Turn around: After 6 decades of dismal balance-sheets, buoyed Bengal Chemicals eyes Miniratna status
Kolkata: Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd, (BCPL) is hopeful of bagging the status of a Miniratna company by 2021-22. The PSU's optimism comes from clocking the highest ever profit and income in its 120-year-old history after the end of the 2nd quarter this year.
"We have an income of Rs 60 crore after the end of the 2nd quarter (April to September) and our net profit is Rs 11 crore. The increase has been over 47 percent in comparison to last year's corresponding period. The net profit in the last fiscal was Rs 10 crore and in two quarters this year, we have surpassed that. We are poised to end at Rs 120 crore income and Rs 20 crore profit in the 2018-19 fiscal and that will be the highest ever," said P M Chandraiah, managing director of BCPL. He further said that with the current progress, the company is eyeing a Rs 30 crore profit in 2019-20.
Chandraiah is optimistic of completely wiping out the negative network of the company that presently stands at Rs 80 crore, into a positive one by the 2021-22 fiscal.
"I will immediately apply for Miniratna Category I status, as the company will be meeting all the parameters by 2021-22. There has hardly been an instance when a company facing loss for a period of 65 years, has made a turnaround and targeted Miniratna I status," he maintained.
According to Chandraiah, injectibles that were introduced in January 2018 for the first time, has been a major driver towards the turnaround of the oldest pharmaceutical company in the country.
"The 60 percent increase in pharmaceuticals has been because of the injectibles. Our home products have grown by 18 percent," a senior official of the company said.
"We have written to the Bengal government requesting it to place orders from our company. We will be grateful if they do so as this will further hasten the prospects of the company in bagging Miniratna I status," Chandraiah said.
It may be mentioned that in June this year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had written a letter to the Union Commerce & Industry Ministry regarding the Central Government's decision to sell off BCPL, a company with a long and illustrious history. Founded by legendary chemist Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy in 1901, BCPL had reported a net profit of Rs 4.5 crore in 2016-17, the first profit in six decades.
