Zota Healthcare: Looking at growth with nutraceuticals, Ayurveda, a new portal, IPO and more

With the nutraceuticals and Ayurveda sectors in India registering double figure growth year on year, any organising offering a combination of the two has huge opportunities of growth ahead. One such organisation tapping these two multi-crore sectors is Zota Healthcare.

Zota Healthcare has recently launched an online platform to sell a range of nutraceutical products along with a range of herbal cosmetics and Ayurvedic products directly to the consumers. It has also recently filed for IPO and filed DHRP with NSE Emerge with an offering of 46.80 lakh share. Wellness India spoke to Ketan Zota, Director, Zota Healthcare about the future course of the organisation. Here are excerpts from the interview:

What are your product offerings for the domestic and international markets?

We have a strong portfolio for the domestic and international markets. For the domestic market we manufacture all kind of dosage forms ranging from injectables to creams, lotions, gels and Oral Sprays that have fantastic absorption rate along with a strong portfolio of Tablets/ capsules to mouth dissolving tablets. In the domestic market, the company covers a major range of therapeutic classes providing distribution across India in urban as well as rural markets. We are placed in a way that all segments of the pharma industry can be catered to - Digital medium, generic segment, patented products market, nutraceuticals, allopathic medicines covering various therapeutic class.

We have also applied for approvals for more than 200 products in 14 countries and have successfully received approvals from 7 countries for more than 30 products.

How has the awareness about nutraceuticals products been in India?

The need and awareness among people about healthcare and nutraceuticals products has increased tremendously. Also the awareness about the herbal cosmetics and Ayurvedic products has increased. People have started using nutraceuticals to fulfil their daily requirements of vitamins and minerals, whose levels are affected due to lifestyle and prevailing work related stress. With the country focusing on digitisation, more and more people and a huge customer base is now shifting towards e-commerce space. The trend shows that there is huge scope for nutraceuticals and Ayurvedic products which are relatively less prone to side effects.

Tell us about Nutravedic.com and what inspired you to launch it?

We have recently launched a portal as well as mobile app Nutravedic.com to exclusively sell nutraceuticals, Ayurvedic as well as herbal cosmetic products. Nutravedic.com is an online portal that sells a range of nutraceutical products along with a range of herbal cosmetics and Ayurvedic products. With the portal and app we cater to all age groups of males and females. We provide the range of health kits, herbal cosmetics and various oral sprays.

With the country’s focus on digitisation more and more companies and consumers are shifting towards e-commerce space. Hence, less competition in the e-commerce space in this field prompted us to launch the portal and application.

How many patents have you registered for?

Zota Healthcare Ltd. has received patent for 6 formulations so far amongst 19 applied. And we have applied 7 formulations for PCT in 143 countries.

What are your future strategies?

On an average we develop 50-60 new brands every year and hence, there are several products which are in pipeline. Also the company is developing a whole new range of OTC (over-the-counter) segment which is under development phase and is under pipeline. Also we are planning to come up with a portal and a mobile app especially for generic medicines called davaindia.com, which is in beta phase right now. Recently we have done a strategic alliance with Astra IDL acquiring its marketing rights for entire India.

We are currently targeting African and CIS countries to enter while being strongly focused on marketing our products in Latin America, UK and European markets.

Tell us about your IPO.

We have a very strong hold on the market and have recently filed for IPO and filed DHRP with NSE Emerge with an offering of 46.80 lakh share making the total valuation of IPO around Rs 50-60 crore. The funds generated will be put to use for Short term and Long Term working capital. Thus, as of now we are in no need of Venture capitalists and have launched nutravedic.com which is funded by the parent company Zota HealthCare Ltd.

What are the major challenges that you are facing in the Indian market?

Quick changing regulations affect our business on short term prospects, fake and substandard medicines reduce the faith in entire pharmaceutical ecosystem. Also delays in approvals for new product development are some major challenges that we face in the ecosystem.