Sun Pharma had commissioned a new plant in Dadra recently. Both the plants (Jammu and Dadra) are formed as partnerships between the company (95-per cent stake) and its key employees benefit trust (5-per cent stake).

In addition, the company expects to begin operating phase-I of its new state-of-the-art Rs 40-crore drug discovery campus built in Baroda by September 2003. This 16-acre site, housing 150 additional scientists, will likely be commissioned in mid-2003.

Another new site for expansion of the product development labs in Mumbai, a 75,000-sq ft research and development (R&D) centre to service the North American and European markets, will also commence operations soon. Sun Pharma has budgeted an R&D spend of Rs 75 crore this fiscal as against Rs 65 crore spent during 2002-03.

Meanwhile, for the year ended 31 March 2003, the company''s total sales went up to Rs 858.74 crore and the profit after tax to Rs 231.41 crore. The margins, too, improved to 27 per cent on account of cost-control measures and better sourcing. The board has recommended a dividend of 100 per cent.

During the year under review, domestic formulation sales amounting to Rs 576.37 crore contributed a lion''s share of the company''s turnover. The figure for the fiscal 2001-02 was Rs 468 crore. The domestic formulation sales includes a special price supply of Rs 35 crore, which is reflective of the next month''s sales.

Fiscal 2003 also saw total exports going up by Rs 6.95 crore to Rs 146.95 crore. While the speciality bulk active exports showed a marginal decline to Rs 106.25 crore, exports of formulations went up by Rs 11.77 crore to Rs 39.77 crore.