Mumbai

FIRST, foreign food brands flooded India with chips, cookies and soft drinks that fundamentally changed the nation's eating habits. Now, Big Pharma wants to cash in on an upsurge in cases of diabetes and heart disease in the country's most distant corners.

Global pharmaceutical companies, from Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co to Switzerland's Novartis AG, are heading into smaller cities and rural areas to learn about the healthcare needs of about 70 per cent of the population. These remote regions of the developing world are the final frontier for the international drug industry.