India hoping to break China’s grip on industry

Big dreams: The Novartis research and development centre under construction at Genome Valley in Hyderabad. Modi is eagerly promoting his country as the pharmacy of the world as it aims to become a top supplier of drug ingredients. — Bloomberg

NEW DELHI: On the edge of Hyderabad in southern India, a vast patch of arid shrub-land the size of about 14,000 football fields is becoming a testing ground for a model that could help wean the world off its dependence on Chinese drug ingredients.

This empty site of the Hyderabad Pharma City, marked out by scuffed sign posts and a rubble-strewn access road is expected to attract about US$8.4bil (RM36bil) and employ 560,000 people in hundreds of sprawling plants.