Punjab Newspaper

Despite the global economic meltdown, US based MERIAL the only global pharmaceutical company exclusively devoted to animal health today firmed up $100 million dollars (Rs.500 crore) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Punjab by setting up a Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Vaccine manufacturing project at Lalru in district SAS Nagar (Mohali).
An assurance to this effect was given by President MERIAL Dr. Jean-Loius Crosia during a meeting with the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal here at his official residence this morning.
Dr. Crosia informed the Chief Minister that MERIAL was a world leading, innovation-driven animal health company providing a comprehensive range of products to enhance the health, well-being and performance of a wide range of animals.  He pointed out MERIAL employed approximately 5000 people and had world wide operations in more than 150 countries.  MERIAL is the joint venture between Merck & Co., Inc. (USA) and Sanofi-Aventis (France).
Dr. Crosia further said that the MERIAL scouted for investment destination in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, after getting favourable response from Punjab Government and on-spot delivery of services had firmed up investment in the state. This would be the fourth FMD Vaccine manufacturing plant in the country and three other such plants were located in South and West. It was also informed in the meeting that first phase of the project would be completed by 2010 and the second & third phases would be functional by 2011 & 2013 respectively.
Dr. Crosia revealed that MERIAL India Pvt. Ltd. with an investment of Rs.250 crore would also set up a R&D centre to explore India’s domestic requirements of F&D vaccine, besides a full-fledged production plant being established in Punjab. He further informed that the company had already purchased 20 acres of land in Lalru.
Dr. Crosia said, “This new Biotechnology facility with world-class process and standards for production and R&D of FMD vaccines in Punjab will be comparable to our facilities in UK, Brazil and France.”
The Chief Minister thanked Dr. Crosia for reposing confidence in Punjab keeping in view congenial investment climate which it offered to the prospective investors added that the FDI worth Rs.500 crore would act as a catalyst to attract much more such investments in the state, besides giving impetus to the local employment potential both direct as well as indirect.  Mr. Badal said that the upcoming FMD vaccine project would certainly give a boost to the dairy industry in the state as Punjab had the highest per capita availability of milk per day i.e. 901 grams which was 3.88 times higher than National average.
Mr. Badal further said that it was the high time to adopt allied farming in the fields of dairy, fishery, bee-keeping, piggery etc. to supplement the farmers’ income as the traditional agriculture had already reached a point of saturation due to low returns as compared to higher input costs.  The Chief Minister assured Dr. Crosia that Punjab government would provide all possible infrastructure back-up support and also depute a nodal officer to oversee the progress of the project on day to day basis and to offer one stop services.
Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included Local Government & Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia, Chief Secretary RI Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister DS Guru, Principal Secretary Animal Husbandry SC Aggarwal, Principal Secretary Industries & Commerce SS Channy, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister AK Mahajan, chairman, Punjab pollution Control Board Yogesh Goel, Director-cum-Secretary VN Janjua besides the representatives from MERIAL India Pvt. Ltd. comprising Finance Director Ms. Samia Jaber, Country Head Mayank Parekh, Anil Nagpal and SD Rampal.