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Biocon to scale up R&D spend

— PHOTO: P. V. SIVAKUMAR

DIFFERENT STROKES: (from left) B. Ramalinga Raju of Satyam Computer, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon, C. K. Prahalad of University of Michigan, and Manoj Kohli of Airtel, at a panel discussion held at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad on Saturday.

HYDERABAD: Describing the global economic meltdown as an opportunity for Indian companies due to their capability to combat failure, Kiran-Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director of Biocon, has said that the company proposes to increase its research and development spend by 20-30 per cent.

She told reporters at the Strategic Management Society’s special conference at the Indian School of Business here on Saturday that the R&D spend of her company was 15 per cent of its annual revenues.

The company’s research on oral insulin was entering the third phase of clinical trials. Major pharma companies in the world were exiting from R&D and entering the generics business and biosimilars market, which was neither well-defined nor profitable.

She said foreign companies were coming forward to collaborate with Indian companies in the realm of process development and clinical development.

The job cuts to the tune of over 50,000 scientists in the global companies would create employment opportunities in India, as affordable innovation, including the risk, was the mantra in India.

Participating in a panel discussion, moderated by Management guru C. K. Prahald, Airtel’s CEO Manoj Kohli said his company was expanding rapidly by setting up 3,000 towers a day. It was also planning large-scale recruit- ments.

Chairman of Satyam Computer Services B. Ramalinga Raju underscored the need for demystification of knowledge and subdivide innovation into understandable pieces for inclusive participation of a large section of people. He was narrating the success story of 108 EMRI (emergency research management institute).

Atul Chandra of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) stressed the importance of courage in innovation — RIL drilled well D6 — which was surrendered by an oil company, and struck the biggest gas-find.

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