Vas Narasimhan, Chief Executive Officer of Novartis, called on KT Rama Rao, Telangana Minister for Industries and Commerce, on Thursday and discussed the growth potential in life sciences sector.

The discussions were centred on the life sciences ecosystem in the State and the vision of the Government for the sector.

Explaining the initiatives taken by the State Government, the Minister said the Government has consistently tried to sustain and accelerate the momentum by creating an enabling policy environment and establishing life sciences-specific industrial clusters such as the Genome Valley, which has become a major innovation and life sciences cluster in Asia.

The minister highlighted that about 700 new investment proposals, including 100 R&D units, have been approved during the last four years. These entail a cumulative investment of over ₹10,200 crore. During the last four years, the life sciences product exports in the State grew at 2.41 times, as compared to the national average of 1.18 times, he added.

The State Government has set a target of becoming the leading life sciences cluster in Asia through innovation-driven and tech-enabled growth, Rao said.

Expressing willingness to act upon innovative ideas, the Minister stressed the importance of a healthy partnership between the Government and industry.

 

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