Good evening, everyone. This is Zico Pereira, your moderator from Chorus Call. Welcome to the GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd Q4 FY 2025 and full-year earnings call. From the management at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd, we have Mr. Bhushan Akshikar, Managing Director, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd, and Mr. Juby Chandy, Chief Financial Officer, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd. By participating in this event, you consent to the recording, distribution, and publication of this event. Kindly note that this call is meant for investors and analysts only. All participant lines will be in the listen-only mode. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation from the management concludes. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Bhushan Akshikar. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you very much once again for setting that context. A very good afternoon to all the investors and the analyst community. As we commit every quarter, we just concluded our board meeting, and here we are to share the results of Q4 and the full-year financial year 2025. Before I begin, I think I just want to start off from where we left last time. We continue to be one of the most broadly diversified healthcare companies operating in India. We are in our first year of our second century of commercial operations. It is indeed a privilege and honor to share the full-year financial results. As we had shared, the progress continues to be broad-based. As a fairly diversified commercial operation, we operate at both ends of the spectrum.
If you see the general medicine portfolio, which really is the mainstay of touching millions of lives almost on a daily basis, we've had a fairly stable performance in Q4. Contrary to our expectations, the external landscape did not evolve as well as we had expected, especially in comparison to Q4 of the previous financial year. Nevertheless, in a market that saw stunted growth, especially around acute segments of the Indian pharmaceutical market, our brands continued to hold sway across the portfolio, as you've seen. Our evolution index, as well as our growth, held their numbers. If you see our unit EIs, which are the best reflection of our prescription support, they continue to be ahead of 100, which means we've done better than the market. The same story played out for our periodic vaccine business.
Something that I had talked to you a couple of quarters back in terms of really becoming a frame of reference for accelerating our digital ways of working. We continue to move strength to strength. With this quarter, we had a significant contribution in terms of our digital strategy. Apart from our frontline sales reps who meet and detail and promote our products to healthcare practitioners, we've also been able to continue to unlock value. We're having more than 400,000 unique HCP touchpoints through our omnichannel and digital strategy. In terms of the sheer number of touchpoints, we continue to move quarter to quarter and really unlock value through our digital ways. From that perspective, we quickly move to some of the main brand performances. You've seen the mainstay of our brand.
If you look at the majority of the period between April 2024 and March 2025, Augmentin has continued to be holding the market leadership within the broad market, as well as the anti-infective segment. Not only that, we have improved our market shares and our evolution index. I think the same applies to CEFTUM. The same applies to T-BACT. Our mainstay, which is the anti-infective portfolio, in spite of a suppressed external growth of just about 3%, if you look at our volume growth, we've really held the share as well as grown our market growth. An area of importance and increasing relevance continues to be our investments in our respiratory portfolio. One of the things that I've been talking is how do we continue to build our growth platforms.
The new assets that we have in the form of TRELEGY ELLIPTA , as well as NUCALA, continue to move from strength to strength every single month. We have done well. Especially in Q4, we have created new benchmarks in terms of our evolution index as well as the number of sheer patients that we were able to touch. As we all know, the single inhalation triple therapy continues to be the biggest growth driver within the respiratory space. TRELEGY, which is our biggest global asset in the general medicine portfolio, continues to be a cornerstone of our future respiratory strategy, even in India. Something that we've been betting on and I've been sharing with you the progress. For quarter four, we've tweaked our strategy, really spending energy and building shingles awareness in the country over the last several quarters.
We've continued to hold our awareness at a certain level. I think the good news is with every passing month, especially if you see on that bar graph for quarter four, we've been able to have almost 20,000 doses, touching 10,000 doses in a single month of March alone, to really have new patients being empowered to take charge of preventive medicine prevention, especially to prevent the painful, dreadfully painful disease like shingles and herpes.
We not only continue to build our energy around the adult vaccination ecosystem, but we also, on a monthly basis, have new wins in the form of not only HCP recommendations, but examples of really creating those adult vaccination ecosystems, especially around joint business plans that we are putting together in the hospital setting, where patients have easy access and we can complete that golden journey from the time that a patient hears about prevention and actually gets a jab in his or her arm. We continue to invest. We continue to remain absolutely confident about the way forward in building the vaccination ecosystem for adults, led by SHINGRIX in the coming quarters. As you would see in the financials, the second century of our operations becomes even more exciting.
As we had said in the last quarter, in this coming financial year, we will also have the launch of new growth areas, especially new therapies like oncology. It is an exciting year ahead. For now, based on the strategic elements that I just shared with you in the broad-based portfolio of products and businesses that we have, we will now spend some time looking at the financials, and we will spend more time on the question and answers in the coming few minutes. Juby, over to you.
