Bangalore, June 2, 2010: Addressing a one-day workshop on “Bio-Pharma Hub: Advantage Jammu and Kashmir” organized by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), India, Mr Omar Abdullah urged for involving local entrepreneurs in exploring possibilities and advantages of this sector for setting up small and medium industrial units.

“On the first place you need to engage local entrepreneurs to make necessary dent in this field and begin the activities utilizing the raw material abundantly available across the state,” Mr Abdullah told ASSOCHAM and said that before going for bigger ventures the activity can be started on smaller and medium scale.

Mr Abdullah said that he is hopeful that ASSOCHAM would focus on encouraging and associating local players in its efforts and intension of utilizing Jammu and Kashmir’s advantage as biopharma hub. “We have a high-class talent pool present in the state. Upgradation and creation of skills required in the biopharma and similar sectors are what needed.

He also said that industrial units in the field of biopharma are energy efficient and befitting to the state’s geographic and topographic conditions. “For such units don't have to depend on import of raw material from outside the state or the road condition of highway,” he said and added that these units can prove highly beneficial for the state and the entrepreneurs.

Mr Surjit Singh Slathia, the Minister for Industries and Commerce, Jammu & Kashmir, said, “In the recent years a large number of big and small pharma companies have shown interest in the state and investment for the sector is in the pipeline. We are trying to rope in investment worth $319.32 mn (Rs 1500 crore) in pharma sector, which in turn would generate about 3,000 jobs.”

Mr Slathia also added that Jammu and Kashmir is a rich depository of medicinal plants which could be utilized for biopharma products of various ranges.

While pinpointing the advantages of Jammu and Kashmir as a biopharma hub, the speakers said that 50 percent of the medicinal plants utilized in Britain for preparation of medicines grow in Jammu & Kashmir. They said that the state is a rich depository of invaluable and rare species of about 600 medicinal plants.

The Chief Minister also released a study paper prepared by ASSOCHAM on the growth and potential of Jammu & Kashmir.