The Central government’s decision to earmark Rs 10,000 crores over five years towards “Biopharma Shakti”, a scheme aimed at developing India as a global biopharma manufacturing hub, has been hailed by sector experts as a key component of the government’s overall plans to strengthen the country’s healthcare ecosystem.

Commenting on the announcement made by Finance Minister while presenting the Union Budget 2026-27 today, they said the scheme, along with budgetary allocations for supporting medical education and Indian Systems of Medicines points towards the overall vision of the government in the health sector.

“The ₹10,000 crore outlay under Biopharma Shakti will significantly accelerate India’s transition towards innovation-driven pharmaceuticals by strengthening research infrastructure, advanced technology hubs, and clinical standards, enabling progress in biologics, vaccines, and next-generation therapies. It will enhance domestic capacity, lower the cost of life-saving biologics, and support broader healthcare affordability- critical as India faces a rising burden of non-communicable diseases” , Nilesh Maheshwari, Partner and Pharma, Bio Tech & Life Sciences Leader, Grant Thornton Bharat said.

According to Maheshwari, the budgetary announcement to establish  five regional medical hubs through PPP models is a structural intervention that can reshape India’s healthcare delivery architecture. “Strategically distributed hubs can address regional inequities by bringing advanced care closer to underserved areas, reducing avoidable patient migration and the associated out-of-pocket expenditure. These hubs can serve as anchor institutions for India’s long-term vision of a future-ready, high-value, and regionally balanced health system aligned with Viksit Bharat 2047”, he said.

Anuj Chahal, Founder and CEO of Maverick Simulation Solutions called Union Budget 2026–27 as a bold step toward transforming India into a global healthcare talent powerhouse. “By combining a massive expansion in medical seats with targeted skilling for over a lakh caregivers and allied professionals, the government is not just building hospitals it is building the human foundation of a resilient, Viksit Bharat that can serve both India and the world”, he said.

“The Budget’s proposal to add 10,000 medical seats in the current year and 75,000 seats over the next five years directly addresses the growing demand for doctors, specialists, and skilled healthcare workers. Alongside this, focused skilling initiatives for caregivers and allied professionals will strengthen frontline healthcare delivery and improve patient outcomes across urban and rural India. Equally important is the government’s push to scale manufacturing across seven strategic and frontier sectors through initiatives such as Biopharma Shakti. This will strengthen domestic capabilities in biologics, biosimilars, and advanced therapies, while reducing import dependence. For the MedTech industry, this creates a multiplier effect driving demand for diagnostics, medical devices, digital health platforms, and AI-enabled clinical tools”, he explained.

Antony Prashant, Partner, Deloitte India, said the next phase of growth for the pharma sector will be driven by quality, innovation, and resilience — not just volume, and today’s Budget announcement turns significant in that context. “The industry must shift significantly to innovation, which means more focus on biologics / biosimilars, enhance R&D capabilities including reducing compliance friction for samples/clinical interactions. The budget announcement of ₹10,000 Cr Bio-pharma Shakti puts the industry in the right trajectory - focused on creating a bio-pharma hub, new NIPER facilities, 1,000 accredited clinical sites and enhancing CDSCO to meet global standards as well expediting approvals. This not only boosts manufacturing but enables India be competitive in the end-to-end bio-pharma value chain including drug discovering, clinical trials and market access. The industry is well poised to reach $130 billion in the next 3-4 years”, he said.