Pharmaceutical companies should consider mergers: Dilip Shanghvi

MUMBAI: Indian pharmaceutical companies, who are battling growing competition from each other and resurgent multinationals, may have to shake hands, said Dilip Shanghvi, chairman and managing director of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries.

"Today there is a large amount of duplication by two Indian companies doing the same things," he said adding that "if the same investments were focused on new business lines, they might do much better."

Shanghvi was speaking at a panel discussion on the future of the Indian pharma industry at the golden jubilee celebrations of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA).

He was responding to a question on whether two companies need to come together to create an Indian Teva - the Israeli drug maker and the world's largest generics company.