&w=3840&q=100)
Decision on merger with Biocon Biologics soon, says Siddharth Mittal
We are talking about the GLP-1 opportunity and our strong franchise in insulins. There is a huge demand in the global diabetes-obesity segment, said Siddharth Mittal
Sohini Das Mumbai
Listen to This Article
Biocon successfully raised ₹4,500 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) last week that saw strong interest from both Indian and global investors. It is also considering a merger of Biocon Biologics with Biocon to tap into business and scientific synergies rather than listing Biocon Biologics. In a virtual interaction with Sohini Das, Siddharth Mittal, chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD) of Biocon outlined his plans. Edited excerpts:
Your QIP was successful. What do you plan to do with the proceeds?
There was very strong investor demand. The Board had approved raising up to ₹4,500 crore in one,
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
31 minutes ago
- Time of India
Agentic AI: From global hype to enterprise readiness
In a world of accelerating digital decisions, enterprises are beginning to ask not just what AI can do, but what it should initiate on its own. That's where agentic AI enters the conversation. Unlike traditional AI systems that passively respond to prompts, agentic AI systems are designed to act with intention, initiating tasks, adapting to context, and collaborating across systems to fulfill defined goals. In theory, this unlocks immense potential. In practice, especially within enterprise settings, agentic AI introduces a new set of questions around trust, control, and accountability. The global narrative is evolving fast. Yet when viewed through the lens of Indian enterprises, where priorities remain grounded in regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and explainability, a different picture emerges. Autonomy with purpose The term 'agentic' borrows from cognitive science, referring to systems that can make decisions, pursue goals, and modify their behavior based on outcomes. Applied to AI, this translates into intelligent agents that move beyond generating insights to acting on them, navigating workflows, triggering processes, or interacting with other systems autonomously. Crucially, these agents are not designed to replace humans but to work alongside them, handling high-volume, routine decisions while allowing humans to intervene in moments of nuance or consequence. This distinction is key to enterprise adoption. Across global markets, agentic AI is in an experimental phase. Tech leaders are piloting agents that support tasks like research synthesis, fraud triage, customer issue resolution, and even limited supply chain rebalancing. The potential to reduce decision latency and extend human capacity is clear. Deepak Ramanathan, Vice President, Global Technology Practice, SAS. But early adopters are also uncovering hard boundaries. How do you calibrate autonomy when outcomes have regulatory impact? Can you explain decision paths in systems that learn and evolve? Who remains accountable when agents operate beyond visibility? These are not just technical questions but structural ones. And they define how organizations will progress from prototypes to production. In India, AI interest is surging but agentic AI remains a nascent concept. Organisations are still solidifying their data foundations, automating core processes, and building AI maturity across departments. The emphasis, rightly, is on value, clarity, and control. That's not to say agentic AI doesn't have a role. On the contrary, India's operational scale and appetite for leapfrogging legacy systems could make it fertile ground for agentic models, if they're designed with local realities in mind: Systems must work across fragmented data environments. AI agents must be transparent in how they operate. Human oversight cannot be an afterthought—it must be embedded. In essence, Indian enterprises don't just need smart agents—they need accountable collaborators to help address these key factors that hinge on the successful implementation of agentic AI. The opportunity shift from assistants to agents W here agentic AI stands out is in its ability to orchestrate complexity across enterprise environments. Imagine intelligent agents that can analyze real-time fraud signals, detect anomalies, and trigger rule-based interventions without manual oversight. These agents can also monitor customer journeys, recognize patterns of drop-off, and autonomously adjust outreach strategies to improve engagement. In compliance functions, they can assist teams by compiling audit trails or escalating potential policy breaches based on predefined thresholds. These are not futuristic concepts but natural evolutions of current workflows. What's changing is the proactive role AI can now play. The real opportunity lies not just in automation, but in enabling calibrated and context-aware autonomy. For that, enterprises will need platforms that are not only technically capable but built with governance, transparency, and ethical alignment at their core. The true value of agentic AI will come not from unchecked independence, but from intelligent systems designed to collaborate with humans—augmenting judgment, not replacing it. To achieve this, AI agents must be built with bounded autonomy, guided by three foundational principles. First is decisioning– the use of hybrid intelligence that combines deterministic analytics with reasoning models to ensure decisions are both accurate and auditable. Second is achieving the right human-AI balance, where agents are empowered to act independently only when tasks are well-defined and risk thresholds are acceptable, deferring to human intervention when context or complexity demands it. And third is governance, ensuring every action taken by an agent is aligned with data privacy policies, ethical standards, and industry-specific compliance frameworks. The goal is not to build systems that replace people, but ones where autonomy operates in service of responsibility and trust becomes a design feature, not an afterthought. Autonomy with accountability is the future Agentic AI represents a bold frontier—but not one built on hype alone. Its success hinges on trust, governance, and the ability to embed AI into real-world decisions that matter. For Indian enterprises navigating transformation at scale, the message is clear: Don't chase autonomy for its own sake. Design it to reflect your values, amplify your decisions, and accelerate your goals. The next era of AI isn't just generative. It's agentic. And it's here to work with you.
