Pharmaceutical clusters of India
Also called: Pharmacy of the world · Topic: Manufacturing Industries of India: Location and Distribution · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Pharmaceutical clusters are places where many medicine makers work close together. Being close lets them share suppliers, skilled workers and services. India is a leading supplier of generic medicines (cheaper copies of drugs whose patents have run out) and of vaccines. That is why it is often called the "pharmacy of the world". The main clusters are Hyderabad, Baddi, Ahmedabad-Vadodara, Mumbai-Pune, Visakhapatnam and Sikkim.
Example
Genome Valley in Hyderabad (Telangana) is a big cluster for medicines, vaccines and biotech. Baddi in Himachal Pradesh is another major drug-making town.
Don't confuse with
- Bulk drug parks: these three parks were planned in 2022 at Bharuch, Una and Kakinada, and they make only active pharmaceutical ingredients. Pharma clusters grew over time and make finished medicines too.