Chandigarh,  Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday said the state has offered to set up a bulk drugs park in Panipat town under the government of India scheme to finance common infrastructure facilities.

The park, spread over 1,000 acres, would reduce manufacturing cost and dependency on other countries for the bulk drugs.

Khattar was addressing the inaugural session of the CII's Pharmascope through virtual platform here.

Nearly 325 representatives of 15 companies participated in the CII's Pharmascope organised to deliberate and advocate on strategies for paving the way for India to become global pharmaceutical leader.

The Chief Minister said the state has also plans to set up a medical device park spread on 225 acres in Karnal, just 25 km away from the proposed bulk drugs park.

He said bulk drugs park could be further expanded to 1,700 acres.

"The proximity of Panipat to New Delhi is an added advantage and being centrally located would be able to supply the raw material for bulk drugs to neighbouring states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, New Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh," the Chief Minister said.

Haryana has more than 150 pharmacy colleges, institutions and universities resulting in sufficient availability of skilled manpower to cater to the need of the bulk drug park.

Stating that the state accounts for 45 per cent of the country's production of pharmaceutical products, Khattar said 50 per cent of the production to be done in Panipat could be consumed in the northern states itself, resulting in saving a lot of transportation cost and time.

He said the state could offer land to the investors both on an outright sale or leasehold model.

The state would provide maximum incentives and subsidy. An industrial model township is also proposed in Panipat with world-class infrastructure required for industries, including common warehouses.

The Chief Minister said the state offers a great strategic advantage as it surrounds the National Capital Region (NCR) from three sides, providing access to nearly 11 per cent of the domestic market.

Apart, 15 national highways cross through Haryana with four of them passing through the Delhi-NCR region.

Gurugram and Faridabad are major industrial districts of the state that have strong manufacturing clusters near to the national highways.

Also, Haryana has per capita income of more than Rs 2.6 lakh per annum, the highest amongst the larger states in India.

He said the state GDP is growing the rate of 7.7 per cent annually, which is higher than the national growth rate.