Ozone Group to infuse Rs 20cr in new business division

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) Pharmaceutical and Consumer Healthcare company, Ozone Group today said it will invest Rs 20 crore in the next two years to set up an exclusive division for Research and Development (R&D) facilities, and will expand the business by launching new products.

''We will invest Rs 20 crore over the next two years (2007-2009) towards the creation of the new business division with focus on R&D named as 'Ozone R&D', which will serve both the existing Ozone Group companies product development needs as well target the global market for R&D services in the healthcare space,'' Ozone Group Chairman Subhash Chandra Sehgal told reporters here.

'Ozone R&D' will also serve as a prime vehicle for the company's backward integration plans, wherein the Group will undertake cultivation of natural herbs, ayurvedic and medicinal plants using modern technology in organic cultivation, he said.

''We have decided to invest in undertaking organic cultivation of herbs and ayurvedic plants so that surplus could be sold off in the open market or exported,'' he added.

To enable this, about 45 acres of land has already been acquired by the Group at Sonari and Nagaon districts of Asom, where cultivation is already operational in one land.

''We have also acquired 13 acres of land in Haryana which are already under cultivation and plans are afoot to expand the land bank to 100 acres in Asom, thereby making it to 113 acres of land in total for cultivation,'' said Mr Sehgal.

The Ozone Group comprises of two operating companies -- Ozone Pharmaceuticals Ltd, with focus on prescription drugs in the areas of antibodies, antifungal, cardiac and diabetic segments, etc -- and Ozone Ayurvedics, a privately held consumer healthcare business, with the brand Nomarks.

The company generated a turnover of Rs 112 crore last year, through its markets in the West Asia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, London, New Zealand and West Indies.

It has four manufacturing facilities -- two each in Bahadurgarh (Haryana) and Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) -- and has two offices in other parts of the world at UK and Dubai.

UNI