Punjab all set to emerge as new pharmaceutical hub-Sukhbir Badal

Chandigarh, March 12, 2015: Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today said Punjab is all set to emerge as the pharmaceutical hub of the country, with foremost health sector players eying state for their major investment plans in the Medicity at New Chandigarh in the next two years. He stressed that Punjab will be a health tourism destination in the country in the coming years.

He was interacting here with a delegation of Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) during the course of which he discussed the state investment policy relevant to biosciences, pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors. Mr Badal called upon the biosciences, pharmaceuticals and healthcare industrialists to invest in the state as Punjab had implemented an investor friendly investment policy and established an exclusive Medicity at New Chandigarh in the periphery of Chandigarh and SAS Nagar.

Focusing on healthcare, pharmaceuticals and biosciences sector, the Deputy CM affirmed that Punjab would soon attract big investments in these fastest growing knowledge based sectors with the availability of pharma and medical technology. Badal said Punjab had put bio-sciences and healthcare sectors on priority.  He said there was huge potential for including knowledge based eco-system at peripheral SAS Nagar with availability of pharma manufacturing around Baddi and availability of medical technology in the state.

He also informed the business honchos that State had established first of its kind Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion, a one stop clearance mechanism, for giving all approvals to setup new ventures or expansion of existing industrial units in a stipulated time. He said Invest Punjab had fetched investment of more than 10000 crore with approving total 145 projects.

Badal revealed the initiatives undertaken by the State including ease of doing business, infrastructure and skills. He said Punjab led the country by implementing revolutionary governance reforms, e-district and abolished "inspector raj" by accepting self-attested documents and reports regarding setting up of industrial units.

Deputy CM also informed that Punjab had become the first state to have surplus power and cent percent rural electrification besides best air connectivity, 4/6 lane expressways, online citizen centric services, record agriculture production and achieved satisfactory growth in social sectors. He added that no other state in the country had implemented uniform overall development as compared to Punjab where all rural areas had entire basic facilities and infrastructure.

The OPPI executive members present in the meeting included Dr. Shailesh Ayyangar MD Sanofi India and President of OPPI, Sudarshan Jain MD Abbott Healthcare, Aijaz Tobaccowalla MD Pfizer, Angel-Michael Evangelista Country Head Bayer Pharmaceuticals, K. Shivkumar MD Eisai Pharmaceuticals, G. Sathya Narayanan MD Galderma India, Sanjiv Navangul MD Janssen India (Johnson & Johnson), Aman Bajaj MD Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Dr. Ramesh Panchagnula VP Nektar India. This prestigious organization, comprising of top pharmaceutical players in India, is holding its executive committee meeting for the first time outside of Mumbai and Delhi.

During their two day visit the OPPI delegation also interacted with senior officer of State government and knowledge institutes of the state including National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Panjab University, National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), PGIMER and Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) which offers wide-ranging courses in disciplines relevant to the sectors.

Describing the parlays a result oriented Dr. Shailesh Ayyangar shared investors' viewpoints and state investment policy relevant to the sectors. Lauding the reformative initiatives launched by dynamic Deputy CM he said that keeping in view the development strides achieved by the State it had become impossible for the businesses to ignore Punjab. He assured that pharma industry would explore to exploit biotech and health care facilities available in Punjab.

The members during deliberations expressed satisfaction that Punjab especially SAS Nagar is emerging as a key hub for biosciences, pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry through a well-developed ecosystem of existing industry, excellent infrastructure and connectivity, quality of life and presence of research oriented institutes.

The OPPI delegation commended the initiatives undertaken by the Punjab and was impressed by the one-stop clearance system at Invest Punjab. They said that globally, India is one of the top suppliers of bulk drugs and formulations and India’s pharmaceutical exports stood at approximately USD 20 billion in 2013-14.

Prominent amongst others present in the meeting included Chief Parliamentary Secretary NK Sharma, Chief Secretary Servesh Kaushal, Principal Secretary Investment Promotion Karan Avatar Singh and CEO PBIP Anirudh Tewari.