...says Deepak Parab, CEO & MD, Metrohm India Limited, while speaking to IPF about trends in analytical instruments industry. With analysis and estimation of trace ions gaining importance in various industries, he believes India offers huge growth potential for Metrohm.

Which are the key industries that you cater to?

Metrohm is focused on a very niche segment of ion analysis and we have complete solutions to customer’s application problems from PPT to percentage level. Off late, we have also entered in spectroscopy segment with NIR and hand-held Raman systems.

Metrohm India Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Metrohm AG, Switzerland, has been present in India since 1987. This year, we are celebrating 30 years of our existence in India and 75 years of Metrohm AG simultaneously.

Advanced systems automatically optimise and tune themselves during operation, thereby eliminating much of the practice and guesswork associated with conventional instruments.

Metrohm India is involved in sales, service and after sales support of Metrohm Instruments sold in India like titrators (potentiometric, Karl Fischer - volumetric & coulometric) ion chromatographs, voltammetry analysers, NIR analysers, handheld Raman, Rancimat, dosing devices, pH meters, conductivity meters, ion meters etc.

Metrohm India also looks after sales and service of other Metrohm AG sister concerns products namely Metrohm Autolab, The Netherlands, and Dropsens Spain (which are involved in electrochemistry range of products) and  Metrohm Process Analytics, The Netherlands (which is involved in manufacturing of Applikon range of  online analysers).

With its head office in Chennai, Metrohm India today has 11 offices all over the country. Our application laboratory and training center is in Chennai.

Our instruments find applications in pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, chemicals, food, environment studies (water, wastewater & air), forensic, academic and research institutes, plating, automobiles, power generation and transmission, energy storage, biofuels, nano technology, agriculture (soil) & agriculture products, etc. We are one of the unique instrument manufacturers, who can provide same analytical technique for laboratory use, for at line use (shop floor) in the manufacturing process and for online use during the manufacturing process. The major contributors for Metrohm India have been pharmaceutical, chemical, petrochemical and academic & research institutes market.

How has been the demand for your products in India?

The demand for Metrohm products has been robust and we have been growing our market share and unit sales consistently. We have a sizeable market share and presence in titrators, ion chromatography and electrochemical workstation market. We have just made our presence felt in NIR and hand held Raman market. In Rancimat and voltammetry market, we have a monopoly since no other manufacturer has these kinds of instruments. In meters (pH, conductivity & ion), we are the most expensive one but we still have a stable client base who procure the same from us year after year due to top line quality. In past seven years, Metrohm has witnessed significant growth in sales for its products in India, which has been one of the key and fastest growing markets for Metrohm.

Overall, we are quite satisfied with our growth in past decade and happy with the market share.

What are the emerging trends in analytical instruments industry (globally and in India)?

During the last few years, three unmistakable trends, which have emerged in the development and application of analytical instrumentation, are the development of miniaturised automated analytical instruments; hyphenated techniques like ICP-MS, IC-ICP-MS, LC-MS, GC-MS, TitrIC, VoltIC, spectrophotometer (UV-Vis-NIR), EQCM with electrochemical workstation, FTIR-TGA, FTIR-GC etc; and application of nanotechnologies in chemical analysis.

The need for development of miniaturised analytical instruments and the application of nano-based analytical techniques is easily justified when considering environmental monitoring and other applications niche segment in analytical instrumentation related to planet-care, clinical analysis, point-of-care diagnostics and security where applications exist in abundance.

As compared to their large scale siblings, miniaturised analytical instruments require smaller amounts of reagents as a result generate lesser waste. They need smaller amounts of sample (eg, micro- or nano-size), are cheaper to fabricate and to operate and are typically faster in producing analytical results. In other words, miniaturised instruments can be made smaller, cheaper and faster than their large scale counterparts.

Other trend is fully automatic and intelligent systems which are for relatively inexperienced users who want to conduct complex sample preparations and analyses. Similarly, manufacturers are also introducing easier-to-use chromatography and mass spectrometry devices. Advanced systems automatically optimise and tune themselves during operation, thereby eliminating much of the practice and guesswork associated with conventional instruments.

Another recent trend is combination of two to three different analytical technologies into one instrument which are known as hyphenated technique.  These instruments are typically easier to operate and less expensive than two or more side by side units with commensurate capabilities. Hyphenated techniques and instrument with automatic sample preparation are now two buzz words in analytical instruments which allows us to probe more, carry out multiple analysis simultaneously and lower down the detection levels of the various analytes.

What are the growth plans for your company in India?

Metrohm is focused on a very niche segment in analytical instrumentation, which is dedicated to ion analysis and will keep on developing instruments and accessories which will enhance the detection of ions. The company’s main focus will be on water, environment, pharmaceuticals, and food products during next few years. Off late, lot of importance has been given to analysis and estimation of trace ions in water, environment, pharmaceuticals and food products by regulatory agencies and we expect the business to grow in these chosen areas. We will also keep on introducing new models, hyphenated techniques, upgraded software, better sample preparation techniques, miniaturised accessories and consumables to be used with our instruments.

We will like to develop the new and vital applications of our instruments in the areas of pharmaceuticals, bio-fuels, energy (generation and storage), nanotechnology, food industry, petrochemical industries and environmental studies (water, waste water and air monitoring). Our application laboratory routinely works on the challenges faced by the various industries and comes out with comprehensive solutions.

Since we are new to spectroscopy market, we feel that we have a good potential to grow in this market and next few years we will focus ourselves to grow in this market segment. We plan to open few more offices so that we are connected to our customers locally and all our customers are within a distance of overnight travel at the best. The aim is to reach them within one working day.

Growth drivers for analytical instruments market

India has witnessed expansion in analytical instruments market due to opening of new institutes (IITs, IISER, NIPER etc), expansion of pharmaceutical manufacturing base, chemical industry, petrochemical industry, new regulations in food industry, environment monitoring, potable and bottled water, new research areas like energy storage, nano-technology etc. According to Deepak Parab, the factors driving the market are:

Growing research and manufacturing base of healthcare industry namely pharmaceuticals, contract research, biotechnology industry, bio-pharmaceuticals, clinical trials etc. which need sensitive analytical instruments at every stage of process. These instruments also need to be compliant with latest regulations of various regulatory bodies like US FDA etc

A large number of new academic and research institutes like IITs, NIPER, IISERs, central universities, private universities and institutions

Growing awareness in environment studies, monitoring, and protection

Stringent quality requirements of food and agriculture produce for the export.

New petroleum refineries and expansion of petrochemical and chemical industries

Requirement of techniques which are compact, sensitive, accurate, reliable, and easy to use

Expansion of existing and operations of new power plants (conventional as well as nuclear) and power transmissions lines

New research areas like nano-technology, energy storage, electric vehicle, etc

Hyphenated techniques like IC-ICP-MS, LC-MS, TitrIC, VoltIC, Combustion IC etc

Miniaturisation of the instruments like handheld Raman etc.