The Governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley in his recent trip to India expressed his interest in initiating and developing a close working relation with the Indian government, especially in the area of life sciences sector. The aim behind his six-day visit to India was to encourage and sensitise both the Indian government and the industry about the investment opportunities and the incentives provided by the State of Maryland for the companies interested in exploring business ventures within the State.

On the sidelines of the ongoing CphI India, being organised in Mumbai from  November 30 to December 2, Martin O’Malley informed that his state would be happy to see investments coming from India as the state of Maryland has many features that would attract and provide a conducive environment for a pharma or a biotech company to grow and develop their business. He said, “In spite of being a small state, we contribute almost 10 per cent of the total life science business in the US which is enough proof of our commitment for this niche but highly potential sector. The kind of incentives that we provide for the companies who are interested in doing business with us is huge, to be precise we have been increasing the research credit for the companies dedicated to do research activities.”

He pointed out that the State has many strong clusters that are dedicated for the development of biotech and life sciences industry with highly skilled and trained work force. “Most importantly we have ensured that the state becomes an ideal gateway for huge market with lot of dedicated research activities conducted through incubators specifically formulated for the life sciences sectors. We have 27 incubators in the state, of which one specifically deals with foreign direct investment (FDI) which provides companies with different incentives and support from the state,” informed O’Malley.

O’Malley further stated that he was very impressed by the kind of response that he had received from different companies and would be interested in exploring strong working relation with them. He is expected to meet the Chief Minister of Maharashtra today to sign a sister state agreement with them which will help the two states in developing a strong working relation on matters of business and industry, culture, arts, education and health. The Governor of Maryland has already signed a sister state agreement with Andhra Pradesh, its first such pact with any Indian state.