i-pill: Market Development Challenges at Piramal Enterprises Limited

Kedar Rajadnye (Kedar), president and Chief Operating Officer of Consumer Products Piramal Enterprises Limited, was the key person responsible for the decision to acquire i-pill from Cipla Limited in March 2010 for INR 950 million. An all-cash deal, the agreement valued the product at around three times its yearly sales. While the valuation seemed to be rather high, the market for the drug seemed promising enough to justify this. For Piramal Healthcare that was looking for avenues to fortify its presence in the over-the-counter (OTC) market, i-pill presented a good growth prospect. The emergency contraceptives market was at a budding stage in India, with its 2011 market size pegged at around Rs 1 billion....