Thank you, Bhushan. Good evening to all of you. I'll take some time to share with you or give you a bit more flavor on the financials, which you might have already seen, which we released to the market. Firstly, we made strong progress both on every level of financials during the year. I'll take you through a bit more detail in the coming slide. If you see the revenue block, INR 3,723 crore, which is a 9% growth, and this is predominantly led by volume growth. Our general medicine business, more of the established brands in that portfolio, volume led growth of 8% we have seen for the full year. Specialty segment, which we have taken a bet to invest more during the year, we've seen a growth of 35%. Flu vaccines remained stable with 12% growth. SHINGRIX, Bhushan just talked about that and shared more details.
There also, we made head start during the year. All our key brands have been gaining market share and outperforming the market. EBITDA growth, this is the highlight of this financial year. It is INR 1,169 crore, which is a growth of 30%, and we have significantly improved our EBITDA margins from 26% last year to 31% this year. EBITDA margins have improved predominantly on gross margin and operating leverage, which we have. Our gross margins have improved both on pricing side as well as better pricing on the raw material. On SG&A, we have seen cost optimization and cost consciousness as a driver to help to be on tab on SG&A. SG&A's percentage of sales has decreased close to 4%, and our field productivity has also improved 9%. PAT is keeping the same trend, 32% growth and 25% as a margin point.
Again, the highlight here is all the profits have been converted to cash. We are sitting with asset balance sheet date, we're sitting with close to INR 2,500 crore cash. Very healthy balance sheet. We are a zero-debt company. EPS growth of 32%. Again, all the return metrics have improved during the year. You would have also noticed the board has declared a final dividend of INR 42 per share. This is in addition to the interim dividend, which we had declared in the last quarter. I'll take a moment to showcase the progress we have made. If you remember two years back during the NLEM time, me and Bhushan came and shared a strategy and articulated how we are moving up with the volume-led strategy and some of the new launches we were planning then. We made significant progress since then.
If you see over the last two years, we made improvements in the gross margin. Our EBITDA profile has improved from 23% to 31% over the last many years. We were able to contain our employment cost. As we speak, we are at 15.7% as percentage of sales. This has come down significantly. That is why the operating leverage in the end of the place . If you see the return on capital employed and return on net worth, both are tracking upwards and high double-digit percentages. Again, market cap is a reflection of all these things, and we have seen significant improvement in the market cap over the last many years. That is a short summary of the full year as well as the improvements we have made the last couple of years. Now, moving on to the quarter, you could see the similar trend in the quarter.
The revenue growth has been 6%, predominantly led by volume growth. It's been a soft quarter for antibiotics. That is why it's a bit muted compared to the full year. We have been gaining market share across our portfolio. Specialty portfolio has been doing quite well. It's been growing double-digit. Flu vaccines 10% growth and SHINGRIX again driving performance on the vaccine portfolio. EBITDA margin, you could see the same trend, the growth and the margin profile keeping up 30% growth on EBITDA for the quarter and PAT 36% growth. Our cash position is very strong, and that is some context in which we have declared a strong dividend as well. That is it. That is it summary on the financials. We can open the floor for any questions.
Thank you, Juby. I think the whole idea is to spend more time answering questions from our investors.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. You can choose to ask your questions in two ways: on video or by typing it in the chat box provided below. In case you would like to ask a video question, please press the Ask Video Question tab and follow the instructions to join the queue. By clicking on Join as Attendee, you will be on audio only. By clicking on Joining as a Panelist, you will be on audio and video. Before asking the question to the management, please introduce yourself, providing your name and your organization name. Please limit yourself to a maximum of two questions so we can accommodate as many as possible. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question comes from the line of Pritesh Chheda.
May I request you to accept the prompt on your screen? Introduce yourself and go ahead with your question, please.
Yeah, hi. Can you hear me?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Yeah. I wanted to ask you on the margin side. We see a newer margin in quarter four now at about 34%. Last full year, we have gone through a large round of margin upgrade via the SG&A line leverage. Any comments on the incremental margin expansion possibility over the full year of 31%, which you reported? Obviously, last year, there were callouts by the management on the reasons for the margin upgrade. Should 34% exit be a reference one can refer to, or do you have any other comments on the margin upside?
Let me take that question, Bhushan. Firstly, I think our business is seasonal, so different quarters have different margins. For our guidance, we might have to take the full year margin, which is EBITDA margin of 31.4%. This is what we are tracking as a sustainable margin. You might have noticed the margin profile has gone up significantly. A lot of low-hanging fruits. Lots of changes we have made, and we are perhaps at a stabilization stage. At this stage, you should not expect a big change in the margin profile upwards.