Time of India
31 minutes ago
- Time of India
Big money is making a beeline for Indian hospitals
Indian hospitals are the new goldmine for deep pockets. Besides a rush of investment, a high-intensity consolidation is ongoing in India's hospital space. As per an ET report based on information from sources, IPO-bound Manipal Health Enterprises is leading the race to acquire Sahyadri Hospitals with a Rs 6,838 crore ($800 million) bid. Global investment firm Blackstone is a close second, sources said. IHH Healthcare-backed Fortis Healthcare and EQT Partners also submitted bids on June 23, which was the last day to submit binding financial bids. Also Read: Manipal Health Enterprises leads race to buy Sahyadri Hospitals The Pune-headquartered hospital chain, which operates 11 facilities across Pune, Nashik, Ahilya Nagar and Karad, comprising 1,300 beds, 2,500 clinicians and 3,500 support staff, is owned by Canada's pension fund Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), which had acquired Sahyadri from Everstone Capital in August 2022 at a valuation of around Rs 2,500 crore, outbidding Max Healthcare. Everstone had bought the hospital chain three years earlier in 2019 from its founder, neurosurgeon Charudutt Apte, for about Rs 1,000 crore. The big money chasing Sahyadri for past several years is emblematic of the attraction Indian hospitals, especially smaller chains, have come to hold in recent times. Small-town hospitals are pulling big money Bulge-bracket private equity funds are increasingly investing in single-specialty Indian hospital chains that present a robust growth potential in emerging consuming centers, significantly widening the addressable market beyond their traditional metropolitan bailiwicks, ET had reported in April. Live Events Non-metro locations, such as Lucknow , Vizag, Jaipur, Cochin, Siliguri, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar and Patna, private equity investors believe, hold great growth potential in healthcare, in lockstep with an increasing affordability quotient in tier- 2 or 3 towns, and a greater availability of qualified doctors and specialists. PE funds are looking for players that will give higher returns - and blockbuster exits when the investments run their course. 'A trifecta of factors is helping accelerate investor interest in the single specialty healthcare chains including significant growth opportunity in tier 2/3 cities, clearly visible unit economics and viability with best in class ROIs,' Vishal Bali, executive chairman, Asia Healthcare Holdings (AHH), a leading healthcare investment platform, with focus on single specialities like oncology, women and child care, fertility, urology and nephrology, had told ET. 'AHH has been the inflection point for Single speciality healthcare with all our companies in single speciality healthcare delivering consistent growth in revenues, ebitda and geographical reach along with ROIs' he said. Parking PE monies in treatment areas such as IVF, nephrology, eye-care, oncology, mother & childcare among others, have become a credible prescription for future value creation, after nearly a decade-long hunt for multi-speciality assets across the country. According to an analysis done by Avendus, single-speciality hospitals account for over 40% of all PE investments in healthcare since 2019. This was just a bit over 15% between 2015 and 2018. Between 2020 and early 2025, the segment recorded 24 PE/VC investments totalling $1.8 billion, with 19 of those deals worth $1.2 billion closing in the last two years alone, shows data put together by Grant Thornton. Billions of dollars pour into hospital sector Over the period of two years from 2022-24 Hospitals in India have become one of the preferred investment destination for Investors, attracting net investment of $4.96 billion from Private Equity and $3.2 billion through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). As per a report prepared by consultancy firm Grant Thornton Bharat in collaboration with the Association of Healthcare providers of India (AHPI), from 2022-24 hospitals in India undertook M&A deals worth $6.74 billion and attracted $4.96 billion from Private Equity (PE) investors. During the period, hospitals also raised $466 million through Initial Public Offering (IPO). The report which analysed 594 M&A and private equity transactions that took place during the period states that, 'Hospitals require diverse funding solutions to sustain growth, ranging from equity financing, debt financing, and foreign direct investment (FDI) to public-private partnerships (PPPs).' As per the investment analysis, the top three investment via PE route includes: Temasek Holdings $2 billion investment in Manipal Health (2023); $656 million by BPEA EQT in Indira IVF (2023); and lastly Blackstone Group $591.1 million investment in Quality Care (2023). A recent big deal was by a New York-based global private-equity and investment company, KKR, which in February bought a controlling stake in leading cancer care hospital chain Healthcare Global (HCG) from private equity peer CVC Capital Partners for nearly $400 million. By acquiring Baby Memorial Hospital last year, KKR made a comeback to the sector after one of its biggest paydays in India exiting Max Healthcare two years ago. Deal-making in India's healthcare sector has surged in