KVIC empowers 80 potter's families in Varanasi, the new flag bearers of "Swadeshi Only"

The potters’ community in the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s constituency, Varanasi, is set to lead the country with “Swadeshi only” products this festive season. The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is training the potters in Varanasi in making earthen lamps, sculptures of deities and other pottery items as part of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan”.

KVIC Chairman Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena distributed electric potter wheels to 80 potters’ families belonging from four villages namely Itahradih, Ahrauradih, Arjunpur and Chak Sahjangiganj today. Each of these villages houses nearly 150 to 200 potter families who have been engaged with pottery-making for many generations. However, due to old techniques of hand driven Chaaks, drudgery involved in manual clay making and lack of marketing support, they took up alternative sources of livelihood over the years. KVIC has set a target of distributing 1500 potter wheels in Varanasi in the next 3 months.

The KVIC is also set to distribute 300 electric potter wheels and other equipment to 300 migrant workers’ families in Sewapuri in Varanasi who have returned from other states facing economic distress in wake of the COVID-19 lockdown. KVIC has already trained 60 migrant workers’ families so far and pottery tool kit will be distributed to 300 families next month. This is estimated to create nearly 1200 jobs for the migrant’s labourers in Varanasi alone. The exercise aims at creating local jobs for the distressed migrant workers so that they do not need to migrate to other cities in search of livelihood.

Old beneficiaries of Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana present on the occasion spoke to the KVIC Chairman via videoconference. Kishan Prajapati, a potter, said he sold nearly 3000 Kulhars every day at the Varanasi Cantt railway station after he received the electric potter wheel from KVIC under Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana. Another beneficiary of the scheme, Akshay Kumar Prajapati told that he was able to sell nearly 4000 kulhars and plates in the local Choona market in Mirzapur district and was financially self-dependent now. Another potter, Dayashankar Prajapati, said he was earning a good livelihood by selling nearly 3500 earthen glasses used for serving milk at Manduadih railway station in Varanasi. Potters said they were earning nearly Rs 20,000 (US$ 283.72) a month by selling earthen pots.

Potters in these villages of Varanasi have been specially making earthen magic lamps, traditional lamps (Deeya) and sculptures of Laxmi and Ganesh keeping in view the upcoming festivals of Dussehra and Deepawali. The idea is also to dissuade people from buying Chinese lights and other articles during the festive season.

The KVIC Chairman said Varanasi is known for its huge potential in the field of pottery making. “Several villages in Varanasi have already been benefitted under the Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana. KVIC is soon going to set up a cluster under SFURTI Scheme of the Ministry of MSME in Varanasi. The cluster will facilitate nearly 500 artisans to work together at a well-equipped place,” Saxena said.

Notably, Varanasi is an aspirational district identified by the Niti Ayog and the KVIC has taken Sewapuri on a priority basis for development of Khadi and village industries activities and encouraging pottery by training the artisans. KVIC has so far distributed over 17,000 electric potter wheels across the country.

Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers' Welfare, Government of India hosts two webinars on Reforms in Indian Agriculture, Strategic Policy Shifts and Investment Opportunities; India is now the 2nd largest aquaculture producer in the world and 4th largest sea food exporter; About 57 crore animals to have unique ID over next 1.5 years on digital platform for mapping their parentage, breed and productivity

Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India hosted two webinars on 25th & 26th June 2020 – the first webinar was on the topic “Landmark Reforms in Indian Agriculture – Investment Opportunities Arising in Agri Enterprises”, while the second webinar dealt with “Ushering a new dawn in Agri Reforms – Strategic Policy Shifts : The Policy Makers’ View”. The webinars were addressed by Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Dr Rajeev Ranjan, Secretary, Fisheries and Smt. Pushpa Subrahmanyam, Secretary, Food Processing, Government of India.

