The Indian Pharmaceuticals Industry Is Fast-Growing Because Innovative Treatments Are Powering Profits At Several Drug Companies. Moreover, While India Ranks 3rd Worldwide For Production By Volume And 14th By Value In The Global Pharmaceuticals Industry, The Biopharmaceutical Industry Is Still Etching To Reach The Top, At Present. Puunam G Kaushik, Is One Of The Proficient Biotechnology Leaders Contributing To The Growth Of Indian Biopharmaceuticals Industry Through Her Venture Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals, An Integrated, Research-Driven Biotech Company That Offers Custom Formulation & Product Customization Under A Single Roof. Having A Deep Understanding Of Developed Market Regulations & Procedures, Meteoric Provides Expanding Production Capabilities To F&B, Textiles, Pharma, And Agro-Based Industries. The Company Is A Hearty Initiative Of Hers And Her Co-Founder & Husband Gaurav Kaushik, Md & Ceo In The Healthcare Segment. Let’s Hear From Her About Her Journey In The Pharma & Life Science Industry.

Tell Us About Your Early Educational And Prior Industry Experience That You Bring To The Table. What Is It That Led You To Venture Into The Field Of Biopharmaceuticals Incepting Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals?

I Have Done My Graduation Into Accountancy & Statistics From Gujarat University. While I Was Instilled With Business Acumen Joining My Family Business At A Young Age Of 17-18, Getting Exposed To Financial And Commodity Derivatives, My Entrepreneurial Stint Began With The Founding Of Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals Through The Co-Joined Support Of My Husband & Co-Founder Gaurav. In 2006, When We Floated Meteoric, The Idea Was To Do Something Unique In Pharmaceuticals. Primarily We Started With Chemical And Pharma Intermediaries, And Then Diverted Towards Biopharmaceuticals. At First Our Business Was Related To Animal Healthcare And Now We Are Also Into Humans, Hence80 Percent Of Our Business Comes From Human Category And 20 Percent From The Veterinary.

Take Us Through Meteoric Pharmaceuticals’ Journey.

In 2006, When We Started With A Few Veterinary Products And Then Moved Towards Biopharmaceuticals, We Were First Dealing Into Enzymatic Preparations. And, As Enzyme Market Was Nascent To The Indian Market, We Had An Extremely Welcoming Experience From The Us And Europe. At A Very Early Stage, We Were Dead Firm On Three Major Aspects In Our Growth Journey, First That We Will Always Have Research As The Cornerstone Of Everything, And Subsequently We’ve A Very Strong Research Team As Well In Place. Second, We'll Always Work Towards Product Development, Providing For Cost-Effective Solutions Into This Category. Third, We Will Work With Regulated Markets (Us, Europe, South Korea, Including Japan), Which Really Worked For Us, Helping Build Our Systems And Business Patterns Robust, Emphasizing On Quality Management Systems.

Where We Started With Just Three Employees With A Small Production Area Of 500sq.Ft., Today We Have Grown To Over 75,000sq.Ft. Constituting 150 Employees. Today, We Export To 90+ Countries And Work With 50 Industry Segments, Holding Over 500-700 Customer Base, Globally With Offices In The Us & Vietnam, And Headquarters In India. This Growth Journey Has Been Possible Only With A Continuous, Research-Oriented Organizational Approach With Belief In Innovation Through Discovery. We Are Actually The First To Have Introduced First Vegetative Pancreatin Enzyme In India. As Of Now, We've Introduced And Commercialized 150+ Formulations Across The Globe, And It Is 270+ Now. We Are Also One Of The Largest Exporter Of Bromelain, A Plant-Based Enzyme To The Us & Europe. Today Owning Around 14 Probiotic Patents, We Have A Great Customer Base. In The Next Couple Of Years, We Aspire To Expanding Our Production Capacity To Over 200,000 Sq.Ft., While Also Adding On R&D Manpower, Including R&D Centers. Going Forward, Given Our Rich Finished Formulations Portfolio, We Will Also Be Giving More Impetus To Product Customization And Concept Formulation. With Over 60 Percent Of Women Employees Heading The Departments In Here, We’re Focused To Employing More Women In The Organization, And Multiply Our Revenues Atleast 10x Times In The Next Five Years. Socially, Meteoric Is Very Sensitive Towards Working With Children With Special Needs, And Thus Holds Partnership With Vishal Win Foundation, Including Others.

"The Biggest Trait Of Any Business Leader Is To Be Consistent And Possess ‘Never Give Up’ Attitude "

Tell Us About The Roles And Responsibilities That You Currently Shoulder At Meteoric? Tell Us About Few Challenges That You Had Faced And How Did You Overcome Them?

At Meteoric, We’ve Divided Our Work Streams Into The Way Where My Co-Founder Is Responsible For Business Development, While I Am Responsible For Marketing, Heading Public Relations, Hr, And Corporate Affairs Of The Organization. For Meteoric’s Affirmative Growth, I’ve Pushed My Boundaries, Learning New Things And Growing As A Leader. Be It A Female/Male Leader Or Entrepreneur, Everyone Faces A Capital Crunch In The Beginning Of Their Careers And So Did We. But We're Very Happy That Being Consistent And Reploughing Our Earnings Back Into The Business And Till Date, We Will Be 17-Year Soon. Well, The Other Major Challenges Have Always Consistently Been Faced With The Deployment Of Skilled Manpower, Specifically Being Gujarat-Based Rather Hubs Like Hyderabad And Bangalore. Now, We Try To Overcome Those By Employing People From Different States Or Setting-Up Small Sales Offices In Hubs & Spoke Offices. Second, Is Not Being Enlightened With The Complete Know-How Of The Government Schemes. Presently, As The Govt. Of India Has Been Proactive Into Offering Various Government Schemes Which Are Extremely Beneficial For Setting-Up Of Biotechnology Units In The Regions, There's A Huge Opportunity To Relish From. Last, Is The Supply Chain Infrastructure And Costs Associated With Biopharma Products, Which Particularly Post-Covid Have Been A Major Challenge, And We’re Still Overcoming Those.

Any Advice For The Young Women Aspiring To Become Business Leaders And Entrepreneurs In The Future?

The Biggest Trait Of Any Business Leader Is To Be Consistent And Possess ‘Never Give Up’ Attitude. Irrespective Of Gender, One Should Stand Neck-To-Neck With The Competition. Be A Constant Learner, Believe In Your Team And Aim For Goal Accomplishments With Collative Approach. Also, Being A Women Entrepreneur Land Into Business Fully Prepared And If At All The Business Seems To Fail, Have Plan B In Store To Lead On The Investors. Preventive Vs. Therapeutics Is Something That The World Is Looking Into. Especially, Biopharma Sector Is Set To Grow At A Cagr Of Over 7-Percent By 2027, Accounting For $530 Billion Economy. There Is A Huge Share Of Pie Available For Each Into This Segment, So Dive In And Grow.

Puunam G Kaushik, Co-Founder & Md, Meteoric Biopharmaceuticals

A Passionate And Self-Taught Entrepreneur, She Is Focused To Leading Biopharmaceuticals Industry In India Through Innovation.