmful bacteria in fruits and vegetables using sensors, a company official said.

Domestic remittance company PayWorld, which recently missed out on a payments bank licence, is planning to raise around $40-50 million to increase its retail touch points from 60,000 at present to 3,00,000 within the next 3 years.

Tesla Motors Inc chief executive officer Elon Musk and other prominent tech executives are pouring $1 billion into a non-profit aimed at creating artificial intelligence that augments humans’ capabilities, rather than making them obsolete.

Fast Brands Pvt Ltd., owner and operator of the brand and online portal www.weddingZ.in, has raised an angel Round (pre series A) funding of Rs 8.2 crore.

Three prominent Indian business families have backed the maiden fund of venture debt firm Trifecta Capital Advisors, highlighting the growing attractiveness of alternative assets for the country's traditional business houses.

Alkem: A visit to Baddi

Alkem’s key anti-infective brands are Clavam, Taxim-O and Taxim. In Gastro-intestinal Alkem enjoys market share of 5.6% with brands like Pan and Pan-D. In Pain/ analgesics Alkem commands third-largest market share of 5.0%. In Vitamins/ minerals/ nutrients we had the sixth-largest market share, a company official shared with us citing data from the Red Herring prospectus

Alkem Laboratories, the fifth largest domestic pharma company owns a bouquet of leadership brands built and sustained over a long time and has emerged as the fifth largest domestic pharma company. The response to the company’s IPO has been phenomenal as it got subscribed by a whopping 33.29 times when the bidding ended on Dec 10, 2015.  Valuations are attractive as even at the upper price band, Alkem was available at ~12x FY18E earnings. This compares well against listed peers like Alembic and Indoco.
 
Promoted by Mr. Samprada Singh and Mr. Basudeo Singh, company boasts of five brands in top 50. We visited the company’s Baddi facility recently. A touchdown at Chandigarh airport with the sun shining bright on a cool winter morning, a quick snack at the Pinjore Gardens, also known as the Yadavindra Gardens. No we didn’t have the time to stroll past the terraced gardens or Shish Mahal or enjoy the series of fountains and waterfalls.  All we had time was to savour a local juice squeezed out of Kinnu even as we debated whether it was more of an orange or sweet lime.

Alkem: A visit to Baddi

    

 
Processes, automation and efficiency were evident even before we began our site visit as the lunch served to us came from Alkem’s in-house kitchen which had automated chappati-making machines and the steam from one unit of cooking was diverted to cook the rice nearby. Having had our fill over a lavish lunch spread dominated by Sarson Ka Saag and an assortment of rotis, we moved into various facilities donning our temporary uniforms to ensure the areas we visit remain as hygienic as they would like it to be.  Like most pharma facilities that we have visited, Alkem is on the top to ensure quality, safety and efficacy of products in the domestic and export markets. Quality Management Systems (QMS) complies with various international regulatory and cGMP standards and periodic reviews of systems, practices and documentation are in place across for the manufacturing facilities through regular audits.
 
Alkem has cemented its presence in intensely competitive and largest therapeutic segment anti infective on back of strong brands like Clavam, Taxim O and Taxim. Though acute segment, which caters to anti-infectives, pain-killers and analgesics among others accounts for large share of domestic formulations, company is also focused on fast growing chronic therapies.
 
Alkem promoters have had a long standing experience in domestic formulations business with first manufacturing set up in 1978. Despite an intensively competitive scenario in acute therapeutic segments, company has created sizable brands with top 20 accounting for ~54% of domestic revenues in H1 FY16.  When I met Mr. Samprada Singh, Chairman, Alkem Laboratories, over a decade ago, he had fondly reminisced how he had started as a retail chemist in 1953. He managed sole distributorship for the Bihar and main accounts were Abbott Labs, E Merck India, Dolphin Labs of Calcutta, BDH etc. “In 1960, I started distribution for these companies and was in this business for about 12 years. Top executives of these pharma companies asked me to start my own pharma company since they saw in me traits of a budding entrepreneur. In 1973, I started Alkem Labs. We started with a small capital of Rs5 lakh. We had a lot of problems initially to raise finances. But our determination saw us through. My brother, B N Singh, who is now the MD of Alkem, was a tremendous source of support.”  Click here to read the 2004 interview  
 
The company has taken initiatives to diversify from an India centric revenue base; exports account for 25% of revenues, scaled up mostly through acquisition of US-based Ascend Laboratories from ~12% in FY11.
 
