Indian pharmaceutical and biotech companies are investing a lot in to research and this is expected to push the demand for the analytical and life sciences instruments.

We expect a lot of funds to be released by the government to academic and research institutions. There is an increased interest in creating several incubators for startups in biotechnology. The analytical and life sciences instrument industry is going through lot of consolidation due to mergers and acquisitions. This will impact the choice for the customers.

The year 2014 has been a very tough year as the public institutes did not purchase enough due to non-availability of funds. The demand in the industry was good. Also due to elections, for centre as well as for various states, the overall market demand was lower.

We hope the situation will change in 2015 as several new projects are being approved. Eppendorf has recently entered the cell culture consumables market, and we expect to launch several new products in this area.
We will also be working on the health care industry as hospitals and diagnostic labs are investing on quality products. We have also received NABL accreditation for calibration of speed, time and temperature. This will enable us to support our customers in regulated markets with calibration and validation traceable to international standards.

The lifesciences sector is expected to grow. Pharmaceutical and biotech companies will continue to invest in R&D as demand for their products are picking up. It is very early to comment on the impact of the new government on the industry. It is just 6 months since we have had the new government. With the government's focus on 'Make in India' and exports, we expect the demand to increase.