The Grass is Always Greener…

 

 

 

 

As I was driving to work yesterday I noticed something in Jayanagar that amused me. On my way to office I used to come across a Chemist/Druggist Store. I wouldn’t like to name it. But let’s call “PNP” for short. It was about 4-5 years old and was fairly successful. I used to buy medicines from there sometimes and I recognised the owner well. Yesterday I noticed it had changed its name. The Abbreviation of the new name was “CDG”. I walked in to “CDG” to buy some medicines and I noticed a new man at the counter. He introduced himself as the new owner and said that the old owner decided to sell the business to him as he felt there was no money in retailing medicines. He told me that the old owner thought it was the Pharma Companies that made all the money and he as a retailer was left with the headache of keeping inventory and selling all the stuff. 

Just 10 minutes later, a few blocks away in a different corner of Jayanagar I witnessed a Brand New Chemist and Druggist Store being opened with a Big Board and a Big Retail Shop Frontage. The name was “Religare Wellness”.

 Religare is a company promoted by the same promoter group who once owned a majority stake in the Indian Pharma Company – Ranbaxy. A few months back the promoters sold their Majority Stake in Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals to the Japanese Pharma Company – Daiichi. After exiting their Majority Stake in Ranbaxy, this former promoter group of Ranbaxy is known to be now concentrating on the investments made by its other firm Religare. Religare has promoted ventures in Mutual Fund Business, Asset Management, Insurance, etc. I was surprised they decided to enter into a Chain of Drug Retailing Stores. After all these were the same people who sold Ranbaxy to Daiichi . And today they are entering into the Drug Retailing Business !! Maybe they realised there wasn’t much value in manufacturing pharmaceuticals and thought there was more value in Retailing medicines!!

 Amazing I thought, one business shuts shop because he sees No Value in Pharma Retailing because he thinks the Pharma Manufacturers make all the money. And a Big Pharma Giant Promoter sells his stake in the Pharma Manufacturing Company and decides to invest in a Pharma Retailing Venture !!

 I remember a Jeffrey Archer short story from the short story collection “To Cut a Long Story Short” which had the title “The Grass is Always Greener…” which epitomised the saying The Grass is always Greener on the Other side of the Fence