Zydus Infra's knowledge park to come up in 500 hectares

Zydus Cadila group's Zydus Infrastructure is planning to create a knowledge park in Ahmedabad in a sprawling 500 hectares area. The park, which is a concept to bring together various academic institutions under one roof, will also see many foreign universities extend their presence.

The estimated investment in the project is billed at about Rs 5,000 crore, said sources familiar with the development.

The company is currently in the final stages of land procurement. "We aim to attract a huge student population under one roof at the knowledge park, which will house many Indian and foreign academic institutions. The idea is to create an ambience for the institutions by creating requisite infrastructure including hostels, canteen and libraries," said Pankaj Patel, chairman and managing director, Zydus Cadila . He said that the project would come up in about 500 hectares land in Ahmedabad.

To begin with, the company plans to set up a college of life sciences called Ramanbhai College of Life Sciences in the knowledge park. This would be the first institute dedicated wholly to life sciences.

The college would begin operations by mid-2010 and start its first batch by 2011 with about 1000 students. The college will offer various courses including those in basic and applied sciences.

Currently, the company has filled up Phase I of its special economic zone (SEZ) with nine units at an investment of Rs 200 crore. The 49.5 hectare SEZ already has a few operational units like Oxygen Bio, Fischer Scientific and Femicare. The company is now looking at developing the 67 hectare Phase II of the SEZ.

Meanwhile, Zydus Cadila has firm plans to file 10 active investigational new drug (IND) applications by the year 2010, Patel added. The company, which is working towards being a research-based company in 2020, invests seven per cent of its turnover on research and development.

The company, which recorded a turnover of over Rs 2900 crore in the last fiscal, has plans to become a $3 billion company by March 2015.