The contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) organisation - one of India's largest - paid around Rs 20 crore ($5m) in cash for the business, which currently makes pyridine derivatives for the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry in India.

Specialty Molecules has its production facility at Ambarnath, near Mumbai.

According to Shyam Bhartia, chairman and managing director of Jubilant, the acquisition will "strengthen" its global position in pyridine derivatives as well as extending the halogenation capabilities that it can offer its customers.

The generics market has been the mainstay of the Indian pharmaceutical manufacturing industry for years, but increasing competition and a downturn in growth rates has led to overcapacity. Jubilant is one among several Indian companies that have opted to expand their portfolios to cope with the changing operating environment.

Jubilant's approach to expansion within the market place has been via a string of acquisitions allowing it to offer services spanning form drug discovery and development through to manufacturing.

For example, it was the first ever Indian company to buy US contract research organisation (CRO) when it announced the acquisition of Target Research Associates in 2005, and has also added a majority stake in Belgium's Pharmaceutical Services and US generic company Trigen Laboratories in recent years.

This time last year Jubilant announced the purchase of US-based company Hollister-Stier Laboratories for $122.5m (€90m) in what represented one of the largest overseas acquisitions by an Indian company in the CRAMS sector.

Moreover, only last month the ambitious firm also just announced the purchase of Canadian contract manufacturer Draxis Health, which dwarfed the purchse price of Specialty Molecules, with a price tag of $255m.

Bringing Draxis into the Jubilant fold will give the Indian company a strong position in the North American contract manufacturing market, especially in the area of small volume parenteral drugs which is a big focus for Jubilant in the wake of its Hollister-Stier buy.

Draxis also adds to Jubilant's capacity in non-sterile products, such as solid oral and semi-solid dosage forms, which boasts a long-term contract with healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson.

The deal also placed Jubilant within the top five sterile manufacturing companies in North America, according Bhartia.