Okay. My second question is on the new launches. We had a lot of products for approvals in India, especially on the respiratory side. Any update you want to share on the possible launches, if any, this year and next year?
I'll take that question, Mr. Pritesh. First of all, thank you very much for asking around the margin, and I think I echo Juby's sentiment. Our endeavor will be to sustain that margin, annual margin, as opposed to seeing any opportunities for further expansion. Having said that, I think which also means our ability to invest in the new business lines, especially in the high-growth areas like oncology. As I had shared in the last investor call, we have the marketing authorization for two of our global assets, dostarlimab, which is the brand, the trademark is JEMPERLI, and niraparib, which is ZEJULA, respectively in gynecological malignancy. Those are the first two ones which will go off the block in terms of the launch sequence in this coming financial year.
We will continue to update the investor community because, as I have said in the previous investor meetings, we have global clinical trials ongoing for a section of Indian patients as well. That would help us accelerate some of those regulatory timelines in terms of tools. To begin with, our launch sequence is first focused on these two assets within oncology, namely JEMPERLI in endometrial cancer and ZEJULA in ovarian cancer.
Okay. So most products are in onco?
The first two ones, the first two innovative assets will be in oncology. That's how I would answer that.
The two launches this year, you're referring to the onco launch, right?
As I said, the first ones that will go off the block next month. As I said, we have clinical trials ongoing. As you would expect, there are regulatory timelines of which quarter of which we would love to launch some of these assets sooner than later. Rule 101 is yet to play out in terms of the final details. We have a slew of products in oncology as well as vaccines. To begin with, these are the two assets where we have full visibility, and that's what we're sharing with you.
My last question, sir, is on the general medicines performance this year, which is a fairly robust performance considering the market. An 8% volume growth for a base portfolio is a fairly strong number. What went into this growth, and what is the sustainable growth you think in the general medicines portfolio? That would be my last question. The reason for this stronger growth, what exactly went into it? What efforts have you put? What should be a sustainable?
I would probably, Mr. Pritesh, you required two hours to answer your first question, but I will definitely give you an abridged version of clearly what defines the success of some of these iconic assets that we have in the general medicines portfolio is the science behind why some of these brands continue to be, as I keep saying, not trademarks, but these are trust marks. If you have to dial up that trust with healthcare practitioners, patients at large, we need to keep investing in science. I think we've unlocked some significant value, especially in the area of antibiotics, for example, in creating something called the India Infection Index, which really allows physicians to take real-time decisions in choosing the appropriate antibacterial, given the major issues of antimicrobial resistance that we have in our country.
There are areas which have really helped us unlock value, and I think we will continue to invest in these areas moving forward. The second question that you had was in terms of how do we see? Obviously, many of these brands will continue to be the frames of reference within their respective therapy areas. Our endeavor as a team will be to continue to beat the market growth so that we continue to leverage and deliver similar performances in the coming quarters for the gen med portfolio.
Okay. Thank you very much, and all the best.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Pritesh.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Viraj Mithani. May I request you to accept the prompt on your screen? Introduce yourself and go ahead with your question, please. Mr. Viraj Mithani, may I request you to accept the prompt on your screen and go ahead with your question, please?
Audible?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. My question is, since this launch is we are doing in this year, probably in the oncology segment, and some you said in the respiratory segment as well. Can you give some color in terms of the growth profile of the company?
Sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Viraj. May I request you to use the handset, please? We are unable to hear you clearly, sir.
Hold on. Can you hear me now? Is it better?
Yes, sir. Slightly better, sir.
Okay. Now it's better. Am I audible now?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead. Thank you.
Yeah. My question is, since there are two launches, one is in the oncological segment, which you said, and one something respiratory. Can you give some color in terms of the profitability, growth profile, and the profitability of the company? Will it change the margins? Any color is useful for us. I know you do not give guidance, but you can at least give some color on. That is my first question.
Clearly, I talked about assets in oncology. Now, as we all are aware, oncology is a highly specialized, very focused area. You do not require armies of thousand reps on the ground. Given the nature of the landscape, these are really nimble-footed teams led by high science, evolving data readouts. That is where most of the investments will happen. I have also said in one of the earlier calls that it will be our endeavor to build the next growth platforms at GSK India. Not only sustain the performance of our base businesses in gen med and pediatric vaccines, but also bolt on these new growth levers led by, for example, SHINGRIX and then now oncology. We also talked about products like TRELEGY and NUCALA in the past.
