Indian Immunologicals to start New Zealand operations in April

Plant would take care of entire quantity of bovine serum required for making animal vaccines

Hyderabad-based Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) is setting up a 300-tonne capacity bovine serum manufacturing plant in New Zealand with an investment of $1 million through its newly-incorporated subsidiary Pristine Biologicals (NZ) Limited.

The plant would take care of the entire quantity of bovine serum required by the company for making animal vaccines at its facilities here, according to IIL deputy managing director K Anand Kumar.

The greenfield plant is expected to start production from April, 2015, he said.

IIL is one of the major importers of this critical raw material as the company is one of India's top veterinary biological players.

“The overseas venture will help in strengthening IIL's position as the leader in animal vaccines. It will help improve cost-competitiveness in manufacture of animal vaccines exported by us to over 50 countries in the Middle East, South America, and CIS countries,” KV Balasubramaniam, managing director of the ILL, said.

The company requires about 200 tonnes of serum, a primary requisite to produce the vaccine, and is entirely procured from New Zealand and Australia since these are the two main countries, which are free of animal diseases listed by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), according to the statement.

IIL is a subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and is the largest seller of the foot and mouth disease vaccine.