Big Plans for Elder

Elder Pharmaceuticals has big plans.  Over the next two years 35 new products will be launched; the company’s sales and marketing force will expand by 1,000 and further development in rural markets will take place.

Looking at where the company is now – as compared to where it hopes to be in two years – one can immediately see how much growth is intended.  Right now, Elder Pharmaceuticals in India has around 3,500 employees.  A staggering 3,000 of these are in the marketing and sales department.  According to the company’s director Alok Saxena, “there has been a revival in demand across pharmaceutical segments but the real growth story lies in the rural and semi-urban markets which we expect to grow at about 15 per cent annually from the current level.”  But if the company wants to develop in rural areas, it is going to need to “reach out to physicians, specialists, chemists, hospitals, nursing homes, and private healthcare institutions.”  As well, if the company is able to “bolster its field workforce quickly” then its growth plans will be significantly facilitated.

Elder’s Rural Development

Elder Pharmaceuticals has a rural division called Elvista, which has already made inroads into rural and semi-urban markets around the region.  According to Saxena, before the end of next year, it “plans to reach 1,500 villages with populations of below 40,000, 300 villages with populations of 40,000 to 1 lakh and over 75 peripheral villages/towns around Mumbai Metropolitan region.”

So there is much to look forward to. Much promise lies ahead for Elder Pharmaceuticals and Elvista.