Executive Chairperson, Biocon
First On CNBC-TV18 | Biocon CMD: "Biologics Business Saw A Robust Jump In Sales"
In her first interview to CNBC-TV18, Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw speaks about the rise in the company's revenue from the Biologics business in the second quarter and how the launch of the Pegfilgrastim biosimilar in the USA contributed.
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About Kiran Mazumdar-shaw
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson of Biocon, announced in May 2026 that her niece, Claire Mazumdar, will succeed her as the company's leader. Mazumdar-Shaw stated that she had long planned to groom Claire for the role and decided the time had come to announce it because Claire had "earned her stripes." She cited Claire's work building Biocara Therapeutics, including raising capital, obtaining a breakthrough designation for a bispecific antibody, and listing the company on Nasdaq in 2024 as a billion-dollar company. Mazumdar-Shaw said the transition will be gradual, with Claire expected to take over in five years, and that she herself plans to step back into a guiding role rather than an active one. She also stated that family will remain at the board level while professional management drives day-to-day operations. On the company's financial performance, Mazumdar-Shaw reported that Biocon closed FY26 on a strong note, with Q4 operating revenue at Rs. 4,517 crore, up 10% year-on-year after adjustments. She said the company is now operating as "one unified biopharma entity" with a stronger balance sheet and that the heavy capital investment phase is behind them, with the focus now on improving utilization, expanding margins, and driving return on capital employed. Mazumdar-Shaw described the outlook as "very bullish," citing new product launches, a growing pipeline, and opportunities in biosimilars and GLP-1 therapies. She also noted that the FDA's decision to waive phase three clinical trials for certain biosimilars has reduced development costs by 50% and accelerated product timelines by three to four years. Separately, Mazumdar-Shaw hosted the 25th annual St. Patrick's Day celebration in Bengaluru in her capacity as Honorary Consul General of Ireland, alongside Ireland's Ambassador to India, Kevin Kelly.
Transcript (18 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Host0:00
We were on the verge of going to 10,000 in this morning's trading session. Now we are holding above the 10,100, 10,120. We're on the verge of moving into the green. So a great recovery is what you're seeing. The bulls are putting in a fight on the first day of this new series. Judge Finance, let's get that chart up for you. New screen, that's what's leading the markets higher. It's now rallied more than about 10% this week itself. And Bajaj himself too is seeing some buying. And then of course you've got ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries still fighting.
Absolutely. I think Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank are the other two heavyweights on the Nifty. And when they move higher, that's what definitely helps the Nifty move. Take a look at that. Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank. Remember, ICICI Bank comes out with its set of numbers, so we'll keep an eye out on that one. But talking about earnings, there are a lot of earnings that came in overnight. Not with us, she's gonna run us through a lot of those stocks.
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Reporter0:53
Thanks a lot for that. I'll start with L&T Tech. Very strong set of numbers reported by the company yet again. The constant currency growth is sustained at those 29.5% levels, and that compares with around 32% that the company reported in the quarter gone by and 30% in quarter four of FY19. Additionally, the company has also revised the FY19 revenue guidance to growth of 21% versus 16% earlier. So that's why the stock is up and buzzing in trade today. Intellect Design also reported a good set of numbers, and the management spoke to us today and guided for a 25% revenue growth and also margins of around 15% for the next year. So that is something that's definitely liked. Quess Corp on the other hand reported a mixed set of numbers. The top-line growth was quite strong, however the margins came in lower. So we saw revenue growth around 50%, but margins compressed by around 30 basis points. So that is something the street is not liking. Crompton Consumer also reported its numbers. It was slightly below the CNBC TV18 poll, and margins were something that disappointed. Margins came in at 11.9% versus an expectation of 12.3%. The lighting revenue declined, margins there came in at 6.15% versus 12.4%. So basically they have here, and also the consumer durable segment grew by 14.5% and the margin growth was strong there. Overall numbers were lower than what the poll was suggesting, and that's why the stock is declining in trade today. Back to you.
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Host2:19
Okay, thank you very much for that from Sona. Let's now go across to Sonia. Sorry, we thought SIAD's numbers were disappointing, but the stock is doing quite well.
