Hyderabad, May 24 (Representative) Telangana Minister for Information Technology & Industries K T Rama Rao said Hyderabad emerged as the second largest base for Novartis pharma company after their headquarters in Basel in Switzerland, based on the headcount. Novartis Capability Center here has nearly 9,000 associates, Rao said after meeting Vasant Narasimhan, Chief Executive Officer, Novartis on the sidelines of World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos on Tuesday to discuss the growth witnessed by the pharma company in Telangana and its expansion plans. Novartis is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel and it is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
Novartis Capability Center in Hyderabad is the largest one by a global pharma major in India. The growth of Novartis in the city is driven by focus on innovation and the center has become an important innovation hub for the company. Incidentally, the company had also chosen Hyderabad as the APAC hub for its innovation initiative called Biome with focus on several key new innovative areas like AI, Data & Digital. The company continues to leverage the rich capabilities of Hyderabad in the Science, Technology and Innovation ecosystem to drive important activities for the company. The growth of Novartis in Hyderabad serves as the testimony to Hyderabad’s growing R&D prowess and extraordinary talent pool.
Hyderabad today is serving more than 1000 global innovators in their vision to improve healthcare and Research & Development around the globe. Rama Rao said that, “I am extremely proud that Hyderabad has emerged as the largest global hub for Novartis outside its headquarters. With a massive 9000 people headcount, I am truly impressed with the kind of cutting edge work – be it the data, digital and AI / ML – that happens at the center”. Novartis has already placed Hyderabad on a global map in the life sciences sector and there cannot be a better endorsement for the ecosystem in Hyderabad, the Minister added.