Govt Approves Rs 3,000 Crore Credit To Serum Institute & Rs 1,500 Crore To Bharat Biotech For COVID Vaccine

New Delhi: COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India (SII) will get Rs 1,500 crore and Rs 3,000 crore each as supply credit from the Finance Ministry.

The Ministry, which gave an in-principle nod for the same on Monday, will sanction it to the nodal ministers in charge of COVID-19. They will then pass it on to the two companies to ramp up vaccine production, said an official statement.

The ministry has cleared a credit of Rs 3,000 crore for SII and Rs 1,500 crore for Bharat Biotech. Reports also said that the payment will be released at the earliest.

It may be recalled that SII CEO Adar Poonawalla had requested the government for Rs 3,000 crore grant for ramping up the capacity of the COVID-19 vaccine beyond 100 million doses a month.