Ahmedabad: Gujarat has attracted fresh investment of Rs 2,500-Rs 3,000 crore in pharmaceutical manufacturing after the state Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) approved 59 new allopathic drug-making plants in the 2025-26 financial year. Officials said many of these upcoming facilities are being designed with export-ready infrastructure and are expected to deepen Gujarat’s role as a key manufacturing base for domestic and global markets.A senior FDCA official said the regulator issued 330 fresh licences during 2025-26, including approvals both for new units and for loan licensing arrangements. “We have approved a total of 330 fresh licences, out of which 59 are for new plants, while 271 are for loan licence,” the official said. “A total of 59 new plants for allopathic medicines have been approved in the 2025-26 financial year. Gujarat is a pharma hub, and all these plants will start operations soon, which will further strengthen our position.”The official added that the pace of new approvals has remained strong. “Since March 2019, we have approved more than 1,000 new allopathy medicine licences in Gujarat, which suggests that Gujarat is on the way to become a pharmacy to the world,” the official said.Industry sources indicated that the capex of newer facilities is rising as companies invest in modern, compliant plants that can serve regulated markets. “New-age pharma plants see significant investment and average investment per plant is around Rs 40-50 crore, while some companies are investing more,” the FDCA official said. “So we believe around Rs 2,500-3,000 crore new investment is happening in these new plants approved in FY26.”FDCA officials also cited comparable activity in 2024-25 when the state issued 69 new own-plant licences and 271 loan licences, indicating sustained demand for manufacturing authorisations.Viranchi Shah, national spokesperson of the Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA), said Gujarat has benefited from post-pandemic investment momentum. “Gujarat has seen significant new investments in the pharma industry after Covid,” Shah said. “Due to an established ecosystem and skilled workforce, a number of multinational companies have also set up base in Gujarat. Most of the new plants achieve manufacturing standards of international level.”The new facilities are expected to add capacity, enhance compliance-led manufacturing and support higher-value exports from the state’s pharmaceutical cluster.
