Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday proposed ₹10,000 crore investment over the next five years to develop India as a biopharma manufacturing hub, set up 1,000 clinical trial sites and strengthen the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.

Biopharmaceuticals are complex medicines manufactured from living organisms, cells, or tissues rather than through chemical synthesis.

In the Union Budget 2026-27 speech, Sitharaman also announced plans to establish 1,000 accredited clinical trial sites in the country.

India’s disease burden is observed to be shifting towards non-communicable diseases, like diabetes, cancer and autoimmune disorders. Biologic medicines are key to longevity and quality of life at affordable costs, Sitharaman stated.

“To develop India as a global biopharma manufacturing hub, I propose the Biopharma SHAKTI with an outlay of ₹10,000 crore over the next five years. This will build the ecosystem for domestic production of biologics and biosimilars,” she added.

Semicon Mission 2.0

The government has announced the next edition of India Semiconductor Mission with a broad objective to promote the chip manufacturing ecosystem, covering equipment, materials, indigenous designs and other components that are required to produce the high-tech components.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday, without announcing the outlay for the scheme, proposed that the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 will also focus on industry-led research and training centres to develop technology and a skilled workforce.

“We will launch ISM 2.0 to produce equipment and materials, design full-stack Indian IP, and fortify supply chains,” she said.

“The Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme, launched in April 2025 with an outlay of ₹22,919 crore, already has investment commitments at double the target. We propose to increase the outlay to ₹40,000 crore,” she added.