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Reporter2:28
Yes, it is. You know, it's the same reaction that we saw with InterGlobe yesterday. The numbers are backward-looking and they are disappointing, no two ways about that. But the street is looking ahead. Crude prices have fallen quite a bit since the last quarter, and that will aid the realizations for a company like SIAD, and that's what the market is pricing in. Also, the stock is sitting at a 52-week low. It's down 50% in 2018, so there is legroom for an upside. Having said that, the numbers in the quarter gone by have been weak on the margin front. So the margins are down 230 basis points here, coming in at 9.1%. But things will change in the quarter to come. Not just that, the revenue growth has been very strong. It's a 15% revenue growth. The tonnage volumes have been improving because of the improvements seen in the commercial vehicle sector. So one strong revenue growth and the impending positive numbers because of the fall in crude is something that is definitely liked. Back to you.
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Host3:23
Alright, so now thanks so much for that. Let's get back to the markets then. The Nifty is holding at around the 10,100 mark. How do you trade the Nifty from here, Ashwini? Gujarat in Prakash Saab out there with us. You know, at noon now. Thanks for our gentlemen for joining in. Harshwhinny, what are the trades beyond the Nifty here? We are just in the green and it's very, very volatile. Suddenly went down again 25 points odd. Would you be looking to buy the Nifty at these levels, or do you think we can head back down to around the 10,000 mark?
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Ashwini3:51
At 10 o'clock we had suggested buying into Reliance, Titan, etc. My sense is that the short-covering move will gain steam and will possibly gain much, much further before the close, and probably close at the high point of the day. Because at 9,950 the space to go down was really limited, and now that there is a turnaround and momentum, I think we could continue this on the upside. Plus Asia, Europe, etc. are recovering. So that way I think we have enough shorts to take the market higher. So this is a good time to get long on Nifty, Bank Nifty, etc. Today mid-caps are outperforming, so kind of take the smaller stocks because they are likely to do well. Reliance is a buy with a stop of 1,360, target of 1,480. Yes Bank is a buy with a stop of 605, target of 630. And CES Cesar is a buy with a stop of 850, target of 900.
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Host4:56
Okay, three buy calls by Ashwini. Prakash is also here with us in the studio. Prakash, long treat for you as well.
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Prakash5:00
Well, looks like the 10,100 was yesterday and today 10,000 is held so far. Looks like as long as 10,000 holds, maybe there is some kind of view that maybe this is not falling. Not falling itself is a good sign. It could be a sideways move and up trying to. So perhaps as long as that holds, I think upside is on. If it closes today in the green, the best part is it goes around 10,200, 10,150 higher than that, then it's good for the market for the next week. I have two stocks on the long side. I'll go with Century Textile. That looks good. We can see enough momentum here. Target could be in the vicinity of around 800 zones. Stop below 770 should be okay. And I like Page Industries. I think Page Industries is also looking good. It's building up. It's already gone up after I recommended. Target that I had is 30,000, but I think I would modify it to maybe around 30,300 zones. Stop still would be the same, 28,600. Painless feasible I said.
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Host5:59
Okay, thank you very much for that. Biocon is a stock which is currently on our radar. The company had reported a fairly good quarter. There was a revenue growth of 36.5%. Their margins too have come in higher than expectations at 25.7% versus 18.8% that saw a year ago, and that is driving an increase in the company's profit. The stock however is not reacting too much to the numbers per se. In fact, let's now invite the management of Biocon to talk about their numbers. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the CMD of the company, joins in. Our graph to note growth this quarter was primarily led by the biologics biosimilar segment. If you could tell us what the sales of pegfilgrastim will be this quarter or were this quarter.