While addressing the webinars, Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, appreciated the path-breaking futuristic steps taken by the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for the agriculture sector and welfare of farmers, during the crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The competence of Indian farmers and efforts of the industry in this crisis situation is evident by the fact that the area covered by kharif sowing this year is 316 lakh ha as compared to 154 lakh ha last year and an average of 187 lakh ha during the last five years.

Shri Sanjay Agarwal emphasized that India has a strong advantage in the Agriculture sector which contributes to about 15 per cent of the GDP and livelihood for more than 50 per cent of the population. The country is the fourth largest producer of agrochemicals, has the largest livestock population of around 31 per cent of world’s livestock and largest land area under irrigation. However, food processing in India is less than 10 per cent and the target is to increase it to 25 per cent. There is increasing demand for value-added health-fortified and processed food. The global organic market is growing at 12 per cent per annum. He reiterated that developing a strong Agri ecosystem by providing access to better marketing avenues for farmers’ produce and freeing up the sector from restrictive laws is a key focus area for the government, for which three new ordinances have been announced recently. The agri ecosystem is also being strengthened by several enabling schemes like the Agri Infra Fund of Rs 1 lakh crore (US$ 14.19 billion) for post-harvest infrastructure, scheme for 10,000 FPOs, special drive to include 25 million farmers who still do not have the KCC, and developing a digital agri-stack which will be a key enabler for online market places and smart agriculture. The Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, projected an aspirational vision for ‘Atmanirbhar Agriculture’ by transforming farmers into entrepreneurs with higher incomes and better quality of life, making agriculture the “go to” investment opportunity, and making India the “Food Basket” for the world.

Comparing livestock rearing to an ATM machine for farmers, Shri Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, said that no product is as fast moving as milk for a retailer. However, the per capita consumption of milk in India is still only 394 gms per day as compared to 500-700 gms per day in US and Europe. The aim is to raise market demand in dairy sector from 158 million mt tonne presently to 290 million mt tonnes over next five years. The share of the organized sector in milk processing is targeted to be raised to 50 per cent from present 30-35 per cent.

Shri Chaturvedi said that Government of India has taken several measures to boost the animal husbandry sector. This includes giving one billion doses of vaccine in a year for FMD which is a bigger drive than in any other country to ensure that cattle are disease-free; animal tagging of five species through Pashu-Aadhar – about 57 crore animals will have unique ID over next 1.5 years on digital platform for mapping their parentage, breed and productivity; improving cattle breeds through artificial insemination, IVF and surrogacy; and aiming to unleash rural entrepreneurs by growing better feed and fodder for animals. Several incentives have been announced like Dairy Infra Development Fund in 2018 and Animal Husbandry Infra Development Fund this month.

Describing fisheries as a sunrise sector, Dr Rajeev Ranjan, Secretary, Fisheries, said that from 2014-15 to 2018-19, fisheries sector has grown by 10.87 per cent, fish production by 7.53 per cent, fisheries exports have grown by 9.71 per cent and India’s global share of fish production has grown to 7.73 per cent. India is now the 2nd largest aquaculture producer in the world and 4th largest sea food exporter. The USPs of the fisheries sector are its high growth rate, vast and diverse resources, low investment with high returns, low gestation period, strong technical backup, huge consumer base and export opportunities.

Dr Rajeev Ranjan projected the key targets of Government of India in this sector in next five years – fish production targeted to be raised from 137.58 lakh tons in 2018-19 to 220 lakh tons in 2024-25, average aquaculture productivity to be raised from 3.3 tons/ha to 5.0 tons/ha in 2024-25, fisheries exports to Rs 1 lakh crore (US$ 14.19 billion) by 2024-25 and Rs 2 lakh crore (US$ 28.37 billion) by 2028, and employment generation from about 15 lakhs in 2018-19 to about 55 lakhs in 2024-25. He also elaborated on the recent policy reforms and government initiatives in fisheries sector like Fisheries Infrastructure Development Fund and KCC facility to fishermen. The Secretary outlined the investment opportunities in fish farming like brackish water aquaculture, cage farming, seaweed farming, ornamental fisheries, and in support services like brood banks, hatcheries, feed manufacturing, value chain and processing, etc.

