Pharma stocks will outperform markets on rising disposable incomes: Bajaj Allianz Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance is bullish

on Indian pharmaceutical shares, as rising disposable incomes are increasing people's access to better healthcare, said chief investment officer (CIO) Sashi Krishnan. Pharmaceutical shares are likely to outperform the market, he said, adding that, growth in the sector will be driven by the domestic market. "The increase in disposable income will result in access to improved healthcare. Pharmaceutical companies have the potential to grow by 14% by 2013," said Krishnan, who oversees assets worth Rs 39,330 crore. In the pharma space, the company holds stake in Cipla , Aventis, Pfizer and Ranbaxy. USFDA bans sale of medicines from DRL's Mexico facility, warns Cadila The United States Food and Drugs Administration on Wednesday banned the US sale of medicines made at Dr Reddy's Mexican facility and sent a warning to letter Cadila Healthcare for violating manufacturing norms at their plants. With this, all top Indian pharmaceutical firms have either been warned or slapped with product bans in the US in the last two to three years, four of them in the last three months alone. The US market, the largest in the world, accounts for about a quarter of India's Rs 50,000crore drug exports. The import ban on Dr Reddy's follows a warning by the USFDA last year. The FDA letter had listed four violations by Industrias Quimicas Falcon de Mexico SA plant, in Jiutepec, which manufactures intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for use in Dr Reddy's generic medicines. Dr Reddy's acquired the Jiutepec site from Roche in 2005. It is one of Dr Reddy's eight API-manufacturing facilities. The other six others are in India and one in the UK. A Dr Reddy's spokesperson declined to comment. A Cadila spokesperson said: "We have received a warning letter from the agency based on the preapproval inspection of our new injectable area. We are addressing the issue expeditiously. We do not expect any impact on our current business." The company has 15 days to notify the steps it has taken to correct the violations. The USFDA also said failure to correct these violations may result in ban on articles manufactured at the Sanand facility into the US. The company's formulation plant at Moraiya, in Sanand, makes tablets, capsules and soft gel capsules as well as injectable drugs in both sterile liquid and lyophilised form. Orchid Chemicals promoters pledge 22.35% stake

Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals today said its promoters had pledged 22.35% stake in the company. In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company said four of its promoters and a promoter group firm had pledged a total of 1,57,45,383 shares, out of total 7,04,42,076 outstanding shares of the company. It, however, did not disclose to whom the shares were pledged and at what price.The promoters who have ledged their shares are K Raghvendra Rao, R Vijayalakshmi, R Divya and R Sowmya, while the group firm that has also pledged the shares is Orchid Health Care

Pvt Ltd.According to data available on the BSE, the promoters have a total of 30.53% stake in the company as on March, 2011.