India is poised to be a major global player in life sciences real estate development with 100 million square feet of opportunity by 2030, informs Vishal Goel, managing director of RX Propellant.
Rx Propellant is a prominent player in India’s lifesciences infrastructure sector, offering an “asset-light” solution for lifesciences companies. Rx Propellant provides purpose-built infrastructure such as R&D labspaces, manufacturing facilities and associated office spaces. This approach allows organisations to accelerate their operations without heavy capital investments, enabling them to concentrate on their core business activities.
The lifesciences industry in India is growing fast and offers immense opportunity to companies who can disrupt the market. However, well-equipped infrastructure remains a concern for them. This is especially true for those who opt for R&D as the regulatory requirements are quite strict for such activities. Having a complaint set-up waiting for such companies enables them to put their ideas to test immediately. In turn, it fast-tracks the whole process without any regulatory breach. At the same time, our whole-of-ecosystem approach helps them plug talent gaps quickly with skilled manpower. By providing them all necessary support under a roof, lifesciences infrastructure companies have become an important cog in the machine that runs the industry.
Goel further informs that Rx Propellant is planning to invest an additional Rs. 2,000 crore to build a cumulative portfolio of over 10 million square feet of lab space over the next 5 years across Hyderabad, Bangalore and Navi Mumbai, for life sciences real estate development. The company is also engaged in developing and marketing multiple real estate projects in the design-development stages in Hyderabad and Bangalore, aimed at the life sciences sector. Rx Propellant is accelerating its growth to support the ambition of CROs and drug discovery companies in India. We have built a team which understands science and now we are translating it into creating curated infrastructure that supports quick ramp up of operations.
The Rx Propellant platform was created with a vision to build world-class clusters in India that integrate operations from concept to commercialization. The current development portfolio is about 6.5 million square feet with multiple projects in Genome Valley, Hyderabad and one each in Bengaluru and Mumbai. Each of the projects within the portfolio is designed with best-in-class technical specifications to integrate diverse operations from concept to commercialisation.
“The presence of cutting-edge infrastructure significantly drives the growth of this sector. Several factors are poised to accelerate this growth further, including the global realignment of supply chains, where India stands to benefit significantly, and an ongoing patent cliff that could unlock a market worth up to USD 250 billion, providing substantial support to the industry. The life sciences real estate sector emerges as an exceptional opportunity, boasting resilient and appealing risk-adjusted returns due to high demand and a scarcity of quality supply. We see ourselves to be a leader in life science development with the right talent pool, technology and favourable policy,” Goel explains.
Lifesciences operations are highly regulated making it necessary for us to have the requisite approvals such as environmental clearances and compliances in place to cater to diverse needs of occupiers. With its bio-economy exceeding USD 92 billion in 2022, India’s profound contribution during the Covid-19 era positions it as a frontrunner in bioinnovation and biomanufacturing. Projections indicate a robust CAGR of 13%, reaching USD 427 billion by 2030.
