Agilent Technologies, the US-based company established in 1999 as a spin-off from Hewlett-Packard (HP), provides analytical instruments & services for the entire laboratory workflow globally. As the Country Manager of Agilent India Pvt Ltd, Bharat Bhardwaj is responsible for growing the company’s businesses in India. He took over this role in March 2016 and since then has been spearheading global and local efforts to enhance Agilent’s presence in the country. In this interaction with IPF, Bhardwaj analyses the Indian analytical equipment market and emerging customer needs. 

 

Globally, analytical scientists and researchers rely on Agilent to meet their most complex laboratory requirements. How has been your experience in India? Which are the key industries that you cater to? 

Agilent has been operating in India for the last two decades and currently has over 400 employees who cater to the Indian analytical market. In India, Agilent provides products, services, and consumables to key segments such as pharmaceuticals, food, environment, and academia. In the pharmaceutical segment, Agilent’s solutions are used in drug discovery, drug development, manufacturing and quality control. Agilent’s solutions are used throughout the food production chain in the food segment, from new product development to quality control and assurance, and packaging. Agilent also offers reliable and efficient environmental analysis and regulatory expertise to the environment segment, and works in close partnerships with academia to enhance academic research. 

 

The government has been implementing stringent regulations pertaining to product safety and quality. Is this having a positive effect on analytical equipment market in the country?

In recent years, there has been an increase in consumer awareness of food safety and pharmaceutical regulations, as well as a growing interest in maintaining a healthy environment. Because of this, Agilent’s solutions have been met by strong demand from India’s analytical industry.

 

We have seen stricter regulations in food and pharmaceutical industries, and this is driving the need for technology with increased sensitivity. Agilent’s instruments and workflow solutions help its customers to address these scientific challenges and regulatory demands.

 

What is driving the demand for analytical instruments in the country?

India’s exports are growing, as well as import regulations from other countries, and this is one of the key drivers for analytical instruments in India. In fact, India has the highest number of US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved sites outside of the US, which is a requirement that all pharmaceutical sites must comply with when exporting to the US. At the same time, we are also seeing a rise in consumer awareness of the domestic consumption of drugs, food and water, which too is increasing the demand for analytical instruments and fueling growth in this area. 

 

Can India emerge as a manufacturing hub for analytical instruments? What are the challenges on the way? 

Looking specifically at manufacturing in India, while there are a number of initiatives that the Indian government is driving towards reform, we do see many of our clients having manufacturing plants across India, and their continued expansion as needs arise.

 

Agilent has multiple manufacturing sites across the world and currently we do not have plans to shift manufacturing to India. 

 

What are the emerging trends in analytical instruments industry?

There is a high demand among our customers for complete workflow solutions, not just instruments, as they are looking for a partner who can provide end-to-end comprehensive solutions consisting of instruments, consumables, services, and software. 

 

Customers have an increasing workload, and hope to achieve the highest productivity using their existing resources. At Agilent, we are proud to address our client needs with innovative services and products, which help our customers to ‘do more with less’.

 

How is analytical instruments industry using digitalisation to its advantage?

With tightening regulations, one of the critical aspects for the analytical industry is compliance and data integrity. There is a great demand for software solutions that allows customers to get closer to achieving ‘paperless laboratories’ and, as a result of this, data security with a high level of data integrity and compliance is paramount. 

 

Modern laboratories also need content management systems that are easy to use and can help to speed up workflows. Agilent offers its customers unique solutions that speak to this need like the Enterprise Content Management (ECM), which is part of the Agilent OpenLAB portfolio. The OpenLAB ECM is a comprehensive system that manages all data produced in the customer’s laboratory or used to support its activities. The system helps to increase efficiency and overall productivity of laboratories by monitoring their operation and securing data in a central location while ensuring timely completion of approvals, customised tasks, and lab-wide reports. 

 

What are your growth plans for your company?

2017 was a good year for Agilent globally and in India. While we were busy improving our operating results, we have also been building a company foundation for the future. We are delivering to the market truly differentiated offerings and augmenting our internal investments with acquisitions. These acquisitions are bringing into Agilent new capabilities and unique new offerings. We then leverage our company scale to drive revenue and create cost synergies.

 

We are very excited about the overall opportunities available in the country. India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, where we continue to see a strong demand for analytical instruments for complex scientific challenges.