Sigma-Aldrich to set up shop in Hyderabad

BIO-ASIA

Nasdaq-listed firm Sigma-Aldrich announced plans to set up an $8 million lab-scale production complex at ICICI Knowledge Park in Hyderabad.

This is a part of the $88 million capital expenditure budget of the company. This is the first time a major US life sciences company has unveiled investment plans of this scale in the country.

Making the announcement, along with the Andhra Pradesh industries and commerce secretary B P Acharya and ICICI Knowledge Park chief executive officer Deepanwita Chatopadhyay, Jai Nagarkatti, the president of Sigma-Aldrich, told a media conference that the facility, to be operational in the first quarter of next year, would have around 80 new chemists exclusively providing contract research services.

They would also work on process development and small-scale custom synthesis for the pharmaceutical customers of the corporation. The unit at the ICICI Knowledge Park would serve as a 'feeder site' for the company's large-scale production operations in Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, he said.

On the expansion plans of Sigma-Aldrich, Nagarkatti said, the production complex at the Knowledge Park was the next logical step in the company's expansion plan in India.

From a simple beginning as a liaison office in 1992 in Bangalore, "the company's business in India had grown rapidly, doubling to just under $11 million in sales over the last three years alone," he said.

On the choice of Hyderabad for setting up the production facility, Nagarkatti said that the company zeroed in on the city after surveying the available infrastructure across the country.

Proximity to several institutions of higher learning, a friendly state government and a conducive atmosphere had impelled the company to set up its unit in the city, he said.

Nagarkatti, who hails from the city, was all praise for it, stating it had undergone tremendous change over the years. "Every year I have seen a lot of developmental activity in the city," he said.

Sigma-Aldrich operates in 34 countries and had 5,000 employees on its rolls worldwide. The company produces biochemical and organic chemical products and kits that are used in scientific and genomic research. He claimed over one million scientists and technologists were using its products.