India has made rapid strides in this industry in the recent past. It meets 80% of its requirement of bulk drugs.
The country manufactures a wide range of medicine. India is self-sufficient in terms of formulation technology.
The production of pencillin and Rifampicin has been steadily growing and almost the entire domestic demand for these drugs is met through indigenous production.
Earlier, there was one Pencillin G manufacturing unit i.e. the Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd. (HAL) in the public sector and one unit in the private sector i.e. M/s Alembic.
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Three more pencillin manufacturing units in the private sector viz. M/s SPIC Pharmaceuticals Ltd., JIC Pharma Chemical Ltd. and Torrent Gujarat Biotech Ltd. have been set up.
HAL has entered into a joint venture with MAX GB Ltd. which has further augumented the indigenous production of Pencillin GB. Besides this, a new private sector unit has started manufacture and commercial production of anti-TB and anti-leprosy drug since July 1997.
The industry has made phenomenal progress. It meets 70% of country’s requirements. There are about 250 units in the organized sector, 5 in the public sector (IDPL, HAL, SSPL, BCPL and BIL), 6 in the joint sector and about 5,000 units in the small scale sector engaged in the production of different drugs. Of these, more than 100 are engaged in the production of bulk drugs.
The Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (IDPL) were incorporated on April 5, 1961. The company has 5 plants located at Rishikesh (U.P), Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Gurgaon (Haryana), Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Muzafarpur (Bihar). IDPL has also set up three subsidiary companies in collaboration with the state governments in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bhubaneshwar.
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Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd. (HAL) incorporated in March 1954 was the first public sector undertaking in the field of Pharmaceuticals. It has three subsidiary companies in collaboration with the state governments of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Manipur.
There are three public sector undertakings engaged in the formulation of drugs and formulations located at Kolkata: (i) Bengal Immunity Limited, (ii) Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd., (Hi) Smith Stanistreet Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
A large number of firms and companies are manufacturing and marketing drugs in different parts of the country. Drug manufacturing companies have been mushroomed in different centres of India but more so in Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, U.P, Uttaranchal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.