The telephone rings. The caller from Bombay wants to know whether his requirement of critical raw material has been dispatched. He is assured that the supply was on its way. Seconds later, there is another long distance call, posing the same query. He too is assured about the supply.

The man receiving this flurry of telephone calls is Mr Rasik Patadia, an upcoming star in the Indian drug industry. The sought after material is Diclofenac Sodium an anti-inflammatory bulk drug which Mr Patadia's unit, Sharda Drugs Ltd manufactures.

The unit located at Rajpur village in Mehsana district. The drug is an essential ingredient for pain killer formulations. It is also claimed to be effective in true treatment of rheumatism.

The Indian drug industry consumes about four tones of the bulk drug in a month. And Mr Patadia's unit produces and supplies 1.2 tones a month, which roughly meets 30 percent of the demand. A multinational drug firm makes the same material in India but it is mainly for captive consumption. A substantial requirement of Diclofenac Sodium is met by imports,

Mr Pataida, therefore had struck a veritable goldmine by promoting a venture for making the vital import substitute drug. His list of clients is impressive: Cipla, Franco India, Standard Organics, Blue Cross Laboratories, Win Medicare and Karnataka Antibiotic and Pharmaceuticals. The list is growing.

A double graduate in engineering (mechanical and electrical) from Gujarat University, Mr Patadia began his career as a engineer in some large composite textile mills in 1967 and supervised erection and maintenance of plant equipment. He shifted to Gujarat Agro Industries, Corporation where as manager engineering for eight years he had handled project engineering for more than dozen projects including pesticides plants, oil extraction unites, cold storages and refrigeration plants which gave him an insight into chemical industry. Later, in 1979, he had a stint with Ranbaxy Laboratories and a maintenance engineer.

With my knowledge of engineering fields and experience that I had acquired during my service tenure, I decided that I should do something on my own" Mr Patadia said recalling his decision in 1982 to be a project consultant. By this time his brother, a post graduate in Chemistry, joined him. Together they chose to offer project consultancy to prospective entrepreneurs from concept to commissioning. Sharda Drugs Consultants, a partnership firm was thus born.

The consultancy project was a big success. To-date the consultancy firm had executed 15 projects including a turnkey project in Bangladesh, five were under execution and seven were under various stages of planning.

While working on the Bangladesh project, Mr Patadia came into contact with one Dr. Zafrulla Chaudhuri, a world renowned expert on medicine. The contact enabled his to gather enough information about the potentialities of Diclofena Sodium.

As the idea to manufacture the chemical took shape the spirit of Gujarati enterprise asserted itself and Mr Patadia decided to become an entrepreneur. He and his brother then meticulously went through all the available data regarding the manufacturing techniques of the anti inflammatory drug and succeeded in indigenising the process technology.

Shards Drugs Ltd was launched in 1989 to manufacture Diclofenac Sodium.

The entrepreneurship phase was not smooth sailing. "I admit we faced a lot of teething problems. But my experiences as an engineer initially and as a consultant later helped me overcome the problems and ensure that we delivered a quality product. Sharda Drug went into production in just eight months flat from the day it was planned. Ordinarily it would have taken nearly 18 months to two years to put up a project of this kind." Mr Patadia said.

Mr Patadia said that his decision to promote a unit for producing a drug that has not been attempted by anyone else in the country was justified. To be a successful drug manufacturing unit and stay on course, one need to follow what he called the "three-F-rule' - Be first, Be fast and Be frequent - in order to avoid a fourth "F" - failure.

Mr Patadia said, "One should go in a for a new product instead of pursuing a me-too approach. Apart from the headstart you get in the production of the item, it ensures profitability. All indications point to the fact that the anti-inflammatory drug that I am making will be current for another decade and this has underwritten a steady and growing market for my product"

Having established oneself, one should move up fast. In line with this strategy, he has already planned setting up of units for manufacturing essential inputs for making the bulk drug. This would ensure backward integration.

Mr Patadia has now decided to undertake production of formulation in the same unit apart from making small volume parentals by way of expansion which would enhance the total profitability of the company.

In the process of expansion, Mr Patadia said that the emphasis would be on constant up gradation of process and production technologies and this was what he meant by "Be frequent".

As a consultant he had investigated the causes behind the sickness of large number of units in Gujarat. He diagnosed two principal reasons behind the sickness. 1. Technologic al obsolescence 2. Lac of finance. While the former accounted for 790 percent of sickness, resources constraint accounted for the balance. So as a physician who should be able to heal himself, Mr Patadia said: "We have taken effective steps to ensure that our units, both the existing ones and the future ventures will not suffer for want of either adequate technological back-up or lack of funds."

Mr Patadia estimates that Sharda Drugs - including the proposed formulations division - would yield a turnover of Rs 15 crores by March 1993 and Rs 20 crores by March 1994 compared to the anticipated Rs three crores during the current year.

The success so far has propelled Mr Patadia to finalize plans to promote a new venture in the large sector - Sharda Drugs would remain a small-scale unit because of inherent benefits that would accuse to it by being pin the small sector - Large Volume Parentals. A new unit - Sharda Infusions Ltd - would be promoted to implement the proposed project envisaging an investment of Rs 9 crores. The project would have a foreign technological tie-up which is vital for manufacturing Large Volume Parentals in which cross Rs 50 crores in 1995 by which time the new project would have gone on stream.