Sun Pharma hands out walking papers to 18 top Ranbaxy executives

India’s largest drugs manufacturer Sun Pharma has given out marching orders to 18 top executives of Ranbaxy Labs.

The Economic Times reported that this order comes a year after the Dilip Shanghvi-led firm acquired Ranbaxy in an all-stock deal and a few weeks after Q4 profits shrank 44% owing to costs incurred in assimilating the buyout and regulatory issues.

In its fourth-quarter results in May 2015, Sun Pharma reported weak businesses across segments as the consolidated revenue fell 11% quarter on quarter (QoQ) to Rs 6,200 crore. According to people close to the development, Indrajit Banerjee, president and CFO; Yugal Sikri, country head (India) Ranbaxy; Maninder Singh, vice-president marketing; Govind Jaju, global head, sourcing; Ratul Bahaduri, director-finance; are among those who have been asked to leave. These top executives have been given a severance package and the freedom to exercise their stock options before leaving.

The objective of the Sun-Ranbaxy merger was to create a larger and better organisation for all its stakeholders, said a Sun Pharma spokesperson. Owing to the sheer size of the two firms, Ranbaxy's merger with Sun was always supposed to be an intensely complex. The salesforce of the combined organisation is itself close to 30,000 in India and overseas.

Most senior management who have been asked to leave were brought in after Japanese giant Daiichi bought Ranbaxy from the Singh brothers in 2008. (Image: The Economic Times)