This 32-year-old Kanpur-based Ayurveda company wants to make a mark globally
Amar Pharmaceuticals says it was the first lab in Uttar Pradesh to get approval from the Ministry Of Ayush, the Ayush Premium mark with NABL accreditation.
With an aim to serve the society by discovering new Ayurvedic products and improving its use in the treatment of various diseases, Amar Pharmaceuticals and Labs Pvt. Ltd. was established in 1986 by Late Sudarshan Kumar Gulati in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. His son Bharat Bhushan Gulati (52) currently runs the business.
The company is looking to enhance the knowledge of Ayurveda in the medicine market. The market for Ayurvedic products is slated to rise three fold to $8 billion by 2022, according to an AYUSH report.
Amar Pharma manufactures classical and patent Ayurvedic medicines, herbal extracts and self-cultivated herbal raw materials. Gulati says their products are completely natural with no side effects.
The company also deals in raw material testing, finished products testing, water testing, microbial testing, heavy metals testing and pesticide residue.
Gulati says his vision is to see his products create a name globally, and the company is working on clearing certain norms and he hopes to achieve his target soon.
The beginnings
Gulati talks about his family business and says, “After the business was established in 1986, it was changed into a private limited company in 1999. At the same time, we also set up a plant at Cooperative Industrial area in Dada Nagar, Kanpur.”
“Currently, we have a government-approved manufacturing, analytical and extraction division,” he says.
Amar Pharmaceuticals was the first lab in Uttar Pradesh to get approval from the Ministry Of Ayush, the Ayush Premium mark with NABL accreditation. The company has an annual turnover of around Rs 5 crore and has invested around Rs 99 lakh as the authorised capital. It also employs around 60 people directly. Gulati says,
“Our products are passed through different quality checks and testing parameters. The herbs are procured directly from the farmers to get best quality medicines. We supply our products to Patanjali, DMER Maharashtra, NDMC Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand state governments.”
He says, Amar Pharma is committed to providing quality material testing services to its customers by using advanced technology and the proven methodologies. We ensure the consistency and quality of the tests carried out in the lab matches the International standards. The management system and the technical requirements are adopted as per ISO/IEC 17025: 2005.
Talking about its customer acquisition strategy, he says, “Our main goal is to reach out to more and more customers every day. According to the type of product, our schemes and marketing strategies change and we do the planning according to the demands of our end customer.”
The lab testing facility at Amar Pharmaceuticals
In order to manage all the critical areas in the business, Gulati says, “The company needs to carefully judge its capacities and then accordingly invest in the land, plant and machinery. The cash flow and capital management are very important to us and when the payments are secure, the buying capacity of the business will increase and consequently the credibility as well. A stronger cash flow means the business can run smoothly for a long time.”
“Entrepreneurs who want to make a mark in the industry need to make continuous efforts in order to keep up with the competitors and need to have a really strong vision in their mind along with the ability of accountability in them,” he says.
Challenges
Remembering his initial days, Gulati says that at the beginning of his career, everything was new. He was inexperienced and he tried to learn the nuances from his father. He had a hard time in sustaining and growing his business. From manufacturing to marketing, it took him a lot of time and effort to arrive at the position today. He also faced a lot of labour related problems as well.
He says, “Apart from the other challenges, the major challenge today is the government policy, where there is a lack of proper framework in this particular industry in Uttar Pradesh. During the time of government tenders, there is no relaxation or leverage provided to UP-based companies, whereas in the other states, certain privileges are given to the local companies and their needs are taken care of.”
According to him, “The new policies made by the government seem to be very attractive, but they aren’t time bound and in order to make their schemes and plans successful, accountability needs to be fixed.”
(This story has been published in partnership with the MSMEs Ministry to showcase success stories of SMEs)