Lupin expects single digit sales growth this fiscal

New Delhi: Drug maker Lupin expects single-digit sales growth this fiscal with sluggish US business likely to impact the overall global business of the company.

The Mumbai-based company, however, is anticipating double-digit growth in Latin America, South Africa, and India.

"We expect to grow at a single-digit growth rate for the current year and then expect to get back on a stronger growth path next year on," Lupin Managing Director Nilesh Gupta told PTI.

While the company has pressures in the US, it expects to see good growth in most emerging markets, he added.

"Latin America will grow around mid-to-late 20s in percentage terms, South Africa around 20 percent and India around 15 percent," Gupta said.

The drug maker reported negative growth in 2017-18 for the first time in a decade, with net sales dropping to Rs 15,560 crore, a decline of 9 percent from 2016-17.

During the last fiscal, company's North America sales declined by 28.7 percent to Rs 5,893.9 crore, accounting for 38 percent of its total global sales.

On the other hand, India sales increased by 10.7 percent to Rs 4,125.3 crore. Similarly, Latin America business grew by 28.1 percent, Europe, Middle-East and Africa (EMEA) by 11.2 percent, the Asia Pacific by 13.5 percent.

The drug maker had also reported a growth of 1.6 percent in its active pharmaceuticals business (API) business in last fiscal.