Thanks to Remdesivir, Kwality Pharma’s stock is up from ₹59 to over ₹922 in just over nine months

• An investment of 10,000 in Kwality Pharmaceuticals’ stock at the start of the year would be worth ₹1.55 lakh today.
• The Remdesivir maker’s net profit jumped 81% in FY21 to ₹14.88 crore from ₹8.20 crore in FY20.
• The company has an ongoing research & development project of ₹31 crore in Punjab that will be completed by September 2022.

Stocks of drug makers have been on a tear but none more than the Punjab-based Kwality Pharmaceuticals. The stock has spiralled from ₹59 in January 2021 to ₹922 today, an addition of ₹863 rupees.

An investment of 10,000 in Kwality Pharma at the start of the year would be worth ₹1.55 lakh today. One of its lead products has been Remdesivir, whose demand shot through the roof, as many doctors prescribed the drug to provide relief to COVID-19 patients even when it was not a proven cure against the virus.

The exemplary returns in the stock can be attributed to strong profits booked by the company in the last couple of years. In FY21, the company’s net profit jumped 81% to ₹14.88 crore from ₹8.20 crore in FY20.

The company is a prominent manufacturer and supplier of pharmaceutical formulations such as liquid orals, powder for oral suspension, tablets, capsules, sterile powder for injections, small volume injectables, ointments, external preparations, ORS, and many other products.

“Kwality Pharmaceuticals as an exporting company has supplied Remdesivir Injection to the global market...The sale has gone up and it will keep on growing as many traders and the government have come to know about the medicine(s) of Kwality Pharmaceuticals.The company has also improved the infrastructure and plant & machinery which can meet the global demand,” the company said in its annual report.


Besides, the company has an ongoing research & development project of ₹31 crore in Punjab that will be completed by September 2022. Previously, there was an expansion project of ₹19 crore.

The company has improved its infrastructure in order to meet global demand for some of its popular products on time, especially those that emerged during covid.

Here is how the company’s peers performed in 2021 as compared to Kwality Pharma:

Stocks	% returns in 2021
Sun Pharmaceuticals	39%
Divi’s Laboratories	35%
Dr Reddy’s Labs	-3%
Cipla	16%

More than 30 years passed before the big boom

The current managing director of the company, Ramesh Arora, broke away from his family ventures in spinning and aromatics to seek a drug licence that he got in 1981. Kwality Pharma was set up in May 1983.

According to the website, the company has two manufacturing plants, one in Amritsar (Punjab) and the other in Jassur (Himachal Pradesh), and has its products registered in different countries of Europe, Africa, Asia, Central American, and South American Countries & CIS Countries.

It’s a largely family controlled organisation with Ramesh’s wife, brother and his wife, as well as his nephew (who is also the Chief Financial Officer), occupying seats on the board of directors.

The company had 496 employees at the end of March 2021, according to the annual report.

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