The company, which is planning this world standard facility at the SEZ located at Bhootkhamb near Keri in Goa, would invest about Rs 650 crore (Rs 6.5 billion) in the new unit.
Cipla Joint Managing Director Amar Lulla said, "We are in negotiations with the SEZ developers to buy the required land for the proposed formulation manufacturing facility and the new plant is expected to come up in two years."
The Keri park is the first pharma SEZ planned in Goa. The Goa Industrial Development Corporation last year allotted 1.2 million sq mt of land to Meditab Specialities to develop the formulation specific SEZ.
The Rs 2300 crore (Rs 23 billion) Cipla already has two formulation manufacturing facilities located at Verna in Goa.
The company's another new export oriented manufacturing unit for active pharma ingredients and formulation was commissioned at Patalganga in Maharashtra early this year. Cipla had also expanded its production facilities at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh this year.
"We have planned major additions to our manufacturing facilities at Kurkumbh and Bangalore," said the company sources.
Earlier this year, Cipla had raised $170 million (Rs 782 crore or Rs 7.82 billion) through global depository receipts envisaging few key investments in the current financial year. The GDR issue is to fund expansions as well as its proposed growth programmes abroad.
The company, which has been in the chemistry-based medicine manufacturing and marketing for almost seven decades in India, is now planning to enter biotechnology as well.
Looking at this opportunity, Cipla had recently tied up with Avestha Gengraine Technologies (Avesthagen) for a biopharmaceuticals development programme.
The company is also currently in talks with biotechnology companies in Europe and China for acquiring large capacity manufacturing facilities along with latest fermentation technology.
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