India to spend 100 billion rupees to make biopharma production hub

Published Mon, Feb 2, 2026 · 12:17 PM

[MUMBAI] India will invest 100 billion rupees (S$1.4 billion) in biopharmaceutical research over the next five years as part of a broader push to scale up domestic manufacturing, signalling a renewed focus on higher-value drug development.

The funding will be directed towards the research and production of biologics and biosimilar medicines, with the government targeting to position the country as a global biopharma manufacturing hub, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Parliament on Sunday (Feb 1).

The announcement marks a shift for India’s pharmaceutical industry, where companies have historically spent less on research and development than global peers, focusing instead on lower-value generics and contract manufacturing. India’s top 10 firms spend about 5.8 per cent of their revenue on R&D annually, according to a report by think tank Fast India, while their global counterparts spend 17.3 per cent.

As firms from Biocon to Sun Pharmaceutical Industries seek to boost the development of more complex therapies, increased public funding could narrow that gap. Indian drug makers’ shares rose following the announcement.

The move comes as India faces a rising burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cancer, Sitharaman said while presenting the annual budget for the next financial year. The nation faces the second-highest burden of diabetes globally, after China, according to Lancet. It also has the second-highest number of cancer deaths.

“Biologics and biosimilars will be central to improving longevity and quality of life” as these diseases become more common, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson at Biocon Group, said.

But 95 per cent of this outlay will come in later years as the government has allocated only five billion rupees under this plan for the year ending March 2027, budget documents show.

The plan, labelled as ‘Biopharma SHAKTI’ or the ‘Strategy for Healthcare Advancement through Knowledge, Technology and Innovation’, includes setting up three research institutes and upgrading seven existing ones. India will also create a network of over 1,000 accredited clinical trial sites and strengthen its drug regulator to meet global standards. BLOOMBERG