recent years, with hospitals now commanding the largest share of foreign direct investment (FDI) within the sector, TOI had reported in December. In FY24, hospitals accounted for 50% of the FDI in total healthcare, translating to $1.5 billion. This marks a significant increase, as the share of hospitals in healthcare FDI has more than doubled from 24% in FY21, and has been rising from 43% in FY20, underscoring their growing prominence. The trend also reflects a strengthening investor preference for hospitals, alongside the traditionally favoured pharmaceuticals sector. The strong private equity interest in India's healthcare services companies is a highly credible indicator of the multi-decade growth potential inherent in the sector, as per a top executive at European investment bank Rothschild & Co. "We expect to see expansion of interest as international players evaluate the market and get more comfortable with the domestic landscape," Hedley Goldberg, partner and global head of healthcare services at Rothschild & Co, told ET in an interview in January. Besides a number of private equity deals, the hospital sector is also attracting big Indian businesses. While several corporates such as Tata , Birla and Hinduja have a presence in healthcare, none has made a significant pan-India presence. But the Bajaj Group is preparing to enter the healthcare sector by setting up a chain of hospitals in metros across the country., ET had reported last year. As per Bloomberg, it has earmarked Rs 10,000 crore as an initial investment. In recent years, healthcare companies and hospitals in India have been increasingly focussing on acquiring buildings and properties to expand their operations and strengthen their market presence. This trend is driven by the rising demand for quality healthcare services in urban and semi-urban areas, fuelled by a growing population, increasing health awareness and better insurance coverage. Hunt for stressed assets In December last year, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries acquired technology-driven and oncology-focused healthcare platform Karkinos for Rs 375 crore. Reliance bought it under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The healthcare sector, particularly hospitals, witnessed major expansion during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, after the situation eased, it became difficult for many standalone hospitals to sustain their businesses. Such hospitals have been seeing interest from two sets of bidders — those already in the industry and seeking to expand and those who want to turn around such entities before they sell to someone else. Promoter-driven strategic investment firms and hospital operators are scouting for stressed healthcare assets that they can acquire through the insolvency and bankruptcy process, as private equity firms often edge them out in the race for good assets by offering lofty valuations. Why India's hospital sector has turned so hot Historically, the pharmaceuticals sector, including APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients), has been the investor favourite, attracting multi-billion-dollar deals. However, post-Covid, the hospital and diagnostics sector has come into the spotlight, drawing a wave of investors. The Indian hospital sector market cap surged 9x from Rs 37,500 crore in FY20 to Rs 3.5 lakh crore, brokerage firm JM Financial said last year in July. At a time when the sector was grappling with inefficiencies, high leverage and low ROCEs, Covid provided a much-needed impetus. This came from improved pricing, higher insurance coverage and dedicated shift towards complex surgeries such as transplants. India's top listed hospital chains performed well in the stock market leading up to this year. Apollo Hospitals' shares climbed 28% in 2024, while Max Healthcare Institute Ltd. soared 64%. The Indian hospital industry is poised to post a healthy compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 12% over the next three fiscal years, credit rating agency CareEdge Ratings said last year. Growing incidence of lifestyle diseases and easing demand for affordable health care delivery are driving the healthcare market in India. A report released last year by HSBC Global Research on India hospitals said seven listed hospitals will add 14,000 beds in the next 3-5 years. A total of 22,000 new beds is expected, including those by other private hospital chains. Even with these additions, there will be no over-supply of beds in India. The report said that the addition of beds is triple the number of beds added between FY19-24 at 4,000. Most hospitals are now in a consolidation phase and planning to expand and add sees growth opportunities after making profits between FY19-24 because of low capex. A World Health Organisation (WHO) report said last year that India has only 16 beds per 10,000 people, which is abysmally low if compared with most of the developed and emerging markets. India requires 100,000 additional beds in the next 5-7 years just to meet its healthcare demand on the back of increasing non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiac disorders, and cancer., as per the HSBC report. The government's push to turn India into a global healthcare hub by promoting medical tourism is another strong growth driver for the hospital sector.
