Indian businessman to set up pharma plant in Saudi Arabia

A UAE-based prominent Indian businessman will invest over USD 266 million to establish a pharmaceutical plant in Saudi Arabia that would manufacture medicine for cancer and dengue.
B R Shetty, managing director and CEO of Neo Pharma, signed an agreement with Prince Turki bin Mohamed bin Nasser, in charge of Jazan Industrial City and Shaikh Mohammed Rafik, chairman of Gammon Group.
Under the agreement, Shetty's company will set up the plant in the Jazan Industrial City, which is being developed by Gammon Group and is expected to attract investments valued at USD 20 billion.
Prince Turki welcomed Shetty and his partners to tap the huge potential of Saudi healthcare market.

"The government's policy is to encourage and support foreign investors to play a great role in developing our economy. The state-owned Saudi Industrial Development Fund will pay the investors 75 per cent of their project cost in interest-free soft loans for 20 years," he said.
Praising Indian expatriates' sincerity to work and honesty in dealings, he underscored the need to further boost the excellent relations with India, Saudi Gazette reported.

"It's an immense pleasure for us to have a leading Indian investor coming to Jazan with big investments. Shetty is enough for us as he can bring his partners to the Kingdom, and this will be good signal for other investors to come and invest," Prince Turki said.

"I have ambitious plans to tap the potential of this holy land, blessed by God, by making investments first in Jazan, then in Jeddah and Riyadh," Shetty said.
"I think it is the right time I entered this great country, which is an ideal destination for investments," he added.
Shetty, whom Forbes Magazine listed in March this year as the fourth richest expatriate billionaire in the UAE, said that the Neo Pharmaceuticals (Neopharma) plant in Jazan would concentrate mainly on manufacturing medicine for cancer and dengue fever.