With a view to sensitise the pharma industry on 'Vibrant Gujarat 2011' starting on January 12, the Gujarat State Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) in collaboration with CII is organising a one-day seminar on November 27. The seminar is a part of Vibrant Gujarat global investors summit 2011 aimed to attract investors of pharma and boitech industry to the state.

The main aim of the seminar is to sensitise and create awareness about the investment opportunities that Gujarat holds for future investors. According to Hemant Koshia, commissioner, FDCA, "Gujarat has a lot of untapped potential and we plan to bring these into focus so as to provide lots of investment opportunities for companies. With this seminar, we want to inform our potential investors about the opportunity that Gujarat can provide them."

It would be an ideal ground to meet the potential investors who would be interested in entering into memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government. He adds that through this seminar the government plans to sustain and enhance the image of Gujarat as a hub of pharma industry by pro actively informing the industry about the benefits of investment in Gujarat.
 
In 2009, the Gujarat government had signed 26 MoU's with pharma companies which resulted in about Rs. 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, where as for the others work is under progress. "The government is having high expectation from the upcoming event and is hopeful to cross the target of 26 MoUs that was achieved in Vibrant Gujarat 09," he said.

The main hubs of pharma based activities in Gujarat is clustered in and around Ankleshwar, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and the Bharuch-Vapi-Valsad belt and are home to many domestic and international pharma and biotech companies. At present there are 2322 pharma manufacturing units and 115 units manufacturing medical devises that are operational in Gujarat. National share of Gujarat's pharma industry is approximately 42 per cent, I.V. 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. The state also has five AC-GET projects coming up exclusively for pharma industry which is attracting a lot of inquiries from other parts of India for setting up units in Gujarat.