Gujarat seeks investments from Swiss pharma firms

After Astrakhan, Japan and South Korea Gujarat has now set its eyes on Switzerland for attracting investments in the state.

The government is very positive that the state will see a major investment from Swiss Biotechnology companies and pharmaceutical companies in next few years.

The business delegation under the leadership of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi which recently returned from three days' official visit to Switzerland believes that the visit was very positive and the results will come in the next one to three years in form of investments.

The delegation was in Switzerland from July 1 to July 3.

As another big achievement for the state government, Klaus Schwab, founder chairman of World Economic Forum (WEF) invited Gujarat CM to attend WEF Conference also known as 'Summer Davos' to showcase the state's achievements and growth in the last five years. Summer Davos is to be held in Dailin, China in September 2007.

After this meeting Gujarat CM has been also invited to attend the WEF Conference at Davos in January, 2008. Narendra Modi will present the Gujarat case in presence of CEOs of world's top 5,000 companies.

Pankaj Patel, Chairman and Managing Director, Zydus Cadila told reporters here: "During our visit to Zurich, the delegation met a number of representatives of companies from sectors like pharmaceuticals, bio-technology, chemicals, petrochemicals, oil & gas, infrastructure, power and transportation as well as banking and financial services. We expect large investments from pharma, biotechnology and banking and finance in the next three years."

CM held meetings with Fredy Hausermann and other board members of the French power and transportation sector giant Alston and visited the headquarters of the company at Basel. Modi urged Alston to locate their new and upcoming manufacturing facilities in Gujarat.

The delegation also held meeting with Jean Paul Clozel, Founder, CEO of Actelion, one of the Europe's fastest growing pharma companies with a market cap of $5.5 bn.

Modi also requested Actelion to set up their manufacturing facilities in Gujarat as Gujarat is strong in pharmaceutical.

He offered every possible assistance in setting up their units in the state.

K Kailashnathan, principal secretary to CM and Pankaj Patel said that they are expecting major investments from companies like Nestle and Actelion.

During a dinner organised by Swiss Indian Chamber of Commerce at Zurich on July 2, the delegation met representatives of companies like Novartis, Nestle, Alstom, UBS, Holcim, Credit Suisse and Schindler AG.

Patel said that Nestle has shown great interest in protein-rich wheat of Bhal region of Gujarat and Isabgol. The company will be sending its team to Gujarat in the next few months.

Hari Sankaran, MD, IL&FS said, "Switzerland is the global hub of banking and finance service sector. The companies in these sectors were amazed at the concept of Gujarat International Finance-Tec City(GIFT) which will be coming up in Gandhinagar. We have received many in-principal proposals from these companies to set up their operations in GIFT. Many infrastructure developers have also shown interest in the concept. The investment will start pouring-in in one year and most of this will be tapped in two to three years."

CM also met Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) at Zurich.