Nestled against the Arabian Sea on the western coast of India, the state of Goa has been traditionally known as an attractive haven to mix business with leisure. With more than 80% literacy and a multilingual populace, this former Portuguese colony triumphs as one of the major centres of business activity.
Apart from the world-famous virgin beaches, white sands and interspersing rivers, the tiny green land of Goa has many more thing to offer for a globetrotting entrepreneur who is keen to do business with peace and pleasure.
Strategically placed, Goa is well connected to the rest of the land by air, rail or road. It is connected by flights to the major headquarters like Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi and Cochin. The Konkan railway, which is hailed as one of the engineering marvels of our times, passes through the entire length of the state linking it to the adjoining Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala .Goa is connected by road to all the major towns in India.
The port of Mormugao is the chief source of attraction for exporters. This modern port is the highest exporter of iron ore in the country.
Goa also prides in having the highest doctor-to-patient ratio and the highest hospital-bed-to-population ratio. This perhaps contribute to the reason why the state boasts of producing one tenth of the pharmaceuticals manufactured in the country amounting to Rs 2800-crore business per year.
Home for several drug makers from India and abroad, Goa exports pharmaceuticals worth Rs 550 crore annually. Leading local and transnational pharma players like Blue Cross Labs, Knoll Pharma, E-Merck India, Colorcon Asia, Geno Pharma, Procter and Gamble India Ltd, Cadila Health care, Dr. Reddy's Labs, Glenmark,Ratio Pharm India Ltd, Ranbaxy , Cipla, Indoco Remedies Ltd, Vicco Labs, Lupin, Unichem, Wyeth, Sander Pharma, sanofi-aventis, Zandu Pharma, FDC Ltd, Kare Pharma have operations in the state and many more are planning to start either manufacturing or R&D units here.
As per official figures, Goa has 295 registered pharmaceutical producers, altogether with 403 units in operation, including loan-licensed units. Of this, 108 are independent units. However, coming to the ISM sector, there are only nine manufacturers.
The Food and Drug Control Administration of Goa is responsible for registration and licensing of pharmaceuticals. FDA, Goa has a strength of 130 staff including director, two deputy drug controllers, three assistant drug controllers, seven drug inspectors, 12 food inspectors and one technical personnel. The department licensed about 3000 drugs in the year 2004-05, according to FDA sources.
Most of the manufacturing units are Schedule M compliant and several of them have multiple approvals from international regulatory agencies like USFDA, UK's MHRA, South Africa's MCC, Brazil's ANVISA etc.
"Schedule M is not at all an issue so far as Goa's pharmaceutical industry is concerned as we had strictly implemented the norms while licensing the units,'' said S N Tripathi, director, FDA, Goa. Out of the 16 manufacuring units which have failed to comply with revised Schedule M norms even after deadline, 6 have been closed and the remaining are in the process of completing the modernization process. And they would be able to comply within a month's time, he informed.
According to Tripathi, Goa has not come across any incidence of spurious drugs in the past five years and has been successful in maintaining as a spurious drug-free state all through the years. The state has around 850 licensed traders, including wholesale traders.