DR REDDY TO SPEND $300 MN ON R&D IN FY20

Hyderabad, May 20: Dr Reddys Laboratories is planning to spend upto $300 million on research and development (R&D) during this financial year, a senior official of the company has said.

President, CFO and Global Head (HR) of Dr Reddy's Saumen Chakraborty, during an 'earnings call', said the drug- maker spent $226 million during the last fiscal against $264 million in FY 18.

The R&D spend for the quarter (January-March FY 19) is Rs 366 crore, that is $53 million and EBIT 9.19 per cent of the sales for the quarter, he said.

The spend is lowered by

16 per cent year-on-year and is flat on a sequential quarter basis. The spend for FY 19 is Rs 1,551 crore. That is $226 million as against $264 million in FY

18, Chakraborty said.

"We expect the overall R&D for FY 20 would be in the range of $250 million to $300 million," he said replying to a query.

The company would continue to focus on R&D for some interesting pipeline of proprietary products. But, on an overall basis, the R&D spend would be lower in proprietary products when compared to previous year, he further said.

— Greenlam Industries Ltd, a leading provider of decorative surfacing solutions, has now acquired Europe based Decolan SA. The Europe based distribution company has been the leading supplier of imported HPL and other decorative surfaces for over 20 years now.

Post acquisition, Decolan SA is going to be managed as a subsidiary of Greenlam Asia Pacific. The existing Decolan's team and management will be a part of Greenlam Decolan SA which will allow to further strengthen relations with customers and suppliers in the European markets.

The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of FY20 and will further strengthen Greenlam's position in the HPL and compact panels market in Europe. With this take over, Greenlam will be able to offer expanded product line to the customers.