Shimla
With an annual turnover of Rs 30,000 crore, of which Rs 9,500 crore involves exports, Baddi, Himachal Pradesh’s largest industrial township in Solan district, has turned into a major pharmaceutical hub – ranked third globally – manufacturing more than 150 bulk drugs, having demand in 200 countries . Growth of the pharmaceutical industry in the state, which till now had been known mostly for tourism, apple production and hydro-power sector, also means Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt is ranked at number 14 globally in terms of value of bulk drugs being manufactured here. It stands third in terms of volume, State Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri announced here Thursday.
There were concerns over migration of industries after expiry of the central industrial package, sanctioned in 2003 by the NDA government, Agnihotri said, Sanctioning of Rs 200 crore worth Bulk Drug pharma Park by Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar, besides Bulk Drug Pharma Park and a Satellite extension centre of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) has come as a big boost. There is no chance left for any leading pharma unit to wind-up their operations here.
There are more than 700 pharma-ceutical manufacturing units located in Baddi – Barotwiala – Nalagarh belt, of which 548 are leading drug manufacturers and another 160 cosmetic units, which also include big names such as Colgate, Godrej, Hindustan Unilever, Wipro and L’Oreal India. There are nearly 130 pharmaceutical units meeting the compliance of World Health Organization (WHO) and were supplying bulk drugs to global markets and countries including Taiwan, Korea, China, Latin America and Philippines. Around 15 pharmaceutical units have USFDA ( US Food and Drug Administration) approvals. In all, Himachal Pradesh has industrial investments of around Rs 14,000 crore.
