The Union Budget 2026-27 has placed biopharma and biologic medicines at the centre of India’s healthcare and manufacturing strategy with the proposed launch of Biopharma SHAKTI, a national initiative backed by an outlay of ₹10,000 crore over five years.
The scheme is aimed at strengthening the ecosystem for biologics and biosimilars while supporting the government’s vision of transforming India into a leading global biopharma industry and capturing 5% of the global biopharmaceutical market share, according to a government statement.
Acknowledging the growing burden of non-communicable diseases and the increasing global reliance on biologics and biosimilars, the Budget positions biopharma as a high-value, future-facing segment critical for both public health and economic growth.
Biopharma involves production, manufacturing, or extraction of therapies through biological organisms, such as human cells, fungi, or microbes. Some examples of biopharmaceuticals include vaccines, antibody treatments, gene therapies, cell implants, modern insulin, and recombinant protein drugs.
Biopharma SHAKTI is designed to support the domestic development and manufacturing of high-value biopharmaceutical products and medicines, reduce import dependence, and enhance India’s competitiveness in global biologics supply chains.
A major component of the initiative focuses on expanding human resource capacity.
The Budget proposes establishing three new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs) and upgrading seven existing NIPERs to address the growing requirement for specialised talent in biopharma research, development, manufacturing, and regulation.
The plan also calls for developing over 1,000 accredited clinical trial sites across the country, a move expected to significantly improve India’s ability to conduct advanced clinical trials for biologics and biosimilars and position the country as a preferred destination for ethical, high-quality, and efficient clinical research.
In parallel, the regulatory framework for biologics is set to be strengthened through enhanced capacity at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, including the induction of specialised scientific and technical personnel.
The objective is to improve regulatory efficiency, align approval timelines with global standards, and enable faster evaluation of complex biopharmaceutical products.
The development comes as India’s pharmaceutical industry has evolved beyond low-cost generic medicines and is increasingly investing in complex, high-value products such as biopharmaceuticals and biosimilars.
The country ranks 3rd globally in pharmaceutical production by volume and 14th by value, reflecting both manufacturing scale and expanding technological capability.
According to the government, the budget links manufacturing scale, skilled human resources, clinical research capacity, and regulatory credibility into a single framework, which signals an intent to move India up the pharmaceutical value chain toward innovation-driven biopharmaceutical production.
This Budget push further strengthens the groundwork for India to compete in the global biopharma market while improving domestic access to advanced and affordable biologic therapies, it added.
