New Delhi (NVI): As part of the drives to make India a global leader in pharma sphere and Himachal Pradesh the next “Industrial Hub”, the state government has signed an MoU with SCHOTT KAISHA- a premium manufacturer of glass pharma packaging products, facilitating setting up of the latter’s first manufacturing facility in the state.
This will be second manufacturing facility of the Indo-German Joint Venture in India. This has been dubbed as ‘most advanced facility’, which will especially cater to the demands of the growing northern market, a press release said.
The MoU was signed by Himachal Chief Minister Jayram Thakur during the Domestic Roadshow under the ‘Rising Himachal Global Investors Meet’ in Chandigarh recently.
Himachal Pradesh is ranked third among global pharmaceutical hubs, manufacturing more than 150 bulk drugs and exporting to over 200 countries. SCHOTT KAISHA, recognising the state’s contribution to pharma sector, plans to invest over INR 50 crores on the plant to set up production capacity of 360 million ampoules and 70 million vials. The plant is expected to be operational by April next year.
Medicine spending in India is projected to grow 9-12 per cent over the next five years, enabling India to become one of the top 10 countries in terms of medicine spending. SCHOTT KAISHA, with its existing plants in Daman and Gujarat, is seen as a preferred partner for most of the leading pharmaceutical companies in India.
The new plant in Baddi would further add to SCHOTT KAISHA’s overall production capacity of three billion pieces of primary pharmaceutical packaging products. The plant would also lead to job creation in the industrial area as SCHOTT KAISHA plans to employ around 100 people within the first few months.
Discussing about his current investment in the state, Rishad Dadachanji, Director of SCHOTT KAISHA, “Pharmaceutical Packaging is a growth area in India and Baddi is home to many pharmaceutical companies, including some of our key clients. In fact, the state meets 35 per cent of demand for pharma products in Asia. In the past few years, Himachal Pradesh has done exceptionally well in attracting investments to build a concrete industrial base for the pharma sector.
Indian healthcare sector, one of the fastest growing sectors, is expected to cross US$ 372 billion by 2022. In fact, India’s pharmaceutical exports stood at US$ 17.27 billion in 2017-18 and are expected to reach US$ 20 billion by 2020.
