Wockhardt to set up pharma SEZ

MUMBAI: Pharmaceutical company Wockhardt Ltd has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) for establishing a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Aurangabad.

The company said it would establish a pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing and research facility at the SEZ, which would provide employment to an estimated 2,000 people.

The SEZ would be spread over 107 hectares of land leased by MIDC at Shendra, Wockhardt said in a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Monday.

"This SEZ will provide the base for a new thrust in international markets that will drive Wockhardt's growth in the coming years," the company's chairman Habil Khorakiwala said.

"It will make Aurangabad a major hub for pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries," he added.

The SEZ would house manufacturing facilities for active pharmaceutical ingredients, biopharmaceuticals, research and development centre, effluent treatment plant, a corporate office, warehouse as well as a residential and recreational complex.

The MoU was signed by Rajiv Jalota, MIDC chief executiv officer and Huzaifa Khorakiwala, the company's

Executive Director in the presence of Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and other senior ministers and top officials from the state government.