Close on the heels of acquiring French company RPG (Aventis), Ranbaxy Laboratories on Wednesday said it was looking at more acquisitions in the United States and Europe and was examining few proposals.

"That (acquisitions) is a part of our overall growth strategy. We have a team in Germany which is examining three to four proposals at any given point in time," Brian W Tempest, joint managing director and chief executive officer (designate), Ranbaxy Laboratories, told reporters in New Delhi.

Tempest said company was also looking at licensing opportunities in US and added that the company had a core team for clinical trials there under its research and development initiative in the country.

He said company's product pipeline for both India and the US was very robust for the calendar year, but declined to give further details.

Asked about company's Chinese operations, he said that he was hopeful of making operating profits by the end of the calendar year.

Stating that Ranbaxy was planning to introduce more propriety products in China as generics faced severe price undercutting, he said the company was looking at getting approvals for some products there.

Speaking after announcing the launch of herbal range of over-the-counter products, including Olesan nasal drop and cough syrup and appetite enhancer, Ranbaxy Global Consumer Healthcare head Atul Malhotra said the company would be soon rolling on their products in South East Asia and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) markets.

Stating that the company had registered a growth of about 30 per cent last year, Malhotra said it had recorded sales to the tune of $15 million.

He said the company was capitalising on the strength of standardisation, quality assurance and rigorously-tested products which had few herbs.

Malhotra said the company was also in the process of adding new products to its portfolio and may bring out some more this year in the same arena.

However, it may be noted that most of the products including Revital, Pepfiz and Olesan have been brought from prescription route to OTC.