BOROLINE

Background
GD Pharmaceuticals is the happy outcome of the heady nationalistic wave that had engulfed all Indians during
the pre-independence era. Its founder, Gourmohon Dutta, belonged to the rich merchant class of Calcutta.

A practical patriot, he was convinced that the best way to help India was to contribute to her economic self-
sufficiency. To actively do this, he decided to manufacture product of a quality equivalent to their foreign
counterparts.

It was a daunting task. Many dissuaded him against this venture. But Gourmohon Dutta followed his heart. With
a glorious dream of free and self-sufficient India in his heart, he started manufacturing medicines. One of them
would be the legendary green tube-Boroline. It had a humble beginning in his house in 1929. The celebrated
journey had begun.

Operations

Production
 GD has two production units. One in Chakbagi, West Bengal, 16 kms from Kolkata. It has existing floor area of
48000 sq. ft on a 20 acre plot.

The other unit is in Mohun Nagar Industrial area, Gaziabad, 5 kms from Delhi, measuring about 8000 sq. ft.

Both factories comply with GMP norms. They have required licence from Drug Control Authorities, Factories
Control, Labour Department, Pollution Control Board and all other relevant Government bodies.

The production unit use fully automated machinery with minimum involvement of manpower to ensure
reproducible quality. Every process in monitored by strict SOPs. Each step is documented and monitored by
pre-assigned trained personal. Systems are in place to track each batch of starting material to the ultimate
distribution point.

Logistic, Distribution and Marketing

GD has established logistics, distribution and marketing infrastructure with associates who have been working
together for more than 30 years. It has existing offices and ware housing facilities in 16 regional headquarters
across India. A list of tested and reliable transporters carry on supplies which are meticulously insured.

The Company specialized in Over The Counter (OTC) Pharmaceutical products and Healthcare Cosmetics,
catering the vast Indian market through over 650 distribution channels situated throughout the country.

The vast and scattered infrastructural elements are supported and monitored by a team of 90 trained,
experienced and dedicated professionals. The Compant actively promotes using technology whenever it adds
to increase in efficiency and productivity. The corporate office has a floor space of 14500 sq. ft, having its own
conference and training apart from well spaced work areas.

Social Responsibility
 The company ensures that packing materials used for its products is recyclable. In the factory, near Kolkata,
special plantation projects contribute as a part of �Save Trees� campaign.

A large water reservoir of 6000 sq. m. is maintained to provide balanced eco system, bio-degrading all pre-
treated effluents.

From across India, numerous economically under-privileged, terminally ill patients and children requiring heart
surgery have applied and received finalcial assistance for treatment from the company.

Goodwill - Our Greatest Asset

Through every thought and action the company tries its best to enhance goodwill amongst its customers,
business associates, the governing authorities, various groups and trade associations and every individual who
the company comes in contact with.

2003-05 2003-07 2009-

10 2011-12 2014-15

Boroline, the flagship brand, has been selected as an Indian Superbrand continuously since 2003

We are proud that our name evokes trust.

Kolkata: The familiar green tube is yielding ground to a tiny tub, and an antiseptic skin lotion
is racing ahead to catch up with the sales of the flagship cream, but at Kolkata’s GD
Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd—the maker of Boroline cream—there is one constant: the
management’s commitment to build on the goodwill of the 87-year-old brand.

Launched in 1929 as an alternative to imported creams, Boroline is recognized as one of India’s

strongest consumer brands, but GD Pharma has leveraged it selectively to sell only two product
lines nationally. The reclusive Dutta family, which owns the firm, has always been known to be
conservative.

Yearly revenue of Rs150 crore is underwhelming for a brand of Boroline’s equity, according to
Roopen Roy, founder and chief executive officer of Sumantrana Llp—a consulting firm.
Debashis Dutta, managing director of Boroline-maker GD Pharma, and grandson of the
company’s founder Gour Mohan Dutta. Photo: Indranil Bhoumik/Mint

“It’s punching below its weight,” says Roy, a former managing director of Deloitte Consulting
India Pvt. Ltd.

Indeed, Boroline is a well-remembered if not popular brand, one whose

jingle, Khushbudar(scented) antiseptic cream Boroline, was (and is) an earworm of some note
among Indians of a certain generation.

But small is beautiful for GD Pharma, which is more focused on efficiency and product quality
than headline numbers, says Debashis Dutta in a rare interview as the company’s managing
director.

ALSO READ | Our thrust will be on expanding Boroline, Suthol’s retail

penetration: Debashis Dutta

That’s been the way for Bengali businesses for the past couple of centuries, says Mani Sankar
Mukherji, author and historian.

Dutta, 44, is the grandson of founder Gour Mohan Dutta, a nationalist who cut his teeth as an
importer of foreign goods. To celebrate India’s Independence from British rule, the company
gave away 100,000 tubes of Boroline free on 15 August 1947.
Small is beautiful for Boroline-maker GD Pharma, which
is more focused on efficiency and product quality than
headline numbers
A simple formulation containing boric powder, zinc oxide, essential oils and paraffin, Boroline
has not changed over time. Its formula is hardly a secret, says Dutta. Still, several attempts to
copy it have failed, although counterfeiters remain an irritant. Bengalis have traditionally been
passionate about their businesses and “obsessed with quality”, says Mukherji, but also
“extremely conservative” when it comes to scaling up. There’s a historical reason for it,
according to Mukherji.

As a community, Bengalis lost a lot of wealth, trading in partnership with the British. After a
spate of bank failures starting in the first half of the 19th century, many were hauled to Kolkata’s
dreaded debtors’ prison, and the community turned to parking its surplus in only safe haven
assets, Mukherji says.

For many years, the company had only one product—the Boroline cream—and that was entirely
by choice. Products were always developed internally and there was only one way to grow,
organically, says Dutta. So, even with Rs110 crore in cash, this debt-free company is looking to
push sales only by expanding its distribution network and product innovations.

Click here for enlarge

After years of consolidation, GD Pharma started to diversify again in the late 1990s with the
launch of Eleen hair oil, a product designed to cater to the West Bengal market. But it was
Suthol, an antiseptic skin liquid launched in 2003, which raised the bar. With sales now growing
at 20% year-on-year, Suthol contributed about 30% of GD Pharma’s Rs150 crore revenue in
2015-16. The company earned Rs28 crore in net profit, up from Rs25 crore the previous year.

Boroline still accounts for about 60% of GD Pharma’s revenue, but Suthol is growing faster.
Both are produced at GDPharma’s 25-acre factory at Joka on the outskirts of Kolkata.

Because their sales are seasonal—the cream sells more during the winter, and Suthol, more
during the summer—the same unit can easily balance the production of the two different lines.
The relatively smaller Ghaziabad factory only produces the cream.

“GD Pharma brings to my mind what in Germany is known as Mittelstand,” says Roy of
Sumantrana. These are medium-sized companies, which are “invariably” family owned with
“one or two product lines”, but they are known for their customer-focus and quality of products.

Boroline still accounts for about 60% of GD Pharma’s

revenue, but Suthol is growing faster
Companies that fit into the Mittelstand category work with a long-term perspective—they don’t
chase growth quarter-on-quarter, says Roy. They have a lean structure for better cost
management; they focus on customer satisfaction; and they run their businesses keeping an eye
on social responsibility. Because of the way they ply their trade, some of these companies have
been in business for hundreds of years, says Roy. GD Pharma appears to be treading the same
path.