Shri Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurates Product Application and Development Centre at Paradip, Odisha;

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan along with the Chief Minister of Odisha Shri Naveen Patnaik today inaugurated a Product Application and Development Centre (PADC) setup by Indian Oil at Paradip, through video conference.

PADC has been setup by IndianOil at Paradip with a capex of Rs 43 crore (US$ 6.10 billion), adjacent to its Refinery and Petrochemicals complex. There are 4 laboratories in PADC namely Polymer Processing Lab, Analytical Testing Lab, Chemical Analysis Lab and Characterisation Lab. The Technical centre is equipped with 50 latest sophisticated polymer testing and processing equipment to cater to the needs of customers and new investors. PADC, Paradip is recognized as a research centre by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt of India.

PADC will act as incubation centre for new entrepreneur development in and around Odisha in the field of Plastics. The centre will render assistance to customers and investors in product and application development for polymer finished products such as moulded furniture, houseware, woven sacks for packaging cement, fertiliser, healthcare applications like baby diaper, personal protective suit, mask etc. The centre will carry out testing and developmental activities for investors of Paradeep Plastic Park and other clusters like Balasore and Khurda. The centre will impart requisite product and process training to the prospective and budding investors including hand holding activities for plant set-up, selection of machinery and material. PADC will provide quality assurance, complaint handling, customer support, benchmarking studies, new and niche grade development, and application development activities.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Pradhan said, “Fueled by the Honorable Prime Minister’s vision of Mission Purvodaya of ensuring eastern India-led national growth, centre and Odisha Government are working together to ensure development of Odisha. The state holds immense potential in petrochemicals, steel, mines and coal, Aluminium, tourism, textile, agri entrepreneurship. Government of India is committed to promoting entrepreneurship in Odisha across sectors which will lead to large scale job creation.”

“The world class facility inaugurated today will ensure availability of raw material, facilitate entrepreneurs in petrochemicals sector and provide training to the prospective and budding investors. This centre-of-excellence will help in creating several new employment and self-employment opportunities for the Odia youth, women and hardworking workforce and will further boost state’s revenue and economy. This is a big milestone in the development of Odisha and will contribute to the making of an AatmanirbharOdisha and subsequently contribute to the overall vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.”

Chief Minister, Odisha, Shri Naveen Patnaik expressing happiness at the inauguration said, “This centre will not only perform a pivotal role in developing new material and innovative applications, it will also help investors to set up manufacturing units in plastic and polymers sectors”. He said that IOCL has been acting as an anchor in development of plastics and polymer industry in the state, and the new Centre will further support the innovation and entrepreneurship in the area.

The Secretary, Ministry of PNG, Shri Tarun Kapoor and Chairman IOCL Shri Sanjeev Singh also spoke on the occasion. Officers of Odisha government, M/PNG and IOCL were present in the virtual ceremony.

Nextbillion.ai raises US$ 7 million, led by Lightspeed India Partners and Falcon Edge Capital

Nextbillion.ai, a diversified enterprise Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform, has raised US$ 7 million in Series A funding, led by Lightspeed India Partners and Falcon Edge Capital.

It plans to utilise these funds to expand its team, build vertical specific AI first capabilities and go into new domains like neuro linguistic programming and facial recognition for the next billion user markets.

Nextbillion.ai was founder earlier this year by Mr Ajay Bulusu, Mr Gaurav Bubna and Mr Shaolin Zheng, all former employees of Southeast Asian ride hailing giant Grab. It builds mapping and other AI-based services for emerging markets.

“We see opportunity in building an inclusive world offering equal access to technology solutions in the most intelligent, secured and affordable manner," said Mr Ajay Bulusu, co-founder, Nextbillionai.