The company has 14 manufacturing facilities across five locations in India and two manufacturing facilities in the United States. The facilities at Ankleshwar and Mandwa are API manufacturing facilities. The remaining facilities, including those at Daman, Baddi, which we visited and Sikkim, manufacture formulations. The company’s manufacturing facilities are cGMP compliant and have been approved by several regulatory authorities such as the USFDA, the UK-MHRA and TGA Australia.
 
As we peeked into one of the secure testing rooms from the outside, we are briefed that all products are subjected to extensive stability testing programs to understand the real product behaviour during shelf life. Alkem has over 483 scientists working on various drug products and substances in India and the United States.
 
Prabhat Agrawal, CEO, Alkem, walked us through a quick presentation informing that for FY15, the domestic and international operations accounted for 74.7% and 25.3%, respectively of net revenues from operations. “Our domestic operations are further divided according to the various therapeutic areas in which we operate. Last fiscal year, we had a portfolio of 736 brands in India and are among the top ten pharmaceutical companies in India in terms of domestic sales for the past 12 years.”
 
As we pass through the labeling section of various capsules, we are told Alkem’s the significant therapeutic areas in domestic market are anti-infectives, gastro-intestinal, pain and analgesics, and vitamins, minerals and nutrients. These therapeutic areas accounted for 80.7% of our total sales in the domestic market for fiscal year 2015.  
 
Alkem’s key anti-infective brands are Clavam, Taxim-O and Taxim. In Gastro-intestinal Alkem enjoys market share of 5.6% with brands like Pan and Pan-D. In Pain/ analgesics Alkem commands third-largest market share of 5.0%. In Vitamins/ minerals/ nutrients we had the sixth-largest market share, a company official shared with us citing data from the Red Herring prospectus.
 
In therapeutic areas, some popular names of Alklem are Olkem for hypertension, Donep for Alzheimer’s disease, Glucoryl-M for diabetes, Kojiglo for hyper-pigmentation and Melbild for hypo-pigmentation. All are not manufactured at this facility though.
 
The company has implemented SAP, to handle sales and distribution transactions, demand planning and sales forecasting process. Barcode technology at warehouses and depots ensure accuracy and efficiency in stock handling. The sales staff are also equipped with sales force automation tools. Little wonder the company has managed to build a strong prescription base for its products and is ranked among the top five companies in terms of prescription generation in fiscal year 2015. IMS Health confirms this as its figures show the company had a 6.8% share of overall prescriptions in India in FY15. Alkem has a strong field force of 5,856 medical representatives and its products were prescribed by an estimated 210,885 prescribers in fiscal year 2015 according to IMS Health.
 
After a quick view at the coating facilities and capsule filling machines moving with precision we moved out of our stuffy double suits and protective footwear and masks to breathe some fresh air outside the facility.  In India, daava and daaru are spoken with the same breath and as we moved on our way to relax the night at Kasauli, our driver quizzed if we had tried the whisky brand Solan No. 1. A quick search on the web showed Solan No. 1 was the best selling Indian whisky for over a century and that the Kasauli distillery and brewery was set up in the late 1820s. We stopped to pick a bottle available at a steal in the local wine shop. Old is gold they say. The strength and sustainability of Alkem’s brands can be gauged by the fact that the average age of its 10 bestselling brands is 17 years. This sustainability and higher than market growth, can only be explained by strong brand loyalty that Alkem has been able to create so far. Let’s wait and watch how Alkem, which has been around for decades, does on the bourses after listing.

Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma among 16 Stocks in focus today

Tech Mahindra Limited: Tech Mahindra, a leading provider of IT, Networks and Engineering solutions and BPO services, and Mahindra & Mahindra, part of the global $ 16.9 billion Mahindra Group, have jointly entered into an agreement with Pincar S.r.l., to purchase a controlling stake in Pininfarina S.p.A., an iconic Italian brand in automotive and industrial design.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries: The pharma company announced that as a part of its manufacturing consolidation in the US, one of its wholly owned subsidiaries has entered into an agreement with Nostrum Laboratories Inc. (Nostrum) for the divestment of the Bryan (Ohio) unit in the US.

Suzlon Energy Ltd: The company will allot over 3.58 lakh shares to bondholders upon conversion of some bonds due in July 2019.

