Alak Kumar Saha

Managing Director

Indian pharmaceutical market worth is projected to touch USD 88.6 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of more than 13 percent. The rise in sale of pharmaceutical products regarding gastrointestinal and respiratory concerns is currently giving a push to the market growth. Moreover, the government’s various initiatives for research & development activities and the betterment of health infrastructure across the country are playing a key role in the evolution of the pharmaceutical market. However, the industry is still unorganized, especially in the areas beyond metro cities and due to the limited scope of catering to the market there, such regions in the country remains quite underserved in terms of pharmaceutical facilities.

Saha Drug Distributor observed this gap in the suburban parts of Tripura and has built up a distribution firm for pharmaceutical drugs with a vast range of tablets, capsules, syrups, vaccines and many more to cater to the variable demands for healthcare products in the Eastern Indian region. When supplying quality products is a priority to Saha Drug, they also strived to modify their services through the creation of online platform in order to serve better in the peripheral areas of Tripura. Pharma Industry Outlook engages in a conversation with Alak Kumar Saha, Managing Director of Saha Drug, in order to know more about its services and the core philosophies it is governed by.

Please tell us about the current market opportunities and challenges in the pharmaceutical industry in India.

The pharmaceutical market is evolving at a steady pace in our country. Certain factors like lower manufacturing costs, skilled workforce and the government’s recent investment to heighten research & development activities are propelling growth in the sector. Yet the markets in rural regions and the outskirts of metropolitan cities are yet to be explored as the pivotal portion of health infrastructure centres around the cities areas. Therefore, the market is quite raw in the suburban parts of the country. However, we have been able to cater our consumer’s demand through our robust network and partnerships despite the limited market opportunities.

Could you throw light on the major factors that differentiate your company from the other players in the marketplace?

We do believe that we are service-oriented organisation and we bring forth a plethora of services that other pharmaceutical organisations do not offer. Our organization is better maintained in that sense. We supply our products to many renowned companies. With extensive experience of more 33 years in the pharmaceutical industry, the organisation has positioned itself distinctively in the marketplace through quality service and adherence to ethical practice and all the norms in the related field while developing a trustworthy relationship with the retailers and sub–distributors. Being an eminent distributor in the pharmaceutical space from Tripura, Saha is the first organisation to launch an online B2B billing system in the state. These are the key factors that help us to stay ahead of the curve.

What are the various services that you offer to your clients and how are they unique?

Saha Drug engages in the distribution of medicines regarding dermatology, cardiology, oncology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, herpetology, neurosurgery, paediatrics and general internal medicines. The broad range of pharmaceutical products that we deal with includes tablets, capsules, syrups, suspensions, vaccines, pre-filled liquids and other medicinal articles. In dermatology, we provide medicines for skin, hair nail along with a varied range of cosmetic products. Furthermore, we supply technologically safe surgery products required for neurosurgery at competitive pricing.

We also own a good range of medicines and other products related various kinds of cancer. Then we have medicines for several liver diseases, digestion disorders, thyroid, diabetes, cardiac diseases and paediatric products as well. Our mail goal is to ensure the best quality service under one roof which is why we make sure that our business partners not only get all the medicines that have been above mentioned we also cater to them vet nary division, surgical division and FMCG division all under one roof. Our team of approximately 100 employees ensures quality service to their partners and monitor the smooth flow of their supply chain. The delivery of quality products and services along with robust network enables us to cater to variegated consumer demands of any volume. We are motivated towards consistent up-gradation of the services and increasing our capacity to attend the client’s requirement in the best possible manner. Since we are into distribution business, our work is majorly based on services. Many of our clients come to our office with the list of the products they need and therefore take them directly from us. We also provide them the facility by which they can obtain the products at their doorstep.

Please give us a brief overview on the journey of the company since its inception.

Saha Drug was started by myself under the proprietorship name of my wife in 1990. It has been a remarkable journey since then and it was begun with one company, gsk. Now we are working with more than 80 pharma companies. We have collaborated with many organizations including Sun, Pfizer, Novarties, Alembic, Alteus, Abbott, Lupin, Cadila, Alcon, Mark, Himalaya, Glenmark, JB Chemicals, AstraZeneca, Torrent Pharma, Apex, H&H, Cetaphil, CiplaHealth, Gsk, Mankind, Zydus, Dr. Reddy’s and Kepler.

Could you outline your geographical presence achieved over the years?

We hail from a place with fewer scopes to explore market opportunities to larger extents. Hence, we set up warehouses in various locations across Tripura to solve the issue of interrupted supply. Our organisation is headquartered at the capital of the state, Agartala. Alongside we have branch in Udaipur to cater to the south market and another office is situated at Teliamura to run distribution in Dholai Market. They also have one more office in Dharmanagar to supervise the sales in the north market of Tripura as well.

Could you tell us about your current projects and the expansion plan for future?

We have been in the expansion mode for two years now. One of our notable initiatives in this transformational phase is extending their services to online retail and enabling such flexibility of service in Tripura. We are currently focusing on incentivising our retail partners to operate through the online facility to eradicate any disruption in the supply chain and maximize their sales. As we are pretty much the dominating force in our area for quite some time now we decided to focus on expanding our geographical presence. Hence, we started our operation in Guwahati lately and our next target is to go into this direction for more expansions.