The company is headquartered in Singapore and aims to be the global leader in AI-powered hyperlocal solutions, serving the unserved/underserved next billion users, starting with comprehensive and innovative mapping solutions.

“Emerging markets across the world are far more complex, with different languages, cultures, hyperlocal nuances and densely populated cities, than the developed markets. We see opportunity in these complexities. With our first product nextbillionmaps, we are building intuitive and intelligent location AI-platform using open-source data combined with proprietary client data, that makes logistics, transport, ride-hailing, delivery, e-commerce solutions accessible to the next billion users effectively, efficiently and affordably. We quickly intend to expand into multiple verticals delivering world-class AI-powered solutions to our customers," said Mr Gaurav Bubna, co-founder, Nextbillionai.

“As a company we truly believe an AI first approach can solve massive problems faced in the nextbillion user markets and we want to be at the forefront of it," he added.

KVIC launches Sandalwood and Bamboo plantation, a new initiative to spur monetization of its assets

The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), in a first of its kind initiative has begun exploring the untapped but highly profitable venture of sandalwood and bamboo tree plantation for monetization of its assets. Seeking to encourage commercial plantation of sandalwood and bamboo, the KVIC has begun a drive with plantation of 500 saplings each of sandalwood and bamboo at its Nashik training centre spread over 262 acres of land.

Union Minister for MSME, Shri Nitin Gadkari has lauded the initiative of KVIC.

KVIC has procured sandalwood saplings from Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC) Kannauj, a unit of the Ministry of MSME, in Uttar Pradesh and Bamboo saplings from Assam. Plantation ceremony was launched through videoconference by KVIC Chairman, Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena yesterday.

The plantation of the Sandalwood has also been planned with an eye on creating an asset for the KVIC as it is estimated to fetch between Rs 50 crore to Rs 60 crore (US$ 7.09 to 8.51 million) in the next 10 to 15 years. A sandalwood tree matures in 10 to 15 years and as per the current rate, sells at Rs 10 lakh (US$ 14,186) to Rs 12 lakh (US$ 17,023) each.

Likewise, a special variety of bamboo, Bambusa Tulda, used for making Agarbatti sticks, brought from Assam has been planted in Maharashtra with an aim to support the local Agarbatti industry and to create regular income for the training centre.

One bamboo plant gets ready for harvesting in the third year. Each matured log of bamboo, weighing approximately 25 kg, sells at an average of Rs 5 (US$ 0.07) per kg. At this rate, one matured log of bamboo fetches nearly Rs 125 (US$ 1.77). The bamboo plant has a unique quality. Each bamboo plant, after the third year, produces minimum 5 logs and thereafter, the production of bamboo logs doubles every year. This means, the 500 bamboo saplings will provide at least 2500 bamboo logs in the third year and will generate an additional income of nearly Rs 3.25 lakh (US$ 4,610) to the institution which will grow every year by nearly two-times.

Further, in terms of quantity, 2500 bamboo logs will weigh approximately 65 MT of bamboo that will be used for making Agarbatti sticks and thus create large-scale local employment.

In the last few months, KVIC has planted nearly 2500 trees of Bambusa Tulda in different parts of India. 500 saplings of Bambusa Tulda have been planted in each of the cities like Delhi, Varanasi and Kannauj apart from the latest plantation in Nashik to ensure local availability of raw material for Agarbatti manufacturers at a reasonable cost.

“Plantation of sandalwood and bamboo trees on vacant land aims at monetization of the property. At the same time, it will serve the dual purpose of meeting the huge global demand of Sandalwood while Bamboo plantation will support the local Agarbatti manufacturers in the light of recent decision taken by the Central government to make India ‘Aatmanirbhar’ in Agarbatti making,” KVIC Chairman, Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena said. “We are identifying more such properties of KVIC across the country where such plantations can be launched,” Saxena said, adding if the farmers start planting just two sandalwood trees in their fields, they will be economically self-dependent to meet any financial eventuality.

