Real resource of Afganistan

The news that one to two trillion-dollar worth of minerals lie buried under the dusty and dreary soil of Afghanistan has made waves across the world. Eager resource extractors are eyeing Afghanistan with renewed interest. Iron, copper, cobalt, gold and lithium are among the many minerals that are said to lie embedded in Afghan soil. Geologists have known this for a long time and China has already put in place plans to dig up and carry away billions of dollars worth of copper.


Interestingly, so far it is the United States and western powers that have spent money providing security in Afghanistan, while it is the Chinese who have got their hands on Afghan copper. Perhaps that is the payoff to China for its implicit support to US occupation of Afghanistan. One must not put the cart before the horse. Afghanistan’s untapped wealth can only be put to good use, in the interests of the Afghan people, when peace and security return to this unfortunate land. Afghans have been denied peace and security not only by enemies within the country but enemies outside, especially Pakistan.
The world needs to invest in the well-being and educational and economic empowerment of Afgans so that they can tap into their own wealth. India is contributing in this regard and India’s investment in education, health, roads and railways in Afghanistan will help it tap its own human resources.
Unless the Afghan people are empowered, the discovery of natural resources can only be a curse, not a blessing.

BS

Abbot to acquire piramal healthcare

Abbott India has acquired the healthcare solutions business of Piramal Healthcare to become number one pharmaceutical company in India. The assets to be transferred include the company's manufacturing facilities at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh and rights to around 350 brands.

The deal, which is likely to be completed by September 2010, will entail an upfront payment of $2.12 billion to Piramal. An additional $400 million will be paid annually for next four years.

Going ahead, Piramal will now be left with its CRAMS, critical care business and some OTC businesses.

Two indian comapnies in the list of top 10 US generic player

In a first, two Indian drug firms, Lupin Ltd and Dr Reddy’s Ltd, have made it to the list of top 10 generic companies in the fiercely competitive US market, placed eighth and tenth, respectively, in 2009.

These companies have improved their standing in the $34-billion US generic market. Lupin and DRL have also emerged as the fastest growing among the top 10 generic players in the US market, with Lupin growing at 50% and DRL at 40% just when three big players in the top-10 club have shown negative growth. The US generic drugs market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 8.8% during 2010-2013.

Lupin and DRL’s growth figures also outshine the average growth recorded by the top 10 generic firms at 6.5% in 2009 and the average growth of global pharma industry at just over 5.5%. While Lupin has climbed two notches up to the eighth position by improving its market share from 2.5% in 2008 to over 3.5% in 2009, DRL has broken into the hallowed league year by bettering its market share to 2.7% from 2.1%, according to the National Prescription Audit conducted by IMS in the US.

FE