MUMBAI, July 31 (Reuters) - Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ELDP.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) expects a minimum 20 percent rise in 2008/09 net profit, aided by new product launches, an official said Thursday after the firm posted a 16 percent rise in first-quarter profit. For the year to March 2009, Mumbai-based Elder sees revenue of 6.40 billion rupees to 6.50 billion rupees, said Alok Saxena, director, international division. For 2007/08, the companys net profit was 718 million rupees on revenue of 5.48 billion rupees. "We have factored the higher interest cost in this quarter. Going forward, we will be on target to meet these full-year forecasts," Saxena said. "We expect to launch four more products for the year." Borrowing costs have risen after Indias central bank started bumping up its benchmark lending rates, which it lifted to 9 percent earlier this week, to contain annual inflation hovering close to 12 percent. Earlier in the day, Elder reported a net profit of 175.4 million rupees for April-June, while net sales rose by a fifth to 1.48 billion rupees. "The profit was lower than normal this quarter because of the costs involved with launching three new products and we had to deal with higher interest costs," Saxena said. Elders proposed drug launches for the full year include those licensed from Italys Gnosis, and a product each from an unnamed Japanese firm and a U.S. firm. Talks are still on with the U.S. firm, he added. The companys shares closed nearly 2 percent higher at 323.45 rupees in a firm Mumbai market. (Reporting by Bharghavi Nagaraju; Editing by Ramya Venugopal)

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