The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented focus on health and wellbeing — be it mental or physical — thereby boosting allied services like the pharmaceutical industry.
According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the pharma market was estimated to be worth $42 billion in 2021 and is slated to reach $120-130 billion by 2030.
SMBStory spoke to Dr Ram Shroff, Director of Charak Pharma, a company that is almost as old as our country, having been started in 1947 by the Shroff brothers D.N. Shroff and Dr S.N. Shroff.
Today, Charak Pharma has carved a niche for itself in the Indian, as well as the global market. It offers around 106 SKUs (stock keeping units) across categories such as dental, gynaecology, ortho, and more, and is present in two lakh outlets across India.
Charak also exports to more than 30 countries, including the likes of the US, UK, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and more.
Talking about the pandemic impact on the industry, Dr Ram says, “One industry which has definitely gained is the pharmaceutical industry.”
“COVID-19 has been a huge wake up call that has come at a heavy cost,” he says, adding, “It has also made all of us relook at what we were doing. Sometimes you overlook certain things, but when the going gets tough, you start looking into everything.” Read more.
The Interview
In an exclusive conversation with YS, Alan Mamedi, CEO and Co-founder, Truecaller, bares his heart about his lifestory, his parents, failures, life goals, and how he takes out time for his family every year even between the craziness of building a company, and more.
Editor’s Pick: Turning Point
The seeds of digital payments major PhonePe were sown in 2012 when Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari launched Flyte, a music downloading platform while working at Flipkart.
In this week’s Turning Point, we look at the journey of PhonePe, which now claims close to 50 percent market share in UPI payments in India with transactions worth over Rs 4.71 lakh crore. Read more.
Founders of PhonePe (L to R): Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari
Startup Spotlight
Providing tasty protein snacks for children
Jaipur-based startup Gladful was started by Parul Sharma and her brother Manu Sharma in 2020 to create protein food and snacking products, with a special focus on children.
Gladful makes snacks out of wholewheat, unrefined cane sugar, and does not use ammonia in its products. The snacks provide 7-8 grams of protein per serving, says Parul. Read more.
Top Stories of the Week
- FY22 was a bumper fiscal year for Indian startups with early-stage funding accounting for 74.1 percent (1,210 deals) of the total deal count, while their value of nearly $4.41 billion accounted for 11.5 percent of the total funding inflow.
- Padmapriya R is Director, Information Technology, Issuer and Output Solution Group, Fiserv Global Services. She believes the right mentors and an ecosystem of support is important for women to overcome challenges and move forward in their careers.
- Digit Insurance sold its first policy in late-2017. In 2021, it became not only the first unicorn of the year but also the first insurtech startup to achieve the coveted billion-dollar valuation. Founder Kamesh Goyal charts his and the company’s growth journey.
- After raising $1 billion in a round of funding in February led by specialist private equity firm Vista Equity, cybersecurity company Securonix is on an expansion spree globally, including in India. Headquartered in Texas, Austin, Securonix is a next-generation cloud-based SaaS product for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) company.
- In this week’s Techie Tuesday, we feature Surojit Chatterjee, Chief Product Officer, Coinbase. Surojit Chatterjee looks at the overall product and technology strategy for the global crypto exchange. He believes it is important to be ambitious in a relatively new segment like crypto.
Before you go, stay inspired with…
Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder and Chairman, UpGrad
“Lifelong learning, upskilling, and career enhancements can no longer be the right of only those who can afford it.”
— Ronnie Screwvala, Chairperson and Co-founder, upGrad
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