Tell us about HPLC columns that your company distributes in the Indian market?
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Dr Birger Holz
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Knauer is a 51-year-old company specialising in Osmometers, various combinations of LC systems eg: UHPLC, Analytical HPLC, Semi– Prep HPLC, Preparative HPLC, purification systems & LC columns for all the above instrumentation. We are in the LC column business for more than 30 years and our current range of LC columns include: Analytical /semi-prep/preparative columns -Eurospher I, Eurospher II columns, UHPLC / BlueOrchid / Bluespher columns BlueShell (Core shell) columns, Eurocel (Chiral) columns, Eurokat (Food analysis) columns, Bio chromatography columns & Ion chromatography columns.
How have your solutions/ products evolved over the years in the Indian market?
The Indian market is extremely sensitive to the developments taking place in the international market. The reason being India is closely associated with the US, Europe and Australia with respect to R&D interaction and penetration into these countries through mergers and acquisitions. As a consequence the Indian customer or user is fully aware of the technological developments taking place worldwide and in particular the US, European, Australian and Japanese markets. This puts a lot of pressure on Indian companies which have to withstand the competition from the various pharmaceutical segments worldwide. However, the advantage is that the Indian market segment is directly exposed to the developments taking place worldwide. Further, since most of the Indian manufacturers are also exporters to the developed countries, they have to be extremely competitive in terms of quality, consistency and competitiveness while supplying intermediates and APIs to the global markets.
Do you have any India specific challenges?
The single most complex India specific challenge is to be competitive in the price front and for this, we depend on our distribution channels on viz M/s. Great Scientific Supplies for analytical HPLC columns, Chromline for Analytical HPLC / Osmometers and Chemito Technologies for Preparative HPLC.
India is not that R&D-friendly nation. Indian biotech industry also constitutes hardly 2 per cent of the global biotech market. Do you think this will hamper HPLC columns’ growth prospects?
KNAUER’s Indian distributors sell columns into the pharma, universities and other research institutes. The biotech industry is also our target with increasing activities. Altogether the influence on the columns business growth is present but will not too much hamper.
HPLC columns are generally considered expensive. How have you worked on this aspect to make them cost effective?
KNAUER strives to keep the sales price on a reasonable level, especially under the level of the large players in the field. From time to time it can happen that we have to commit to higher discounts. In this case, we recommend purchase of larger volume of columns to receive a better price.
Besides the above, we worked on new technologies like short columns, narrow ID columns so that the solvent consumption is reduced drastically resulting in solvent saving & offering eco-friendly solutions to the end user.
Who are your key clients in India?
Being a strong European player in the LC systems and LC column market, almost all the European pharma manufacturers like M/s. Sandoz / Novatis/Elli Lilly and the subcontractors/ collaborators in India are automatically our customers.
We have been supplying columns and LC systems either directly or indirectly to the leading multinational companies in India besides the local companies like M/s. Cipla/ Dr.Reddy’s/ Hetro Drugs/ Bliss Pharma/Vishal Pharma & Ruchi Soya.
Success of any product depends more on repeat orders and not on new orders. What is your experience in this regard?
We are proud to inform that we have been consistently receiving repeat orders. This does not mean that there is no scope for improvement. As a matter of fact, during my present visit we had organised a distributor meet for KNAUER`s HPLC columns through M/s. Great Scientific and I was amazed at the new markets which we have opened up through the distribution channel. This means we will be working harder to achieve stronger goals and we will be reworking our strategies in the light of the information generated through the distributor meet.
What are your future plans for the Indian market?
Our plan is focusing even more on the promotion of the preparative HPLC, HPLC columns and modules to be used in different application areas than HPLC. We will have to rework our strategies within India to cover the different market segments and this is going to be the next challenge for our growth.
What is Knauer’s market share in India?
The market share of KNAUER columns in India is about five per cent. The market share of analytical HPLC is about three per cent and the market share of preparative HPLC is about 25 per cent.
