Turnover during the Q4 ended December 2000 grew by 14.8 per cent to Rs 478.5 crore. For the year ended December 2000, the turnover was up 11.7 per cent to Rs 1,741.8 crore.

During the year, the drug major achieved a major milestone by crossing the half way mark towards its 2004 global sales target of $1 billion. Its global sales during the year stood at $502 million.

Earnings before tax (and before technology licensing income) in Q4 grew by 54.3 per cent and for the whole year it grew by 17.2 per cent to Rs 195.6 crore.

There has been a substantial jump in R&D spending which was up 24.5 per cent to Rs 59.4 crore. During the quarter, R&D expenditure was up marginally to Rs 15.4 crore.

The fourth-quarter revenue growth was driven by 16.8 per rise in domestic sales, 21.7 per cent growth in formulation exports and 2.8 per cent growth in active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) exports. For the full year, domestic sales were up 12.2 per cent to Rs 928.2 crore.

The quarter saw the drug major entering the oral anti-diabetes segment in the domestic market which was followed by the successful launch of the COX-II inhibitors during the previous quarters.

Over the year, the company launched 15 new products in the country, the majority of which were in the chronic and lifestyle disease segments.Annual growth of formulation exports was driven by the US markets reflecting an increase of 73 per cent, Asia-Pacific by 39 per cent and the Middle East by 33 per cent. Global dosage from revenues was up 21 per cent during the year to constitute a 71 per cent share of the global revenues (up from 66 per cent in the previous year).

The US growth was supported by the launch of eight new products during the year. The company received eight abbreviated new drug application (Anda) approvals during the year with cumulative approvals reaching 24.

During the year, 12 Andas were files and at the end of the year, 15 Andas were pending approval from the US FDA.