I think if you look at the freshness index in terms of the contribution of some of these assets over the last couple of years, this business did not exist for us. Today, it contributes about INR 120 crore-INR 130 crore annual revenues. The idea is to continue to build. You can imagine, in spite of those investments that we made, the margin has only improved. You have seen in Juby's slides where we have shown how the margins have evolved. Our endeavor will be to sustain the margins and the top line. We have made a very clear aspiration in terms of what it will take for us to continue to touch millions of lives with a gen med portfolio and a pediatric vaccine portfolio, but also transform the operating model with the launch of innovative assets. Both will happen concurrently.
I do not think I can hazard a response in terms of giving you guidance on the margin, but it will be our endeavor to hold the margins is the best I can tell you.
My next question is, if I'm supposed to visualize Glaxo—
I'm sorry, Pritesh, but there's some problem with the audio. Your voice is coming and going. We can't hear you clearly.
Is this clear now, sir?
Better. Loud and clear.
Yeah. My next question is, if I'm supposed to visualize Glaxo five years from now, what kind of company would you—who I should be visualizing as? Gen med plus specialty plus vaccine or plus something else?
I mean, for a company that has endured and endured for more than 100 years, a five-year period would probably do justice to the heritage that we've created, the trust that we have gained, but more importantly, the next century to which we are committed in India. I think, as I said, our ambition will be to continue to bring energy because many of these trust marks that I talked of will remain relevant in the Indian setting. How do you really accelerate the launch of our innovative assets and continue to be the frame of reference of everything around innovation in this country, which we've done for the last 101 years now? That will be the way I will see it. I'm not going to focus only on the next five years. I think the organization has outlived generations and based on the trust.
That's where our focus will be. Of course, in doing so, delivering the fair share of returns to our shareholders who remained committed over this 55-60 year journey since the time we were listed. I think that remains the overarching principle for us.
My last question is, any launches on the parent' s table this year?
I just talked about it. I think the previous question was on the same lines. I talked about two assets that will get launched in the next few months in the area of oncology.
Okay, sir. Thank you and all the best, sir.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is a text question from Swathi from Zen Securities. Can you please provide revenue breakup in percentage from patented drugs, OTC, and prescription drug sales?
You want to take that, Juby? I can give you a quick—first of all, we do not—I mean, typically, we do not give segment-wise analysis because it is a broad portfolio of products. As I said, we operate at both ends of the spectrum. If I were to give you a thumb rule, we right now have about 70%-80% of our business coming from the pharmaceutical business. We do not have any OTC products. All our products are ethically prescribed. We have feet on the street. We have reps who go and promote our products. The balance is the vaccines portfolio. That is how we are structured right now. I hope I have answered you, Swathi.
Thank you. Our next question is a text question from Deepak Malik from Carnelian Capital. Please share your guidance for FY 2026 in terms of revenue and EBITDA margins.
Juby, you want to take that? We do not give guidance forward.
We don't give forward guidance on sales and EBITDA margins. That's it.
Thank you. We have another question from Mr. Deepak Malik from Carnelian Capital. Please share new product launches for FY 2026.
I think I just answered this earlier. Apart from focusing on contemporizing our GenMed portfolio, we are always looking at opportunities to launch line extensions for some of our big brands, and that will be continued. We have big brands like CALPOL, AUGMENTIN, Eltroxin. It will be our endeavor to continue to breathe new life by way of extending the life cycles of many of these trust marks. Apart from that, from the innovative offset portfolio, we have ZEDJULA and JEMPERLI from the oncology portfolio, which will get launched in the immediate next couple of months.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Gokul Maheshwari from Awriga Capital. In the press release, you have stated that you intend to grow above market growth in FY 2026. In the past, there was an aspiration to grow in double digit. Does that aspiration still hold?
Yes, absolutely. Our aspiration continues to hold. And that's something—so if you've seen the IQVIA prognosis, the market is supposed to grow anywhere between 8%-9%. And that's why we said we want to ensure that we deliver above market growth. The answer is yes.
Thank you. We have a text question from Deepak Malik from Carnelian Capital. Please share the opportunity size, competitive landscape, and revenue potential for JEMPERLI and ZEJULA.
As you would imagine, Mr. Malik, every single indication has a different opportunity size. The going-in position, as you may be aware, ZEJULA is indicated as a first-line maintenance treatment in ovarian cancer. Among gynecological malignancies, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, they are among the top five. If you look at the prevalence, if you look at the incidence, we have almost 6.6 per 100,000 population in terms of ovarian cancer. That's the prevalence right now. The idea is to really capitalize on the opportunity that ZEJULA offers as a first-line maintenance in ovarian. We are, of course, launching as a second-line indication for endometrial for JEMPERLI. Again, a significant opportunity. Concurrently, in line with our global strategy, we'll be pursuing first-line. There are ongoing trials for this asset in several other indications. Each indication will open up new opportunities.
