Pharmaceutical and biotechnology major Wockhardt signed a memorandum of understanding with the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation on Sunday to set up a special economic zone in Aurangabad.
Wockhardt Executive Director Huzaifa Khorakiwala said the company would invest Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion)over three-four years for setting up the SEZ. The MoU was signed between MIDC Chief Executive Officer Rajiv Jalota and Khorakiwala in presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and a galaxy of senior ministers and top officials from the state government.
The SEZ will be spread over 107 hectares of land leased by MIDC at Shendra. The Wockhardt group will set up a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing and research facility at the SEZ.
It will provide employment to an estimated 2,000 people.
"The SEZ will provide the base for a new thrust in international markets that will drive Wockhardt's growth in the coming years," Wockhardt Chairman Habil Khorakiwala said.
"It will make Aurangabad a major hub for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries," he added.
Khorakiwala complimented the state for its support and fast clearance of the first major pharmaceutical and biotechnology SEZ in the state.
The SEZ will house manufacturing facilities for active pharmaceutical ingredients, biopharmaceuticals, R&D centre, effluent treatment plant, a corporate office, warehouse and a residential and recreational complex.
At present, Wockhardt has 10 manufacturing facilities, including one in the UK, most of which are certified by international regulatory bodies such as the US Food And Drug
Adminstration. The proposed plants at the SEZ will also be built for international regulatory compliance.
Over half the pharma major's sales now come from Europe and the US, but India continues to be the group's manufacturing and research base.
The $1 billion-plus market capitalisation company Wockhardt was one of the earliest to set up a manufacturing facility in Aurangabad in 1979. President APJ Abdul Kalam inaugurated the Wockhardt Biotech Park, the country's largest biopharmaceuticals complex in Aurangabad in 2004.
The company's expertise in biopharmaceuticals is backed by robust manufacturing, regulatory and marketing infrastructure, offering huge opportunities for outsourcing and potential alliances with biotechnology leaders in the US and the European Union.
The further investment in biotechnology at the proposed SEZ will accelerate Wockhardt's expanding global reach. Wockhardt is a technology-driven pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with an active multi-disciplinary research programme employing 400 scientists.
Its new drug discovery programme has yielded several promising new molecules, one of which is now in phase-II human clinical trials. The US and the EU contribute to half its sales.
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