India launches Biopharma SHAKTI push

India has put ₹10,000 crore behind a five-year plan to build its biologics and biosimilars industry, widening a policy shift beyond low-cost generic pills. (pib.gov.in) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman first announced Biopharma SHAKTI in the Union Budget on February 1, 2026, with a target of turning India into a global biopharmaceutical manufacturing hub. The government said the program will back domestic production, cut import dependence and strengthen India’s place in global biologics supply chains. (pib.gov.in) On March 10, 2026, Minister of State Anupriya Patel told the Rajya Sabha the scheme would run for five years and support high-value biopharmaceutical products, clinical research and faster regulation. Her written reply also said India plans three new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research and upgrades for seven existing institutes. (pib.gov.in) Biologics are medicines made from living cells or microbes rather than standard chemical synthesis, and the government lists vaccines, antibody drugs, gene therapies and modern insulin in that category. India’s budget notes tie the push to rising cases of diabetes, cancer and autoimmune disorders. (pib.gov.in) The program also reaches beyond factories. The Budget said India will build a network of more than 1,000 accredited clinical trial sites and add a dedicated scientific review cadre at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation to shorten approval timelines and meet global standards. (pib.gov.in) That matters for contract development and manufacturing organisations, the companies global drugmakers hire to develop and make medicines for them. Financial Express said the policy could favor Indian groups already expanding in biologics, including Syngene, Biocon and Divi’s Laboratories. (financialexpress.com) Syngene said in its 2025 annual report that its integrated biologics plant in Bengaluru already supports multiple expression systems and that a 20,000-liter biologics facility acquired from Stelis, with a commercial fill-finish unit, is scheduled to be operational in fiscal year 2026. That gives it a larger footprint just as the government is trying to pull more global biologics work into India. (annualreport.syngeneintl.com) Biocon enters the policy push from the biosimilars side. Its 2025 integrated annual report said Biocon Biologics launched biosimilar ustekinumab in the United States, underscoring how Indian manufacturers are trying to move from domestic scale to regulated global markets. (biocon.com) The government’s own explainer says it wants India to capture 5% of the global biopharmaceutical market, building on earlier efforts such as the National Biopharma Mission. Biopharma SHAKTI now gives that ambition a budget line, a workforce plan and a regulatory timetable. (pib.gov.in)