I think you can always spend time looking at how each of these opportunities will pan out. As you may be aware, the oncology therapy area is one of the fastest-growing areas. As a clear opportunity that we have in the form of the first immunotherapy that GSK will launch, it will be our endeavor to ensure that maximum patients benefit within the approved indications for which we will be launching this to begin with.
Thank you. Our next text question comes from Ravi Purohit from Securities Investment Management Pvt Ltd. While we have done well on the antibiotic portfolio and vaccines, we have some very strong brands in the derma space. That is one space with a lot of potential. Yet we have not seen GSK talking, discussing much on these. It will be great if you could share some of the initiatives we might be taking in that space. Thanks.
Always good to hear from you, Mr. Purohit. Thanks for attending. I like every time. Yes, I think I did not give a flavor, a specific color on our derma portfolio. If you look at the specific quarter, in spite of the sluggish growth that we had in anti-infectives and pain, where we primarily have some of our big antibiotic brands and, of course, the big paracetamol brands sitting, in spite of our very sluggish growth there, we were able to deliver. You saw the 6% growth for the quarter. It was all volume-led. I think the good news was the silver lining in that performance was the strong performance of the derms business, which grew in double digit for the quarter. Most of the brands have done exceedingly well throughout the year.
Yeah, I have not called out derms, but we continue to be the number one player in the derms segment, again, woven around science. Clearly, I think derms is one area where we continue to invest and look for opportunities to even grow further. Thanks for asking that, Mr. Purohit.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, a reminder to all the participants. If you would like to ask a video question, please press the Ask Video Question tab and follow the instructions to join the queue. By clicking on Join as Attendee, you will be on audio only. By clicking on Join as a Panelist, you will be on audio and video. Our next text question comes from Ravi Purohit from Securities Investment Management Pvt Ltd. Is there an opportunity for us to be able to export some of the medicines to our associates, especially in Southeast Asia and African regions? A lot of our brands are well-known, not just in India, but globally. If India is able to make it cheaper, can this be one of the growth opportunities?
Mr. Purohit, first and foremost, it's a great question. Thanks for asking that. In the past, we've done that. We used to be a sourcing-based sum of our factories to cater to the external demand. Today, as we speak, we have still our manufacturing operations. We still have a state-of-the-art site which is operational in the Nashik area, which caters to almost one-third, more than one-third of our top-line revenues of our general medicines business. All they are manufactured locally within our factory. To begin with, we are still—so we do manufacture for WHO from that factory, something that we supply as a part of our commitment to eliminate lymphatic filariasis. We do manufacture products here, which are supplied not just to the Indian government and the health ministry here, but the idea is to take it to the next level.
Will we be able to commercialize this and take it to—that's not a part of the remit right now. I think the focus is clearly to use all our expertise in accelerating the innovation pipeline. I think that's where we would probably spend more energy and time. I think the supply chain strategy continues to be an important element when I look at the overall GSK India strategy. I think right now the whole emphasis is on accelerating new launches from our global pipeline because, as I said, we have some exciting opportunities lined up, including some of the trials that are happening in India. That's where the focus will be.
Thank you. Our next text question comes from Mahesh Vyas from UTI Mutual Funds. How much can be TAM for next two onco products, which will be launched and also in terms of usage, in terms of stages of patients, in terms of range-bound market size?
I mean, it's a great question. As you would expect for any oncology asset, I said that in one of the earlier questions. The going-in position for both the assets is the approved indications that we have. As I said, ZEJULA, which is niraparib, is indicated as the first-line maintenance in ovarian cancer. There are trials going on for the same asset in different other malignancies right now, including in India. Each of these presents significant commercial opportunities. As you would expect, we all have to wait for the data readouts, for the data to be presented in oncology congresses. That's where we probably will be able to give you color in terms of the size. Going-in position, again, might sound repetitive, but we have approval for second-line endometrial, which is still a significant opportunity for JEMPERLI, dostarlimab.
The same asset is being evaluated by way of clinical trials, even happening in India, for colorectal, which is colon cancer, for head and neck, for non-small lung cell. There are different trials ongoing. As I said, each of these presents a completely unique opportunity. To begin with, we have the going-in position for these two assets in the approved indications that we have.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants. If you would like to ask a video question, please press the Ask a Video Question tab and follow the instructions to join the queue. We have a text question from Ravi Purohit from Securities Investment Management Pvt Ltd. Given that we are now doing parallel clinical trials for global as well as India market, should we expect future new launches to come with shorter intervals compared to their global launches in India? Thanks. I would like to congratulate the entire team led by Mr. Akshikar for getting growth back for GSK in India.
