Gujarat has always been in the forefront of change and development but with the introduction of Vibrant Gujarat it has created a mark for itself that yet has no match within the country. Ever since it has been launched, it has helped the country to mint business worth crores through many outstanding Memorandum of Understandings (MoU's) between the government and companies from not only within India and abroad as well.
Vibrant Gujarat is a biennial event aimed at bringing together business leaders, investors, corporations, thought leaders, policy and opinion makers from almost 18 sectors together under one roof.
According to the official reports, by the time the 5th edition of Vibrant Gujarat 2011 was wrapped up, the Gujarat government was successful in signing over 100 MoUs worth around <span class=WebRupee>Rs.</span>11,000 crore from the pharma sector alone. In all, investment worth <span class=WebRupee>Rs.</span> 20.83 lakh crore from across sectors which equals to US$ 450 billion was made in Gujarat this year. With this kind of investment over one half of the GDP of India was generated from Gujarat alone.
According to Dr H G Koshia, Commissioner, Gujarat State Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA), “Vibrant Gujarat summit has helped not only the state of Gujarat to hog the limelight but it has also successfully helped India to catch the attention of the world as well.”
Elaborating further, he informs that delegates from over 101 countries were present for the Vibrant Gujarat 2011, which also included the countries who had been invited by Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) for the reverse buyer seller meet during the event. "Presence of delegates from so many countries shows the interest level of the foreign countries and the possibility of having investment in India especially Gujarat in future as well," point outs Dr Koshia.
Huge success
The event was reciprocated in such a way that it is reported that the US FDA has expressed interest in being the partnering country for the next event that is going to be organised in January 12-13, 2013. In the 2011 summit, Canada and Japan acted as the partnering country.
The Summit has been a resounding success in the past as well by attracting several companies from Asia and Europe to establish their presence in Gujarat, which is the most industrialised State in India, ranked first with a proposed investment of USD 17.8 billion in 86 projects accounting for 25.8 per cent of total investment in India.
Every year, there has been a steady increase in the interest among the industry members to do business within the state of Gujarat. Sources inform that compared to the 2009 edition, the 2011 edition was successful in signing four times higher number of MoU's.
Dr Koshia states that they were able to portray Gujarat as brand pharma in front of the world that increased the interest level among the people present in the event for future investment. He is hopeful that in the years ahead they will be more busy since a number of new projects are coming up in the state which is giving a lot of employment and other opportunities for many in the state.
One of the important highlights of the event this year was five foreign investors have entered into an MoU with the Gujarat government. Four of the companies are US based companies i.e. Kalintis Pharma LLC, Acquiescent Pharmaceutical, Amneal Pharmaceuticals and Asian Aerosol. Whereas the latest foreign company to sign the MoU is the Korean based Solco Biomedical which is a surgical instrument manufacturer company.
Solco is the first Korean based company to set up its base in Gujarat in the medical appliances sector under the category of orthopaedic implant medical device. The company will be investing <span class=WebRupee>Rs.</span>100 crore to set up a manufacturing facility for same and will be marketing products in India.
Other highlights
The officials from the Gujarat State Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) and the Ministry of Health which had organised a Business to Government (B2G) meeting with the industry on the last day of Vibrant Gujarat 2011 was successful in getting inquiry from about five more pharma companies who had shown keen interest in setting up their facilities in Gujarat.
The meeting focused on the future MoUs and different government incentives provided for the companies interested in doing business in Gujarat and was attended by delegates from 31 different sectors.
Dr Koshia informed that among the five companies, one is the US based Abbott Nutrition, a division of Abbot which has shown keen interest in setting up a manufacturing facility for its nutraceuticals segment in Gujarat. “As of now talks are under way. However the company has shown interest in investing around <span class=WebRupee>Rs.</span> 500 crore in the state for a mega project that deals with setting up of a manufacturing facility for nutraceutical products.”
Sources informed that other inquiries that showed positive business potential for the state were from Indian companies. Three API manufactures from Maharashtra and one company based in Chandigarh have shown keen interest in having facility in Gujarat and talks are already going on between the interested parties. Among the others who were present at the meeting were the vendors, especially the software service providers for pharma companies.
In 2009, the Gujarat government had signed 26 MoUs with pharma companies which resulted in about <span class=WebRupee>Rs.</span> 27,000 crore to be invested in the state. Koshia informed that out of the 26 MoUs, the government has already completed its work on eight plants which are functioning at present, whereas for the others work is under progress.
At present there are 2322 pharma manufacturing units and 115 medical devices manufacturing units that are operational in Gujarat. National share of Gujarat's pharma industry is approximately 42 per cent, IV set/BT set manufacturing is approximately 80 per cent, orthopaedic implants is approximately 50 per cent, intraocular lenses is approximately 35 per cent and cardiac stent is approximately 30 per cent.
Vibrant Gujarat is aimed at bringing together business leaders, investors, corporations, thought leaders, policy and opinion makers from almost 18 sectors together under one roof. According to sources, last year infrastructure and chemical and petrochemicals sector had made huge impact in the event whereas exceptions are very high this year from the pharma sector.