Granules India, a Hyderabad, India-based pharmaceutical manufacturing company of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), pharmaceutical formulation intermediates, and finished dosage forms, is investing in a new $250-million manufacturing facility for key starting materials, intermediates, and small-molecule APIs in India using green technology. Vijay Ramanavarapu, President of Granules USA, outlined the company’s expansion plan at the DCAT Member Company Announcement Forum held on March 20, 2023, at DCAT Week. 

Granules India has entered into a strategic partnership with Greenko ZeroC, a renewable energy company based in India, to collaborate on green-molecule solutions and their wider application in the bio/pharmaceutical industry. Under the partnership, Granules and Greenko ZeroC will develop and promote integrated Green Pharmaceutical Zones, with first collaboration in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, India. Granules will build a greenfield facility based on sustainability principles for large-scale manufacturing of key starting materials, intermediates, APIs, and fermentation-based products. The facility will spread across 100 acres and will be commissioned in a phase-wise manner. The estimated cost of the project will be approximately $250 million over five years. 

Greenko ZeroC will supply carbon-free energy and enable green hydrogen, along with its various chemical derivatives. Granules plans to use carbon-free energy and green-hydrogen derivatives to produce value-added products such as dicyandiamide (DCDA), PAP, paracetamol, metformin, other APIs, and intermediates. Granules will also manufacture energy-intensive fermentation-based products at the new facility using carbon-free energy. The partnership will enable Granules to lower the overall carbon footprint for several large pharmaceutical products on a volume basis.