Mr. Purohit, thank you very much for the reassurance and confidence one more time. Yes, I think the whole idea is to get the drug lag, the launch lag, reduced. That is the whole intent of having almost 19 global clinical trials happening in India as we speak in the areas of oncology, in the areas of hepatology. There is a global asset that we have, which might be the first functional cure for chronic hepatitis B infection. Assets like that, which are completely innovative, are undergoing trials here. With this data, we can always engage with the regulatory agencies, especially in the context of Rule 101, to see accelerated launch timelines. That is the real intent of ensuring that patients in India can benefit without having to have long lag times between global launch and within India. The answer is yes to your first question.
Thanks once again for your second point.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mr. Deepak Malik. May I request you to accept the prompt on your screen? Introduce yourself and go ahead with the question, please.
Yeah, hi. This is Deepak from Carnelian. Thanks for taking my question. My first question is, next year, you said that you intend to deliver growth more than the IPM growth, which is around 8%-9%. In this, how do you see the pricing growth, especially in the portfolio which is under the NLEM and in the rest of the portfolio? Last year, I believe that the pricing was an issue where we were not going. Volume growth was very healthy. Next year, how do you see the pricing growth in your overall portfolio?
Thank you very much, Mr. Deepak. I'll take the first part and probably hand it over to Juby if he wants to add anything. Yeah, if you look at the last two years, we've had our performance underpinned by strong volume growth. I mean, right from the time we had inclusion of some of our big assets in the NLEM list and therefore becoming a part of the pricing control order end of 2022, the last two years have largely been volume-led. I think that will continue for us. To your specific question around pricing, yes, we couldn't dial in any price hikes last year. More than half of our portfolio in general medicines is under price control. That obviously leverage is not available for us. We've seen this year, the government has already announced a WPI hike of, I think, 1.75%.
That's something that we can dial in at appropriate times for the portfolio, which is under price control. The rest, as and when we have opportunities, we will ensure, of course, ensuring the right balance between what the price is for the patients and consumers. The answer is yes. That's a lever. Again, compared to the past, we do not see this as the main driver. I think our strategy will still continue to be driven largely by volumes. That really is the best metric to tell you the health of the business because that's the closest unit to the prescription generation that we are doing as a company. Juby, I do not know if you want to add something.
I think I would just add a couple more points. One is, if you understand our portfolio, close to 38% of our portfolio is under price control. We call it NLEM. That 38% of our portfolio, whatever WPI price increase comes from the government, we'll take it. That part, depending on what comes out, that will be playing out as a growth. The remaining 60%, wherever there are opportunities, at the end of the day, most of our products are general size. There is a volume play. Wherever there is an opportunity compared to competition, it does not make it less competitive for us. We'll take a price increase there also. Basically, we are very active on the pricing. Wherever there's an opportunity, we'll take it, particularly on the NLEM part based on the WPI, non-NLEM part based on the competitiveness.
Thanks. Here, if I see the comparison, many of the Indian companies which are quite big in the domestic pharma, like Torrent and the other companies, I see their volume growth is hardly 1% or 2%, 3%, and 7%-8% kind of price increase they take. Here, GSK, even in the 60% of the portfolio, we have not seen much of the price increase. Any reason that we refrain from taking price increases for the portfolio under the NLEM, I can understand. Even in the rest of the portfolio, there is hardly any price increase over the last two years. Going forward also, we are not that keen. Any reason for that?
After the portfolio, we take price increases. Just get blinded, and you are not seeing that. This year, what happened? The NLEM portfolio, there was an increased discount strategy to drive the volume. That is getting blinded there. At the same time, vaccines portfolio, we are not able to take price increase to manage the competitiveness. After the portfolio, we have taken price increase.
Mr. Deepak, I think I'll just jump in. Clearly, we don't have an allergy for price hikes and ensuring that we are not leaving any money on the table, especially from a shareholder value standpoint. I think having said that, we are also mindful of the elasticity where we can take. We are definitely not losing. We are not leaving any money on the table. Moving forward, I don't know whether I conveyed. It's not that we don't want to take. The point I made was it's largely a volume-led strategy because compared to many other companies, as an organization, we have at least 11-12 assets which are significant in size.
When you have an annual revenue of more than INR 100 crore-INR 150 crore of annual sales, and you have 11-12 brands which are more than that sales value, I mean, every incremental prescription that you generate or unit that you generate is only going to multiply. I think that's the going-in driving strategy. On top of that, price hikes are like a cherry on the cake. I mean, we will not leave anything, but that's not the main driver for our business.