Plantation of sandalwood trees has high potential in the export market as well. Sandalwood and its oil have high demand in countries like China, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and the USA. However, there is a short supply of sandalwood and hence a great opportunity for India to increase sandalwood plantation and occupy the position of a global leader in sandalwood production.

 

PFC ends FY 2019-20 on strong note with loan sanctions of more than Rs 1 Lakh Crore

Power Finance Corporation (PFC), India's leading NBFC in power sector and a central PSU under Ministry of Power, ended financial year 2019-20 (April-March) on a strong note despite numerous challenges including outbreak of COVID 19.

The lending institution delivered a sound financial performance with loan sanctions of more than Rs 1 lakh crore (US$ 14.19 billion) along with Loan Disbursements of about Rs 68,000 crore (US$ 9.65 billion) in the last financial year. The highlight of the year was disbursement of Rs 11,000 crore (US$ 1.56 billion) in the last week of March 2020 despite the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of COVID 19. Backed by strong IT infrastructure, PFC managed this feat of sizeable disbursement even though the employees were working from home.

During the year, PFC also registered 16 per cent growth in its standalone revenue while it managed 16 bps reduction in cost of funds. The net NPAs of the company reduced to 3.8 per cent from 4.55 per cent, showcasing the robust performance of the lender. Further, the Company registered a 10 per cent growth in its Loan Assets, 16 per cent bps reduction in cost of funds, and 16bps increase in Interest Spread. Further, during the fiscal, PFC resolved two stressed projects – Rattan India Amrawati & GMR Chhattisgarh worth Rs 2,700 crore (US$ 3.83 billion).

Despite challenging environment, Y-O-Y Net Profit is comparable at Rs 6788 crore (US$ 962.97 million) for FY20 as against Rs 6953 crore (US$ 986.38 million) of FY19 excluding one-time impact of DTA due to change in corporate tax rate. Profit has also been impacted due to extraordinary exchange rate variation of 6 per cent in the last 45 days of FY20.

Financial highlights of FY 2019-20 (Consolidated basis) include 15 per cent Revenue Growth, 12 per cent Loan Asset Growth, Net NPAs reduced to 3.57 per cent from 4.20 per cent

Indian Railways produce 1.91 lakh PPE gowns, 66.4 kl sanitizer, 7.33 lakh masks till 24/06/2020

Indian Railways, in coordination with other Ministries and State Governments, is totally geared up to meet the challenge of providing protection to its front-line medical workers and other operational staff persons, from the COVID 19 pandemic. It is using all its resources in coordinated manner to create/upgrade its facilities.

Railway workshops took up the challenge and manufactured PPE coveralls, sanitizer, masks, cots in-house. Raw material for manufacturing of these items was also procured by the field units. 1.91 lakh PPE gowns, 66.4 kl sanitizer, 7.33 lakh masks etc have been manufactured by Indian Railways till 24/06/2020. PPE coverall target for the month of June and July are fixed as 1.5 lakhs each which is likely to be revised upwards. During the lock down period, centralized procurement and distribution of the raw material and manufactured products throughout the Railway network was a herculean task accomplished under testing circumstances. Northern Railway was nominated for centralized procurement of raw material required for manufacture of PPE coverall gowns which was a critical component with respect to quality. All in-house manufactured products satisfy all applicable quality standards.

To further strengthen the preparedness of Railway, an order for PPE coverall (22 lakhs), N95 Masks (22.5 lakh), Hand sanitizer 500 ml (2.25 lakh) and other items was centrally placed by northern Railway on M/s HLL Life Care (PSU under MoHFW), for requirements of all Railway Units.

 Ministry of Railways has designated 50 Railway Hospitals as COVID Dedicated Hospitals and COVID Dedicated Health Centers. Facilities at these hospitals were upgraded through procurement of medical equipment’s and other items to meet the challenge of COVID Pandemic.