Time of India
32 minutes ago
- Time of India
Are you a tea-aholic? New study says two cups a day may protect your heart, but there is a catch
If you're among the millions of Indians who begin and end their day with a cup of tea, there might be more than comfort brewing in your teacup. According to a report from the Daily Mail, A new study suggests that drinking up to two cups of unsweetened tea daily could significantly reduce the risk of heart failure and stroke. However, the benefits disappear the moment you add sugar or sweeteners—a caveat that may disappoint many desi chai lovers who prefer their tea sweet, milky, and spiced. Sweet Sip, Bitter Risk? The research, published in the International Journal of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Risk and Prevention, draws from a study conducted by Nantong University in China, which analyzed data from 177,810 UK adults with an average age of 55. While the study is based on British tea habits, the findings carry important implications for India, where tea culture is deeply embedded across all regions and age groups. Over a period of nearly 13 years, researchers tracked the health outcomes of these participants, among whom 147,903 were tea drinkers. Crucially, 68.2% of them consumed their tea without any sugar or artificial sweeteners. The results were striking. Those who drank up to two cups of unsweetened tea per day showed a 21% lower risk of heart failure, a 14% reduced risk of stroke, and a 7% lower chance of developing coronary heart disease. But here's the catch: none of these cardiovascular benefits were observed in individuals who added sugar or sweeteners to their tea. iStock Those who drank up to two cups of unsweetened tea per day showed a 21% lower risk of heart failure. (Image: iStock) The Science Behind the Sip What makes unsweetened tea so heart-friendly? The answer lies in the tea's polyphenols—naturally occurring compounds that have powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. These compounds help protect the heart and blood vessels by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation, two major culprits behind cardiovascular diseases. You Might Also Like: IITian-nutrionist warns: Your morning bed tea habit could be making you fat and insulin resistant Adding sugar or artificial sweeteners disrupts this balance. Both are known to promote insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction, conditions that raise the risk of heart disease. In essence, sugar doesn't just add calories—it may also cancel out tea's natural health benefits. Time for a Desi Detox? In India, tea is not just a beverage—it's a ritual. But our preferred version of chai often involves generous amounts of sugar, milk, and sometimes even condensed milk or cream. While this makes for a delicious pick-me-up, it may not be the healthiest habit, especially for those concerned about heart health. Given the study's findings, now might be a good time for Indian tea aficionados to rethink their brew. Swapping sugary chai for lighter, unsweetened variants like green tea, black tea, or herbal infusions could be a small change with big cardiovascular payoffs. The research reinforces a growing body of evidence that everyday dietary choices can have long-term health consequences. While tea itself continues to hold its place as a beneficial beverage, how we consume it matters immensely. You Might Also Like: Harvard professor stunned by hi-tech chai at Maha Kumbh Mela: 1 crore cups from just 10 tea stalls So, the next time you're reaching for that second cup of chai, consider going easy on the sugar—or skipping it altogether. Your heart just might thank you for it.