Fair enough. Fair enough. I appreciate that we prefer the volume growth instead of price growth because that is the way you get more market share. Second, I have an observation here. In IQVIA, whenever people then share the growth numbers for the month and for the quarter, for GSK, always very low numbers are being shared, like 1% or 2% kind of growth or maybe decline also. Wherever our number, which we have reported, are always very superior to the one which is shown by IQVIA. Any reason why our reported primary sale numbers and secondary sale numbers do not match? The difference in our case is quite high. If I compare with the other companies, where the difference is 1% or 2% kind of, but here, the difference seems very high.
Absolutely. That's a great question. If you look at some of our key brands, the reflection is very, very similar. If you look at the top assets, our top key brands, big-size brands, the reflection, as you would see in the external syndicated research data, whether it is IQVIA or any other, is very similar. I think where we have a sizable non-promoted portfolio, which operates, these are brands which are not promoted. We either have a distribution model, and that's a sizable portfolio, about INR 300 crore. That's where the reflections are completely differing. Plus, the vaccines market is usually underreported. If you see what we report in vaccines, because that does not go through the normal channels of pharmacies and medical stores and distributors. Clearly, there is an under-reflection in some of those therapy areas.
If you look at if you were to stick to the big brands, the reflections are very similar. That is really the underlying.
Then the base is also the same. In the base also, vaccine will not be there. On the base number, if there is such a strong volume growth in general medicine category, at least that should be reflected, no?
You can take as I said, when you look at when you slice and dice, when you look at some of the big brands, the growths are absolutely, that's why you would see some of our brands which continue to be at the top of the pharma industry rankings. We have at least three or four brands which are in the top 20, 30, including the number one brand. Those are brands where we do not see any differing views because that is exactly aligned with what we do in the market.
Okay. I think just to add, IQVIA is reporting on the innovative efforts and the vaccines, particularly both for the sake of growth as well as for the base. It is not aligned, and it's not correct. That is where we have this disconnect is coming.
Okay. Thank you. Thanks for taking my question.
Thank you. Our next question is a text question from Nikhil Upadhyay from SiMPL. For ZEJULA and JEMPERLI, we have been investing in market development for the last two quarters. So how many doctors have we touched base, and what is the total doctor population we would need to reach?
It's a good question. We are putting, as we speak, obviously, we have the new oncology business head in place. The recruitments are going, as we speak, the recruitments are going full swing. We've also invested largely on the medical side. That's where the investments are going. As I've said earlier also, medical oncology or hematology are areas which are very tightly, you don't have more than 1,500 medical oncologists in this country. Obviously, you don't need an army of 1,000 people on the ground to cover. These are small, nimble-footed teams, and that's exactly where we are putting energy. We're investing around creating knowledge around science. The actual visits will start from our commercial team members only in the coming days. That's where we are as of now.
Thank you. The next question from Nikhil Upadhyay from SiMPL. For focused brands and vaccine portfolio, how has our doctor coverage increased in the last three years? Versus three years back, how has our prescription doctor increased? From here on, do you see more opportunities to increase our doctor coverage, or will the higher growth be led by increased prescription?
There are three, four questions there, but I'll try and answer the first one. I think two years ago, when I presented to the investor community what we were doing on the digital side, I did mention that although our absolute face-to-face coverage had gone down because we had optimized our selling field force on the ground, we had dialed up a significant omnichannel digital strategy. What do I mean by that? We have healthcare practitioners who have consented to us to reach out to them through different channels, through different touchpoints. That becomes an important area for us. To answer your question, today, we cover almost 275,000 distinct, unique healthcare practitioners in the country.
On top of these doctors whom we meet physically, face-to-face through our reps on the ground, we also have a significant number of doctors whom we do not cover face-to-face, but have also consented to reach out via emailers, via WhatsApp, or different touchpoints. That is where we create our reach has actually gone up by more than 40% on top of what we had. That is what I presented. I think if you remember the numbers that I presented in my, and we also uploaded that, the 400,000-plus touchpoints that we talk of, our reach and coverage has, in fact, increased over the last couple of years. We look at efficient ways to continue to do that, apart from, of course, the sales team. These additional touchpoints will only supplement and complement the great work done by the field force on the ground. That is it.
Thank you. Our last question comes from the line of Mahesh Vyas from UTI Mutual Funds. Breakup of CMO and in-house manufacturing. For SHINGRIX, how do you see in terms of years 3, 5, 7, 9 that the vaccine will be fully accessible, available also in terms of awareness to the masses? How is Salesforce planned working for this?