Zensar Technologies: Zensar Technologies  named Sandeep Kishore as chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD).

IndusInd Bank Ltd: IndusInd Bank is expanding its investment banking division with a focus on private equity (PE) and mergers & acquisition (M&A) advisory, as per media reports.

Siemens Ltd: Siemens could acquire new businesses to support existing verticals of Energy, Automation and Engineering services, a senior company official has been quoted as saying.

DCB Bank: The bank has revised its Base Rate to 10.70% p.a. from the earlier Base Rate of 10.85% p.a. and BPLR to 17.95% p.a. from 18.10% p.a.

Infosys: Infosys is planning to partner with Silicon Valley's storied venture capital firm 500 Startups by investing in one of its funds.

Emami: The company has launched its new winter cream, the cream is called ‘Fair and Handsome Complete Winter Solution’.

Petron Engineering Construction: The company has received Letter of Intent from The Ramco Cements Limited for Civil and Mechanical works for capacity upgradation of Line-1 Cement Plant and Captive Power Plant at Jayanthipuram for a contract value Rs. 225 million.

Speciality Restaurants Ltd: Speciality Restaurants has closed the Café Mezzuna, its Mediterranean restaurant located at City Point, Boat Club Road. Accordingly, the total number of restaurants of the Company stands at 103 and that of confectionaries is at 19.

Bharti Airtel Ltd: Batelco has signed a partnership deal with India's Bharti Airtel.

Tata Steel Ltd: The steel company has launched two new innovative products, offering a complete range of structural steel product to its vast customer base. 

IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company Ltd: The company has received a Letter of Acceptance (LoA) from Metro-Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGS) Company Ltd for the construction of a viaduct corridor.

Artson Engineering: The company has received a Purchase Order for Fabrication and Supply of Steel Building Structure for a Power plant. The estimated Order Value is Rs 14.87 crore.

Natco Pharma: Natco Pharma and its partner Alvogen said they have settled patent infringement suit with Gilead Sciences Inc and others over Tamiflu, in a US court. 

Sensex, Nifty flat; banking, power drag

At 9:26 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 25,185 up 34 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 7,660 up 10 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 0.45% at 10,693, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.32% at 11,294.

Sun Pharma, HUL, Dr.Reddy's, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC, RIL, BHEL, L&T and Infosys are among the gainers, whereas ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, ITC, Wipro, Hero MotoCorp, GAIL, HDFC Bank and Cipla are losing sheen on BSE.

The India VIX (Volatility) index up 1.44% to 18.0550.

Some buying activity is seen in pharma, consumer durables, oil & gas, capital goods, energy, IT and FMCG sectors, while banking, finance and power sectors are showing weakness on BSE.

Out of 1,730 stocks traded on the NSE, 423 declined and 922 advanced today. A total of 10 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while 12 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

The Indian rupee opened higher by 9 paise at 67.03/$ in early trade on Tuesday, as against the previous close of 67.09/$. On the domestic front, India's retail inflation during November spiked to 14‐month high, fuelled by rise in food prices. In this respect, CPI reading registered a rise of 5.41% against the October number of 5.4%. Meanwhile, wholesale inflation declined by 1.99% during November, 13th consecutive monthly contraction. However, wholesale food prices gained 5.2% on yoy basis, a steep rise when compared with October's reading of 2.44%.

Global cues are mixed. US market notched some gains.  Japanese Nikkei is down 0.8%  while China's Shanghai Composite and South Korea's Kospi have dropped marginally. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is trading flat for the moment.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley apprehended a "wash out" of the current Winter session and invoked Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru to remind Congress of the responsibility of MPs for governance of the country through Parliament.

Fitch reportedly said that India will continue to post good growth despite subdued prospect for the Asia Pacific region.

Tech Mahindra and Mahindra & Mahindra have jointly entered into an agreement with Pincar S.r.l., to purchase a controlling stake in Pininfarina S.p.A., an iconic Italian brand in automotive and industrial design.

Zensar Technologies Ltd named Sandeep Kishore as chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD).  

Cairn Energy CEO Simon Thomson has approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to help resolve the nearly two-year-old INR 10,247-crore Cairn India tax dispute.

Rajasthan Government, the first to submit Smart City Proposals to the Ministry of Urban Development has proposed a total investment of Rs.6,457 cr over the next five years for developing  Ajmer, Jaipur, Kota and Udaipur as Smart Cities.