Protective gears like PPE coverall, masks, sanitizers, and equipment like ventilators were in extreme short supply globally, during the initial phase of COVID-19.

5231 Railway coaches have already been converted to isolation coaches to serve as the COVID Care Centers to augment the capacity of health infrastructure in the country. 960 coaches have so far been placed in service at several locations based on the requests received from the States. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has already issued guidance document on appropriate management of suspect/ confirmed cases on Railway coaches- COVID Care Centres.

Railways supply chain, though affected due to the pandemic, it did not affect Railways’ operations and maintenance due to operations being on the lower scale and stocks being available in our depots. Out vendors are also being supported to maintain their supply chain. Necessary instructions have also been issued to field units in this respect. Railway could also continue its required procurement due to its digital supply chain and all material required for pandemic management could be arranged.

Aye Finance raises Rs 210 crore in Series E round led by CapitalG

Aye Finance, an MSME sector lender, has raised Rs 210 crore (US$ 29.79 million) in Series E funding led by CapitalG, Alphabet’s independent growth fund. Other participant in the round include Aye’s existing investors LGT Lightstone, Falcon Edge Capital, A91 Partners and MAJ Invest.

Since its inception in 2014, Aye has raised equity funding of more than Rs 690 crore (US$ 97.89 million), the company said in a statement.

“Difficult times are a true test of a good lender and we have already started showing significant improvements in customer repayments in the past months. Our loans are underwritten with cluster insights and this continues to assure good repayment behaviour in our portfolio,” Mr Sanjay Sharma, Managing Director at Aye Finance, said.

“This equity investment will further add to liquidity that will enable us to emerge strong from the COVID crisis and continue to benefit millions of micro-enterprises across India,” he added.

So far, Aye has disbursed Rs 3,000 crore (US$ 425.59 million). The lender offers mortgage, hypothecation, and term loan services to micro enterprises.

“We first invested in Aye in 2016 and over the years we have seen them grow into an institution with strong focus on impact and scalability. The relevance of Aye in the post-COVID economy in serving the financing needs of micro businesses is significant,” said Mr Kartik Srivatsa, Managing Partner of LGT Lightstone Aspada.

Republic of Mali awards Project Management Consultancy contract to NTPC for development of 500 MW Solar Park

Republic of Mali has awarded Project Management Consultancy contract to NTPC, a central PSU under Ministry of Power, for development of 500 megawatt (MW) Solar Park. In an event held on 24th June, 2020, chaired by Shri R. K. Singh, the Minister of State for Power, NRE, Skill Development and President of International Solar Alliance (ISA),  and Mr H.E. Sekou Kasse, the Ambassador of Mali, handed over the Project Management Consultancy award letter to Mr Gurdeep Singh, CMD NTPC, for development of 500 MW Solar park in the Republic of Mali.

ISA is an international, inter-Governmental organization, based in India, created with the vision and leadership of Prime Minister, Sh Narendra Modi and announced jointly with President of France during COP21 held in Paris in 2015. ISA’s vision is for a large-scale solar revolution, hinges on creating a facilitative international ecosystem that enables access to science and economic resources, reduces the cost of technology and capital, facilitates price reduction, and enables development of storage technology and innovation.  With its scale and authoritative understanding of the energy transition opportunities of diverse economies, ISA is the world's foremost energy transition catalyst for bringing a change from energy poverty to energy empowerment. 

The event was hosted by ISA in the Ministry of Renewable Energy, New Delhi, and graced by the dignitaries, Director General ISA- H.E Upendra Thripathy, Secretary (Power)- Sh Sanjeev Nandan Sahai and Secretary (MNRE)- Sh Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi and Secretary (Economic Relations) ShvRahul Chhabra  among others.

The Republic of Mali has been taking various initiatives towards energy security of the country, especially to increase access to electricity for its citizens, with a focus on solar power and applications. Development of Solar Projects in Mali will make a considerable impact in socio-economic growth of Mali.