Great question. Thank you very much. The first question, we have our own site in Nashik, as I said. Plus, we work with 20 CMOs who cater to us, so almost 99% of all that we do in our general medicine portfolio is locally manufactured, except for maybe an inhaler that comes from outside. Otherwise, everything is locally manufactured. One-third coming from our own site, two-thirds coming from the balance 20 CMOs. That is the breakup. That is the first question. On the SHINGRIX front, I think it is a great opportunity to do some market shaping because, as you can imagine, when you create a new category, it is, I always say, it is not a 100-meter sprint. It is an endurance sport where every quarter, every year, you are learning, you are creating something different. Today, nobody worries about where to get a pediatric vaccine.
We all know the pediatrician is the default vaccination point. She or he will keep and store vaccines and when a baby or infant needs. That was created by GSK more than two decades ago. We are putting a similar energy in creating the adult vaccination ecosystem to really dial up this whole importance of preventive medicine. To begin with, of course, our focus is on shingles prevention. As many of you may be aware, we have a flu vaccine. That is another one where we continue to build the yeoman service to create the adult vaccination ecosystem. Moving forward, we have trials ongoing even in India for our RSV, respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, which will be the next adult vaccine. It is a long-drawn approach.
When changes happen, as I said, if you see that slide also, from a point where we were selling 2,000, 3,000, and 4,000 doses, we started touching 10,000 doses on a monthly basis. At a certain point, it does not follow a linear curve. It follows a different pattern. I would not call it exponential as yet, but it follows a different curve completely because more and more people are getting aware. More and more people are coming and asking how to prevent this painfully debilitating condition. That is where we pivoted. You asked me a question about the sales team. We always say that these are not sales reps. These are adult vaccination ecosystem creators.
The idea is to really partner with hospitals, with health NGOs, with clinics to really understand how to create that ecosystem where when a patient comes, he or she is not only coming for treatment, but also talks about prevention of some of these diseases. I think that's the approach we've taken. That's why we've pivoted our strategy now towards creating that ecosystem in about 4,000 clinics and some of the biggest hospitals in the country. That's the approach. Your question around three years, five years, seven years, the idea is very simple. We have more than 10-12 million Indians in this country who are more than 50 years in age who are not only eligible to prevent shingles as a disease, but also have concomitant diseases or indications where they're at a greater risk from getting this painful disease.
That's the focus. With every passing month, we are getting more leverage, more acceptance, more awareness. That is something that will continue, and we will see continued traction from GSK in this area.
Thank you. Please note, our last text question comes from Swathi from Zen Securities. Hi, sir. Your view on changing regulations, government interest towards prescribing generic medicines instead of brand-name medications, and GSK's preparations to deal with this?
Again, we have to see this. I wouldn't call it sub-disease, but there are hearings going on in the Supreme Court based on a case that was filed by an association. We have to watch this space. This is not the first time there have been individual states that have come up with strictures on similar lines. As you can imagine, health being a state subject across the board, although there is no reimbursement of any kind in our country, eventually, when a healthcare practitioner prescribes the medicine, he or she is prescribing it because of the body of evidence, the trust that the healthcare practitioner has. That is why some of the assets or some of the brands that you see, they are built around science. It is not just about what a brand does or what a molecule does, what a product does.
It's also about where that brand should not be used in terms of the adverse events or the side effect profile. And that's what companies bring to the table. I think it's a long-drawn conversation. Industry associations, I'm sure all of us are deeply engaged to watch this space and also shape this external landscape in terms of a better understanding of why it is important that the patients have the choice, healthcare practitioners have the choice. Anyway, on the other hand, we have a very strong code in the form of UCPMP already drafted, already gazetted. The Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices is already in place, which kind of serves as a great guardrail for pharmaceutical companies to operate in.
When it comes to trust, I think we'll have to watch this space closely, continue to engage with the right stakeholders across the group, including advocacy groups, so that patients continue to get the benefit of the best medicine and not compromise quality because even one patient's life cannot be taken in this space.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
No, thank you very much. I think once again, as we have committed, I think almost two and a half years ago, I and Juby made a commitment that every quarter, we will come and share with you the progress that we are making and update you on the journey that we are on. As I said in my first slide, opening slide, we are remarkably proud of the 100-year journey, but even more proud that as we have started this second century of our operations in India, we will continue to focus not only on bringing innovative assets, but also protecting the interests of all our shareholders and the industry community. Thank you very much for your interest this evening. Thank you once again. I look forward to seeing you in the next quarter. Bye for now.
Thank you. On behalf of GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd, we conclude this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.