Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG has agreed to sell its entire 70.68% stake in its Indian unit for Rs 1,446 crore to an investor consortium led by homegrown private equity firm ChrysCapital. Shares of Mumbai-listed Novartis India surged 20% on the news on Friday, hitting the daily upper limit.
The consortium also comprising WaveRise Investments and Two Infinity Partners also announced a mandatory open offer to buy an additional up to 26% of Novartis India at Rs 860.64 per share, totalling about Rs 552.50 crore, according to a regulatory filing.
“Novartis AG has entered into an agreement with the ChrysCapital group (“ChrysCapital”), one of the largest private equity firms investing in India, to transfer its 70.68% shareholding in NIL,” the company said in a statement. The deal is expected to close in the September quarter subject to meeting certain conditions.
The divestment follows a strategic business review by Novartis AG starting February 2024.
Live Events“Upon completion of this transfer of shares, Novartis will complete its transformation into a pure-play innovative medicines company and continues to adapt its footprint for efficient, sustainable long-term growth aligned with its global strategy,” according to the company.
The Novartis stock closed 20% higher at Rs 996.5 apiece on the BSE, widely outperforming a 0.38% rise in the benchmark Sensex.
Post the stake sale, the company would continue its presence in India through wholly owned unit Novartis Healthcare Pvt Ltd (NHPL). NHPL includes the commercial arm of Novartis in India, the Novartis Corporate Centre in Hyderabad, and R&D teams conducting clinical trials at more than 300 trial sites across India.
“Aligned with our global strategy, we are expanding our innovative Cardio Renal Metabolic and Oncology portfolio, marked by recent launches and a strong pipeline of innovative medicines for India,” the company said.
India is among few markets worldwide where the drugmaker has established biomedical research alongside a full-spectrum development and operations footprint.
The company, which operates the largest pharma global capability centre (GCC) in India, has ramped up its workforce in the last few years to more than 9,000 employees— about 11% of its global workforce—in an effort to strengthen early-stage research.
The stake sale comes at a time when Novartis’ India unit has been facing declining sales. Data from market tracker PharmaTrac showed in terms of 12 months sales value, the company has seen a gradual decline to Rs 493 crore as of December-end 2025 from Rs 655 crore as of December 2022. Sales of its blockbuster heart failure therapy Vymada—the biggest revenue contributor—fell to Rs 180 crore in the 12-month period to December 2025 compared to Rs 258 as of December 2022.
“Novartis key sales contributor in India—its heart failure therapy drug Vymada—having gone off patent, there has also been an increasing generic competition,” saidSheetal Sapale, VP-commercial at Pharmatrac.
In 2022, Novartis India signed a deal with Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Labs for exclusive sales and distribution of its established brands including popular pain drug Voveran. However, it isn’t clear how the stake sale deal will impact the in-licensing pact with DRL.
Responding to an ET query a spokesperson from Dr. Reddy’s said: “We are cognizant of the announcement. It is too early for us to comment. However, we remain committed to continue making the portfolio range available to patients.”
Novartis didn’t respond to a query regarding Voveran.