RANBAXY TO SET UP NEW PRODUCTION UNITS IN MOHALI'S ECONOMIC ZONE

Indian drug compnay Ranbaxy is likely to reach an agreement by April that will allow it to establish several new drug-production units within the pharmaceutical Special Economic Zone (SEZ) located in Mohali, India.

"The SEZ will either have two or three domestic pharmaceutical companies," said Pushpinder Bindra, president of global manufacturing and capacity planning at Ranbaxy. "For now, the area has not been mapped and we are still on the drawing board," he added.

The SEZ, which is spread over 80 acres in Mohali's industrial region, is expected draw export-oriented pharmaceutical industries and R&D facilities, said Bindra. "The proposed facility will be the largest manufacturing site for formulations and the 'future of Ranbaxy', catering to the international market," he said.

Ranbaxy, one of India's largest pharmaceutical companies, already has a production unit in Mohali. The company plans to establish an oral-caplet-specific manufacturing facility as part of its new SEZ plan, which could produce up to 8 billion pills per year.