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Kiran Mazumdar-shaw6:48
Our biologics business has jumped 167% to 367 crores. This is a pretty robust jump. What we are seeing is that these contributions have come largely from a supply and profit share of biosimilar pegfilgrastim in the US market, as well as certain contributions from our sale of biosimilar trastuzumab and insulins in certain markets like Mexico, Malaysia, and Brazil. So there has been a good contribution from our biosimilars business. Largely, I would say that the rich contributions in terms of margins and top-line have come from the US launch of pegfilgrastim, which happened in the first quarter. This is obviously setting us up for good sustainable growth in the coming years because, as you know, we are also preparing ourselves for a European entry with pegfilgrastim and trastuzumab biosimilar, where we await approval by the end of the year, given that we have had a positive response from CHMP for both these products. Biosimilar glatiramer has already been approved in Europe and is shortly to be launched commercially in the European market. So overall, we have a very nice basket of biosimilars for both the US and European markets, which will set us up for steady growth in biosimilars going forward.
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Host8:42
Well, the company's small molecule business did well, but how did the US generic formulation business perform and what was the pricing pressure in the quarter, if any at all?
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Kiran Mazumdar-shaw8:56
I must say that our small molecules business has also performed well. Many dynamics have played out here. As you know, there has been a shakeout in the market because of the China factor, and we find ourselves to be fairly strong when it comes to our statins and immunosuppressants API business. Having said that, we've also made a foray into the ANDA generic space, and our rosuvastatin and simvastatin businesses have also garnered a pretty decent market share of between 15 to 20% in their respective segments. So I think we are as per plan. In fact, we perhaps are ahead of plan because we were a bit conservative when it came to our small molecules business. But we've also, I must admit, benefited from the depreciating rupee, which has also contributed to the top-line.
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Host9:57
Okay, you've also recorded an exceptional income of 171 crores, which is on account of valuing your stake in the US company Equillium. If you could tell us about the plans Biocon has with this particular company, and even on the tie-up with it.
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Kiran Mazumdar-shaw10:17
Itolizumab is a very unique antibody that we had developed in India. In India, it is approved for psoriasis treatment under the brand name Alzuma. However, we did realize that India was not the right place to develop this asset because there was poor recognition of such a valuable asset. Therefore, we decided to license it to a US biotech company, Equillium, to basically develop this asset for certain indications for which we entered into a licensing agreement. This actually also saw us getting a stake in Equillium, evaluated at a fair market valuation, and this is what we have recognized as an exceptional income. I must correct some of the media reports that seem to indicate that this exceptional income was a stake sale or a divestment, which it is not. It is actually a recognition of a fair value investment in Equillium. This particular asset is a very valuable asset. It entitles us to certain manufacturing and supply rights and of course royalties and milestone payments when it successfully gets into a commercialization mode. So we are very excited with this licensing partnership that we have with Equillium. Equillium also raised $65 million with which they want to address the clinical development funding needs, and we look forward to successful outcomes in the clinical programs that they are entering into. So all in all, a very exciting time for itolizumab, and this is the way Biocon will benefit from any successes that this molecule has in the US market.
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Host12:33
Well, I'm sure there was some criticism that the stake value should have been declared before. What was the purpose of recognizing this value of the stake in the quarter? Your comments on that.
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Kiran Mazumdar-shaw12:46
This is unfounded. I think this particular fair value recognition had to be done only because of a change of our shareholding and our board representation. This is a non-cash recognition, so it has to be reported, which is what has happened. Because Equillium, in preparation for its IPO, there was a change in the board representation, and therefore this had to be reflected. The value of the asset was only known as they were preparing for the IPO, because the asset value was very different prior to that. Therefore, this is what we are recognizing at this stage.
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Host13:37
Okay, thank you very much, Miss Shaw, for joining in. So that's Biocon. By the way, keep your eye on Equitas and Ujjivan. While there may have been a recovery in the market, Equitas and Ujjivan continue to see a sell-off. Equitas is down in excess of 30%, while Ujjivan has extended its loss to more than about 20%. Remember, between the two, it's Equitas which needs to list. It's a small finance bank. Before Ujjivan, Equitas needs to list by September 2019, while Ujjivan has at least got four more months compared to Equitas. So Ujjivan needs to meet the bank by 31st of January. So right now it's Equitas which is taking a big hit. We'll slip into a short break. When we return, we'll get you more in the market. Stay tuned.