Himalaya, India’s leading skincare and wellness company, has announced that it is planning a $33 million investment in a herbal pharmaceutical plant in Dubai Industrial City in line with UAE’s ‘Operation 300bn’ industrial policy.
The facility’s initial production will begin in the first quarter of 2024. The plant will occupy 760,000 square feet of land in Dubai Industrial City and it will be the first of three facilities that Himalaya aims to build. The herbal pharmaceutical unit will be followed by those producing personal-care and ‘functional foods’.
Himalaya uses a ‘seed-to-shelf’ concept, where farmland is used to grow organic herbs free of pesticides and insecticides. In 2000, the company established its presence in the UAE, and in 2013, it opened the ‘Himalaya Global Research Centre’ in Dubai Science Park as a research and development center.
Shailendra Malhotra Global CEO Himalaya Wellness
“Our flagship brands like Liv.52, commonly used for the treatment of liver damage, jaundice, and Cystone, a Herbal Preparation to Prevent and Dissolve Kidney Stones, are household names in many countries and the proposed manufacturing facility will be supplying to over 100 countries.”
The new plant will be built to the highest international standards accepted by the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Food and Drug Administration, and the European Medicine Agency’s “good manufacturing practices”.
The goal is to expand Himalaya’s global manufacturing capacity for herbal medicines, and the UAE was chosen because of its strategic location, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and business-friendly environment.
Mr. Saud Abu Al-Shawareb, Managing Director of Dubai Industrial City commented on the announcement that, “for more than a decade, we have been a strategic driver and enabler of Dubai’s knowledge and innovation-based economy and this announcement is the latest step forward in our ongoing efforts to position this city as a global hub for advanced manufacturing and logistics.”
Himalaya, which produces 300 cosmetics, nutritional supplements, herbal medicines, and pharmaceutical-grade Ayurvedic products, will create 100 jobs through the research center. The new facility will also focus on product development, quality control and standardization.
