Andhra Pradesh’s pharma sector attracted investments of over Rs 18,000 crore last year, according to data from the state industries department. CNBC-TV18 learns that the sector employs approximately 89,000 people from the state.
The state’s industries department statistics points to nearly 250 active pharma ingredients, (APIs), of which 38 are WHO-approved, and 20 are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and key pharma clusters such as the Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City, special economic zones (SEZs) in districts such as Atchutapuram, Naidupeta and Pydibhimavaram.
Today, the sector is looking to attract more investments as the priority of the state government is to convert MoUs into “realisable” investments. Policymakers in the state believe there is potential to realise a large chunk of the investments that industry leaders propose to make at the two-day AP investor summit that begins later this week.
“Andhra Pradesh has a GSDP growth of 11.43 percent, which is the highest in the country on account of all the progress we have made,” said state industries minister Amarnath Gudivada.
He added that in the previous regime, MoUs totaling to Rs 18 lakh crore were signed, and of them only 10 percent were realised investments. "In the coming years, and at the upcoming global investor summit, our realised investments would be more than 90 percent,” he said.
In November, Aurobindo Pharma announced that it would complete its Penicillin-G plant in the state by March 2024 with pilot batches scheduled to be rolled out starting October this year. Earlier, Amarnath said that the UK government was also a potential investor when it came to the state’s pharma sector.
Andhra’s pharma and medical device manufacturing ecosystem was in the spotlight last year when industrial parks such as the AP MedTech Zone produced a record 11 lakh RT-PCR test kits per day at the height of the pandemic. The medical device manufacturing hub also supplied over 1,000 oxygen cylinders every day, during the worst of the second wave.
Today, the 40-year-old medical devices manufacturing unit is readying for its next phase of growth. A year ago, its MD and founder predicted that indigenous development was a priority. “We will have zero-dependence on imports in the next three years,” said Dr Jitendra Sharma, MD and Founder-CEO of the AP Medtech Zone.
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