Sanofi to invest $437 million in India global centre, double its workforce

French drugmaker Sanofi plans to invest 400 million euros ($437.24 million) in its global capacity centre (GCC) in India by the end of the decade, as it aims to expand and more than double its workforce over the next two years, a top company executive said on Wednesday.

Sanofi will first invest 100 million euros ($109.31 million) by next year, Madeleine Roach, Executive Vice President, Business Operations, said at an event on Wednesday.

The GCC, an offshore facility in India's southern city of Hyderabad, is Sanofi's largest globally with an existing workforce of 1,000 employees. The company, which also makes vaccines, has GCCs in Budapest, Malaysia and Colombia.

The company aims to increase its strength to 2,600 by 2026, Roach told Reuters on the sidelines of the event.

This includes hiring data scientists and data engineers to grow its digital team and effectively use artificial intelligence tools.

"Hyderabad's Sanofi staff works very closely with stakeholders in the U.S. and France... the U.S. market has a lot of confidence in the capabilities here," said Roach. The U.S. is Sanofi's largest market by revenue, according to the company.

The Hyderabad facility is expected to do a significant amount of documentation work related to drug clinical trials, Roach added.

Consulting firm EY estimates India's domestic GCC market size is expected to more than double to $110 billion by 2030, aided by a skilled workforce, and favourable business and policy environment.

In addition to the availability of talent in India, Roach also pointed to geopolitical factors for the company's focus on expanding in the country as pharma companies seek to limit their reliance on China.