Rank 17

Putting reliability in labs

RFCL has got its act together to be a reliable and efficient laboratory solutions provider in the country in 2007-08.

RFCL, fully owned by ICICI Ventures, covers the expanse of life sciences industries through its strategic business units: Diagnova for diagnostics and biomedical sciences; Vetnex for veterinary healthcare and Rankem for scientific laboratory solutions. The fourth SBU, Neosynth is dedicated partner for research and development initiatives.

RFCL registered revenues of Rs 34.04 crore in 2007–08 compared it its Rs 22.60 crore in 06-07 from its laboratory solutions. In terms of segment, separation techniques fetched the maximum revenue worth Rs 20 crore in 2007-08, up from Rs 15 crore in 2006-07. Revenues from life sciences instrumentation almost doubled from Rs 2.5 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 4.89 crore in 2007-08.

The company has been on a massive acquisition spree since last year. In July 2007, the company acquired Wipro Biomed, a biomedical, health and life sciences company. The acquisition of Wipro Biomed enabled RFCL to enter into in-vivo diagnostics, fully-automated clinical chemistry and hematology and research solutions. Again in January 2008, it acquired Godrej Medical diagnostics and Alved foods and Pharma. Godrej Medical Diagnostics strengthens its position in infectious diseases portfolio with Malaria and TB point of care testing kits.

RFCL through its scientific laboratory solutions business unit-Rankem offers laboratory reagents, imported chemicals, filtration and chromatography products, certified reference standards, liquid handling and biopharmaceutical products to customers spread across wide range of industries like pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, electronics, chemicals, institutions, environmental and others.

The wide portfolio and range of international services are a result of strong alliances with world leaders like Acros Organics from Belgium, Sartorius and Witeg Labortechnik from Germany, Mallinckrodt Baker, Accustandard, Princeton Chromatography and Kartell from USA. Rankem has also established itself in the export market by offering its products and services to countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Oman, Malaysia, UAE, Tanzania, Egypt and Muscat.

RFCL offers a gamut of separations capabilities including the range of filter papers as well as separation columns. The product basket is further complemented by the Sartorius range, brought through its strategic tie-up with Sartorius India, a subsidiary of Sartorius Stedim Biotech. On the other hand, the company's collaboration with Princeton Chromatography in the area of SFC and HPLC columns has expanded the separation portfolio to include highly stable and economical chromatography columns. The alliance with Mallinckrodt Baker Inc has further enhanced its commitment to separations by strengthening the product portfolio with the Bakerbond range of performance-oriented products under the JT Baker brand.