Prime Minister Narendra Modi today virtually inaugurated India’s first active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) fermentation unit, Kinvan Private Limited, at the Plassara Industrial Area of Nalagarh tehsil.
Set up with an investment of Rs 860 crore, the unit manufactures a key API used in the production of several antibiotics. It will meet around 60 per cent demand of the domestic market. India is heavily dependent on other nations like China and Korea for this API.
The unit will produce 400 tonnes of potassium clavulanate API annually. Its domestic demand is pegged at 700 tonnes per annum. The unit is being set up under the centrally funded Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
The scheme was launched for the promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical key starting materials (KSMs)/drug intermediates and APIs in the country in 2021.
The plant spread over 70 acres will have eight fermenters of 250 kilo litres each. It has come up at plot number 1 at the newly set up Plassara Industrial Area in Nalagarh tehsil.
The plant which has achieved 45 per cent productivity till now caters to the pharmaceutical units in the state as well as Gujarat and Uttarakhand. The management hopes to achieve optimum productivity by next year which will be a major milestone in the bulk drug industry of the country.
Himachal Pradesh’s Industry, Parliamentary Affairs and Labour and Employment Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan was the chief guest at the function held for the inauguration ceremony by the Prime Minister.
Chauhan urged the Prime Minister to increase the subsidy of Ayushman Yojana from the existing Rs 25 crore as the state incurred as much as Rs 75 crore to Rs 100 crore annually on the scheme.
The Industry Minister said, “The unit will prove a milestone in strengthening the economic sector. It will provide employment to about 1000 youth and has been set up after incurring an expenditure of Rs 860 crore.”
“The industries established in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh are making a significant contribution in the production of medicines in the country,” he remarked.
The Industry Minister said that today the Prime Minister has linked people above 70 years of age with the Ayushman Yojana. This will also benefit the senior citizens of the state.
He said that under the Ayushman Yojana, the state government has received an amount of Rs 45 crore from the Central Government, while Rs 100 crore has been spent on the treatment of patients under the scheme. He urged the MPs present on the occasion to increase the percentage of grant received from the Central Government under the Ayushman Yojana.
On this occasion, State BJP president Rajiv Bindal also expressed his views.
MP from Shimla parliamentary constituency Suresh Kashyap, Rajya Sabha MP Harsh Mahajan, MLA Nalagarh Assembly constituency Hardeep Singh Bawa, former MLA KL Thakur, chairman of Kinvan Private Limited S.S. Khilani, Director Devang Ajmera, Chief Operator RS Gujral along with senior officers of various departments were present on this occasion.