9SEPTEMBER 2025JPMORGAN SEES INDIA AS BRIGHT SPOT DESPITE GLOBAL HEADWINDSCII, ICON LEAD TALKS ON INDIA PHARMA PUSH INTO US MANUFACTURINGJPMorgan Chase & Co. has highlighted India as a bright spot due to its robust domestic growth and limited reliance on exports. At the bank's annual India conference, Sjoerd Leenart, Head of JPMorgan in Asia Pacific, said while challenges like tariffs and a recent US-based construction company ICON, in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Telangana, has successfully brought the PharmiCON, its pioneering event in India, to Hyderabad.The event was held under the theme "Navigating the Road Ahead for US-Based Manufacturing" and was targeted to senior industry leaders, policy experts, and business stakeholders to discuss the opportunities and challenges of Indian pharmaceutical manufacturing expansion into the United States.$100,000 H-1B visa fee would hang large over sentiment, "India still has a strong hand to play."India, meanwhile, has recently announced a 25 percent reciprocal tax, doubled due to tariffs related to Russian oil imports, as have the company has just implemented a $100,000 entry fee for new H-1B visas signed by President Donald Trump, which is concerning due to the fact that over 70 percent of H-1B visas in the US are held by Indian nationals. Current H-1B visa holders are not affected by the changes.Industry executives have expressed concerns about increasing costs for US companies, which may lead to speeding up the growth of global capability centres in India. JPMorgan has also been growing its headcount in India, increasing it by 20 percent over the last two years. The company now has corporate centers in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad employing over 55,000 people to support technology and business processes across the firm globally.Anu Aiyengar, the firm's global head of advisory and M&A, highlighted India's rising equity market, noting JPMorgan is preparing more IPOs in India than in any other market this year. "I would not put a limit based on last year, this is a growing market", she said, signaling India's capital markets could surpass last year's performance by a wide margin. Sanjay Singh, Past Chairman, CII Telangana and Chakravarthi AVPS, Convener, CII Telangana Pharma and Life Sciences Panel & Chairman & MD, Ecobliss India Pvt. Ltd. emphasized the above average presence of resilience, competitiveness, etc. and also the sector's need to change its approach with the latest geopolitical and regulatory upheavals.Bhupendra Patel, ICON's CEO, and Founder stated once more that the company is always committed to accommodating the pharma and biotech clients with high-tech, affordable US facilities. He also added that through their 30 plus years of experience and 200 plus completed projects, over which a total of $300 million has been invested, ICON should be able to provide the required biopharmaceutical manufacturing solutions in full scope.The event with a keynote speech by Venugopal Rao Sankineni, Vice President, Medical Devices Policy & Investments, Telangana Lifesciences, also put forward the idea that Telangana might be a very good choice for pharma and medtech startups with plans to grow at the global level.One of the most attractive parts of the event was the launch of the whitepaper "Changing Landscape: Indian Pharma's Move Toward US-Based Manufacturing" prepared by ICON and CII with Healthark as the knowledgeable partner.
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