Abbott Co's board members, chairman to hold first global board meeting in India

MUMBAI: Board members of the $20-billion US-based diversified healthcare major Abbott, led by its chairman Miles D White, are flying down to Mumbai this week to hold the company's first global meeting in India, demonstrating the importance it attaches to one of the fastest-growing emerging markets in the world. India is among Abbott's top five markets globally, with overall revenues of over $1 billion from four main businesses — branded generics (pharmaceuticals), nutrition, diagnostics and medical devices.

Around half of Abbott's overall sales are from emerging markets, and 70% come from outside the US. Globally, nutrition is Abbott's biggest business, while in India, it is led by pharmaceutical revenues, with the second-largest share in the organized pharma retail market.

Sources said that the agenda may include a stock-taking exercise for the various businesses and measures to spur growth. Abbott became a leading player in the pharmaceutical market after the acquisition of the domestic formulations business of Piramal Healthcare for $3.72 billion in 2010. Its largest-selling brand, cough syrup Phensedyl is valued at around Rs 250 crore (MAT August 2015, AIOCD-Awacs), while the company has a 5.3% share in the hugely fragmented Rs 92,000-crore pharma retail market.

In the past few years, several transnational companies, mainly in the consumer goods space, have held board meetings in India, but this is perhaps the first time a healthcare major will be doing it.

Last year, Abbott added new nutrition plants in two emerging markets, India and China, and a new optics facility in Malaysia to meet growing demand in those regions. It also redefined its corporate identity, with India becoming one of the first markets after the US and Brazil where the change was rolled out last year. Its new corporate identity 'Life. To The Fullest' is now being rolled out through advertisements on television, after print and outdoor earlier.

The new positioning and efforts to define the brand support Abbott's aim to establish itself as a well-known consumer brand that addresses healthcare needs, especially in emerging markets.

After conducting a survey last year in India, the company realized that the brand Abbott was not really visible to the consumer, and hence it decided to reposition itself to become closer to consumers.