Novartis Says It Hired Over 1,600 Amid Job Cuts Speculation In India
Executive Summary
Novartis counters speculation around pandemic-related staff cutbacks in India, saying that it actually upped the number of hires across its operations since January 2020. A senior executive separately provides a buoyant outlook for the Swiss firm’s global services operations in Hyderabad, which has added a significant number of new roles.
Speculation about Novartis AG’s plans to "right-size" its workforce in India as part of broader business scenario-related evaluation plans have created a flutter in local industry circles, though the Swiss multinational underscored that it does not intend to implement any pandemic-related cutbacks in the country.
On the contrary, the company says it has hired more personnel across India, with a senior company executive indicating at a virtual conference this week that Novartis has added over 1,500 new positions even amid the pandemic at its operations in Hyderabad. The site houses one of the firm's global digital innovation hubs and also provides a gamut of services including information technology, market analytics, data management, biostatistics, medical communications and scientific support.
Nevertheless, the rumor mills were running overtime after a report in the local media quoting an unnamed senior executive suggested that a workforce rationalization project was being evaluated and that about 170 jobs in India could be axed in the process.
But Novartis's seemingly guarded response did not do enough to categorically diffuse the situation. Its Indian subsidiary said that it constantly looks at ways to best meet patients' needs with its innovative products and pipeline, while strengthening organizational competitiveness.
“This is an ongoing process as part of which we constantly evaluate various business scenarios to enable decision-making in accordance with both business needs and needs of our patients and customers,” Novartis told Scrip.
The company, however, clarified that there would be no job losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic and went on to add it had actually hired more than 1,600 full-time associates across the country since January 2020. The bulk of the new hires appear to have been in the Hyderabad operations.
Novartis currently has a large footprint in India with close to 10,000 full-time associates country-wide.
Last year, the company emphasized that it would not cut back on jobs even amid the pandemic. “Our response to the COVID-19 crisis demonstrates Novartis’ relentless commitment to our associates, patients, and the global community. For our associates we’ve committed to no COVID-19-related job losses and a full range of support programs,” CEO Vas Narasimhan said at the time of the Q1 2020 results in April last year.
Over 1,500 Roles Added in Hyderabad
There’s little to suggest that any major rationalization is in the works in India and the Swiss multinational in fact appeared particularly buoyant about parts of its operations in the country.
Speaking at the BioAsia 2021 virtual event this week, Naveen Gullapalli, Global Head of Novartis Business Services Innovation (NBS X), maintained that through the pandemic over the last year, the company had “moved the needle" and seen its operations grow in India. But he acknowledged that the year gone by was a “big test” and that companies were “at sea” in March-April last year, but had crossed that bridge very effectively.
NBS X is a global team driving disruptive innovation for the Novartis business services organization.
“We’ve added over 1,500 roles in Hyderabad and I think many companies have had the same kind of experience that productivity has increased and we’ve contributed more to our purpose, which is to improve and extend lives,” Gullapalli told BioAsia.
Gullapalli is based out of Hyderabad and his responsibilities also cover the Novartis Global Service Centre there.
Data Science, AI Capability
Last year, the Swiss firm launched Novartis Biome India, its first digital innovation hub in Asia, which followed similar Biome initiatives in San Francisco, Paris and London. Biome India is expected to act as a bridge to the external ecosystem, enabling Novartis teams to better discover, develop and drive collaborations that transform innovative initiatives into impactful solutions for patients.
Novartis hopes to connect and interact with partners across the digital domain, from start-ups and academia to large players in the industry. (Also see "Novartis Logs Into India With Digital Innovation Hub " - Scrip, 20 Feb, 2020.)
Initiatives that hope to disrupt healthcare and try to address “moonshot ideas and problems” are also underway out of the Hyderabad hub, Gullapalli indicated. “We have our largest data science and AI [artificial intelligence] capability established in Hyderabad and I think the largest number of analysts sitting in one place if you look at all our global operations; we are really thriving, growing,” he added.
He also sees the ecosystem there as “a fabulous asset”, with a lot of talent keen to come on board and work with Novartis.
IPR Concerns
Nevertheless, the executive also referred to concerns around intellectual property rights (IPR) and weak enforcement in the country – a long-standing irritant for most foreign firms operating in India.
Gullapalli urged the government to go “beyond the letter” in spirit and to try and respect intellectual property and provide more transparency, because that’s how science develops.
“That’s how we are able to develop the vaccines, medicines that can address and improve lives. We have a little bit of a journey on that but all in all Novartis is really pleased to be here [in India] and we think the future is really bright and there are more opportunities and we couldn’t be better set up,” he maintained.
Foreign firms have over the years flagged various prickly areas around IPR in India. For instance, the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, in its recent submissions for the United States Trade Representative’s 2021 Special 301 Review, noted in a string of comments that India does not provide mechanisms for the notification or resolution of patent disputes prior to the marketing approval of generic products.
Such mechanisms, it said, are needed to prevent the marketing of patent-infringing products and to resolve disputes in a timely manner. The “SUGAM” initiative, launched in November 2015 to implement e-governance with respect to the licensing system within India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, lacks transparency and does not facilitate timely notification to a patentee of a possible infringement, the Forum said.
The Special 301 Report discusses the adequacy and effectiveness of US trading partners’ protection and enforcement of IPR.