VISAKHAPATNAM: Pharma major SMS Pharma Group is all set to shift its base from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh in the wake of state bifurcation. With an annual turnover of `500 crore, the company has five units in Telangana near Hyderabad and two in Andhra Pradesh in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts.
SMS Pharma Group, which produces active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), has set up its formulations unit VKT Pharma Private Limited at Derasam village in Srikakulam by investing `200 crore in the first phase and another `300 crore in the next two phases. The group has invested `400 crore on the API unit in Vizianagaram district and has plans to expand the unit in about 100 acres in the district.
Revealing the expansion plans of the company in Andhra Pradesh Friday, SMS Pharma Group chairman P Ramesh Babu said that the group aims to reach the annual turnover of `2,000 crore by 2019. The company plans to focus on its operations in Andhra Pradesh by reducing its operations in Telangana and shift the base to north Coastal Andhra region by starting new units including one at Jawahar Pharma City near Parawada in Visakhapatnam. With manpower of about 1,000 manufacturing staff and another team of 100 researchers, the group is producing about 1,191 million tablets and 321 million capsules per annum, he elucidated.
Ramesh said that pharma exports in the undivided Andhra Pradesh were worth `30,000 crore, of which the truncated AP contributed only `5,000-6,000 crore. ‘‘As there is a huge potential for development of pharma sector in the state, we have decided to shift our operations to AP,’’ he added.