Novartis CEO meets KTR

Hyderabad: Vas Narasimhan, the Chief Executive Officer of Novartis, who is on a visit to the city, called on Minister for Industries and Commerce K. T. Rama Rao today.

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

Explaining the initiatives taken by the State Government, the Minister emphasized on leveraging the vibrant scientific and industrial ecosystem, Government has consistently tried to sustain and accelerate the momentum by a 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 Narasimhan 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 INR 10,200 crores. The Minister also stated that 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.

The Minister handed over a docket to Narasimhan explaining the marquee initiatives taken by the State Government. The State Government has set an ambitious target of becoming the leading life sciences cluster in Asia through innovation-driven and tech-enabled growth, he said. Expressing willingness to act upon innovative and impactful ideas, the Minister stressed upon the importance of a healthy partnership between the Government and industry.

KTR expressed happiness that Hyderabad’s Novartis Centres of Excellence have been contributing significantly in the Company’s global scheme of things. He assured all support from the State Government.