NTPC, a Government of India Enterprise and a leading global power company with 62,110 MW installed capacity has vast experience in setting up of Solar Projects and handling various solar programs like the National Solar Mission in India. In 2019, ISA endorsed NTPC as a Project Management Consultant through a competitive process for the member countries to avail the services of NTPC. Earlier the Republic of Togo engaged NTPC for similar PMC support for development of 285 MW Solar Park in Togo. NTPC plans to anchor 10,000 MW of solar parks in ISA member countries in next two years. Solar parks are being showcased as a best practice from India which had started solar parks as a novel concept and has commissioned a number of projects, thus bringing down cost of solar energy substantially, bringing in investment, creating employment and benefitting the environment in the process.

 

INST develops nanotechnology-based low-cost, method for the production of antiepileptic drug 'Rufinamide'

Scientists at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, have developed a nanotechnology-based industry-friendly and low-cost method for the production of antiepileptic drug ‘Rufinamide’.

Dr Jayamurugan Govindasamy and his co-workers from INST have developed a new recyclable copper-oxide catalyst, which plays a crucial role in the key reaction for producing the Rufinamide drug.

The existing technology for producing the drug has an inherent selectivity issue, which often leads to unwanted non-drug isomer ---1, 5-regioisomer. This necessitates the use of organic solvent, high temperature, and the need to purify and separate the soluble catalyst and so on, leading to unfriendly reaction conditions and high production costs.

In the new production method published in the journal Chemical Communications, unlike the traditional CuSO4 catalyst, the newly designed catalyst comprising of very small-sized (3-5 nm) CuI and CuII is so reactive that the reaction can be conducted efficiently under the aqueous condition and at room temperature. Since the catalyst is coated with slightly modified natural biopolymer, they are biocompatible and can be separated just by filtration technique.

The new method promises to overcome many of the current challenges in the synthesis of Rufinamide drug such as high cost, the formation of unwanted 1,5-regioisomer in addition to the required 1,4-regioisomer, limited choice of starting materials (propiolic acid derivatives) leading to multistep synthetic sequences, and poor yields due to use of organic solvents and overheating of the reagents.

Dr G. Jayamurugan, a Ramanujan Fellow of DST, and his co-workers used nanotechnology to develop the new recyclable copper-oxide catalyst supported by customized biopolymer (available abundantly from biomass). The synthesized catalyst turned out to be highly active in aqueous solvents, making manufacture possible under industrial friendly conditions. The reasons for this high activity are the extremely small sizes (3-5 nm) of copper oxide nanoparticles, the mixed oxidation states of CuI and CuII and their synergistic effects. They also found that the product is fully devoid of 1,5-regioisomer, as indicated by the single peak observed for 1,4-regioisomer in the HPLC with >99 per cent purity. The scalability of the reaction was also demonstrated in 10 g scale reactions in the laboratory condition.

The developed catalyst is not only useful for the Rufinamide drug synthesis, but it is also for other organic transformation reactions. The catalyst can be commercialized for academic use, as well as companies deal with fine chemicals that use these reactions.

Having been well optimized under laboratory conditions in the 10 g scale, the catalytic process can be easily translated into the industrial process. Furthermore, because the choice of metal and the polymers are so cheap, the end product of the present catalytic process can be maintained at low-cost. A patent has been filed for the highly efficient, economical, and eco-friendly process. 

Presently only a few companies manufacture the costly Rufinamide drug, which epilepsy patients need to consume continuously for their entire life. Hence, the catalytic process developed by the INST team can be used by Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient, producing companies for mass production to bring down the drug cost.

“Several nanotechnology initiatives of DST in seeding the infrastructure, human resources and the Institute of Nanoscience and Technology are now increasingly producing a plethora of useful technologies and products that contribute to an AtamNirbhar Bharat,” said Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST.