Upcoming Pharma Projects in India: Leads & EPC Opportunities

Projects India currently tracks 1,424 upcoming drugs and pharmaceuticals projects across India, of which 1,138 are verified. Their combined recorded cost stands at about Rs 92,171 crore. Eighteen new projects entered our database in the last 90 days, up from 14 in the prior 90-day window — a signal that project announcements in this sector are accelerating.

Pharma projects in India at a glance

Largest upcoming pharma projects in India

The table below lists the highest-value projects in our drugs and pharmaceuticals pipeline, covering greenfield API units, bulk drug parks, vaccine facilities and formulation plants.

Three patterns stand out. First, the Bhaderiya Pharma bulk drug and formulation park in Lalitpur at Rs 12,000 crore dwarfs every other single entry — it has cleared approvals and sits in Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand region. Second, several well-known names — Torrent Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithkline and Serum Institute of India — already have construction under way. Third, Andhra Pradesh alone hosts multiple entries exceeding Rs 1,000 crore each, including projects by Andhra Pradesh Bulk Drug Infrastructure Corporation Limited and Virupaksha Organics Limited.

Where upcoming pharma projects are concentrated

The state-level distribution reveals where the bulk of opportunity sits, as the chart below shows.

Gujarat leads with 463 projects, reflecting the dense cluster of chemical and API manufacturers in Ankleshwar, Vapi and Ahmedabad. Telangana (195) and Andhra Pradesh (194) follow closely, with multiple high-value projects in locations including Visakhapatnam and Kurnool. Karnataka (183) has 183 projects, with Biocon Biologics, Anthem Biosciences and GlaxoSmithkline all carrying active entries in Bengaluru. Maharashtra (136) has 136 projects, while Himachal Pradesh (50), though smaller in count, contains several high-value formulation and injectable projects — including entries in Solan and Nalagarh.

For a focused state view, our drugs and pharmaceuticals projects in Maharashtra page provides granular detail on that pipeline.

Project stages: what the pipeline looks like right now

Stage distribution determines what kind of engagement is possible today, as the chart below shows.

With 638 projects under approvals, the largest single cohort is still working through environmental clearances, land records and state-level permissions. These are the projects to monitor: the promoter has committed capital but has not yet signed EPC or equipment contracts. The 362 projects with construction started represent live procurement — civil work, process equipment, utilities and site services are actively being contracted or are already under contract. The 137 projects that have received approvals sit in a narrow window between regulatory sign-off and construction mobilisation, typically the moment when EPC bids go out. A further 98 are in planning, meaning the investment decision is likely firm but detailed engineering has not begun. The 137 projects on hold signal paused capital allocation; these warrant periodic re-checks rather than active pursuit.

New pharmaceutical projects added in the last 90 days

Our database added 18 new pharma projects in the last 90 days. A selection of recent entries is below — these are early-stage leads not yet covered in most press databases.

The mix of small-ticket expansions (Rs 7 crore to Rs 42 crore) alongside the Rs 195 crore Chromo Laboratories expansion in Sangareddy illustrates a consistent pattern: mid-sized API and intermediate manufacturers are quietly adding capacity at established industrial estates — Ankleshwar, Sangareddy and Tarapur — while smaller greenfield units are entering new locations such as South Goa. These rarely appear in national press coverage but represent real procurement events for local civil contractors, equipment dealers and specialty chemical suppliers.

Most active promoters in the pharma pipeline

Understanding who is investing most actively helps sales teams prioritise key accounts, as the chart below shows.

Divi's Laboratories Limited leads with 8 projects and a combined recorded cost of about Rs 2,800 crore, making it the most active single promoter in our pharmaceutical projects database. Biocon Biologics India Limited follows with 6 projects worth about Rs 2,264 crore, concentrated in Bengaluru's biotech corridor. GlaxoSmithkline Pharmaceuticals Limited holds 4 projects at about Rs 3,000 crore combined — the highest average ticket size among the most active promoters. Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Glenmark Life Sciences and Mankind Pharma each carry 4 projects, spanning API, formulation and bulk drug segments. For equipment vendors and EPC contractors, these names represent multi-project relationships rather than one-off orders.

What this means for suppliers and contractors

The stage of a project determines what it buys and when. Here is a practical breakdown for teams selling into this pipeline:

• Planning and Under Approvals (736 projects combined): The promoter is finalising technology tie-ups, project management consultants and basic engineering. This is the right moment for process equipment licensors, PMC firms, environmental consultants and detailed engineering contractors to make introductions — before the EPC package is tendered.
• Approvals Received (137 projects): Statutory clearances are in hand. EPC bids, procurement of long-lead items (reactors, distillation columns, HVAC for cleanrooms, purified water systems) and civil work packages are imminent. Contractors should be seeking pre-qualification at this stage.
• Construction Started (362 projects): Active site work. Opportunities here include subcontract civil packages, mechanical erection, piping, electrical and instrumentation, as well as site consumables, scaffolding and temporary utilities. Bulk drug and API plants at this stage also begin procuring process chemicals and packaging materials.
• Nearly Complete (52 projects): Commissioning, validation and qualification services — including DQ/IQ/OQ/PQ support, analytical instrument suppliers and regulatory documentation consultants — are relevant here.

Suppliers focused on upcoming construction projects in India more broadly will find pharma a stable vertical: cleanroom civil works, specialist flooring, pharmaceutical-grade HVAC and effluent treatment systems are recurring needs across almost every project in this list. The Telangana industrial pipeline in particular warrants attention given the 195 pharma projects our records show there.

How to track upcoming pharma projects in India

Projects India maintains a live projects intelligence database covering 84,550 projects nationally, of which 1,424 are active drugs and pharmaceuticals entries. Each record includes the promoter name, project location, investment size where disclosed, current stage and, for verified projects, decision-maker contact details that do not appear in press releases or government tender lists. Our database is updated continuously — the 18 additions in the last 90 days reflect normal weekly intake, not a one-time collection effort.

Teams that prefer to track procurement events as they go live can monitor live government tenders filtered by this sector. Vendors new to the platform can review a free sample project report to assess data depth before subscribing, or explore the contractor and supplier directory to benchmark competitors already active in a geography. For teams responding to tenders, AI tender intelligence helps match open tenders to company capability profiles across this sector.