Cipla is in the process of a transition and the appointment of a new Chief Executive, is like a “stepping stone”, says Chairman Y.K. Hamied.

The new man at the helm is Subhanu Saxena, who will take charge as Chief Executive in February. Cipla’s previous Chief Executive Amar Lulla had passed away last April.

Over the last 18 months, Cipla has been restructuring itself and about 12 key people have been appointed as heads of Europe, Human Resources, IT, Supply Chain, Hamied told Business Line .

There is part of a process to build a team and the company needed someone to overlook these functions, he said, since he is a non-resident Indian. “We are not a Rs 10-crore company. This year we are looking at a turnover of Rs 8,000 crore,” Hamied says, adding that companies cannot be run like mom-and-pop stores.

Having had to constantly fend off queries on succession and whether Cipla was a potential target for take-over, Hamied says the company is putting in place a robust team. Besides, his nephew Kamil Hamied and niece Samina Vaziralli are also on the management team.

As for the new Chief Executive Saxena, he comes with over 25 years experience including that from his last assignment, where he led global product strategy and commercialisation functions at multinational drug-maker Novartis Pharma AG. So will Saxena bring in a different vision for Cipla - is a question he leaves for the new man in to answer, when he takes charge.

But there will be more appointments, Hamied says, referring to Cipla Medpro in South Africa, where the head had resigned last month. Cipla India has only yesterday made a Rs 1,200-crore offer to acquire Cipla Medpro, with who it has a marketing alliance.

“But to be stable internationally, we need to be stable in the local market,” says Hamied, unhappy with the Government’s flip-flop on the drug policy.

The environment becomes difficult to survive in, since “we get step-motherly treatment from the (Indian) Government,” he says. Why is it, that the country’s top10 drug companies are active in the export markets, he asks. It is because there is no local support from the Government, he says.

So is the process of transition complete at Cipla? “Transitions in life are never complete,” he says.

jyothi.datta@thehindu.co.in

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