New Delhi: India has emerged as the world’s largest vaccine producer by volume and a major global supplier, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Sunday, underlining the country’s growing role in vaccine research, epidemic preparedness and global health security.
Addressing a high-level reception for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) Board and Investors Council in New Delhi, Singh said India’s diverse disease landscape and expanding scientific capabilities give it a unique advantage in developing vaccines and biomedical solutions for emerging health threats.
Singh said India has moved well beyond the limitations of a decade ago and now has a vibrant bioeconomy, advanced vaccine-development capabilities and a scientific ecosystem capable of contributing to global pandemic preparedness.
India supplies vaccines to more than 100 countries, accounts for nearly 60% of global vaccine production and meets over 65% of WHO’s routine immunisation requirements, he said.
India’s bioeconomy grew to $195.3 billion in 2025, registering 18% year-on-year growth. Its biotech startup ecosystem expanded to 11,855 startups, including 1,780 added last year, while biopharma accounts for nearly 30% of the country’s bioeconomy.
Singh said India’s strength is no longer limited to affordable vaccine manufacturing and now spans research, innovation, advanced biologics and large-scale production.
Highlighting India’s experience during the Covid-19 pandemic, Singh said the country developed vaccines rapidly and supplied them to other nations, changing global perceptions of India’s scientific and technological capabilities.
He said India’s heterogeneous disease landscape, which includes a wide range of infectious diseases alongside increasing non-communicable and metabolic disorders, provides valuable opportunities for pathogen research and vaccine development.
The DBT-BIRAC-CEPI partnership, renewed in September 2025 for another five years, is aimed at strengthening preparedness for future epidemics and pandemics and advancing vaccine research.
The India-centric Ind-CEPI mission has already delivered several outcomes, including GEMCOVAC-19, India’s first mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, an inactivated Chikungunya vaccine candidate undergoing Phase II/III trials, and vaccine candidates targeting Monkeypox and pan-sarbecoviruses at an advanced pre-clinical stage.
Singh said the next phase of cooperation should focus on universal and pan-pathogen vaccines, advanced biomanufacturing and stronger national and international research networks.
The BRIC-THSTI Bioassay Laboratory, recognised as one of CEPI’s 17 centralised network laboratories, has supported eight vaccine candidates at various stages of development and tested more than one lakh samples. Its animal facility is also part of CEPI’s pre-clinical network.
Capacity-building programmes have trained researchers and health professionals, including more than 2,400 participants from 14 friendly and neighbouring countries through the PACT programme.
Singh said India can now combine its scientific talent, research infrastructure, manufacturing scale and disease diversity to contribute to a global preparedness architecture.
The CEPI Board and Investors Council meetings in New Delhi, held a decade after the organisation’s previous governance meeting in India, marked a significant step in strengthening cooperation on vaccine innovation, epidemic preparedness and global health security, he said.
