Mumbai-based VAV Lipids, one of the world’s leading lipid manufacturers, has completed upgrading and expanding its EU GMP-certified lipid production facility at Ratnagiri, in Maharashtra.

The expanded facility will produce about six times its current volume of high-grade lipid ingredients, up from about 21 kg to 120 kg per month. High Purity lipids are used in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, healthcare, and personal care industries.

For the first time in India, the facility will also produce pharmaceutical egg lecithin, an ingredient commonly used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry. Pharmaceutical companies widely use pharmaceutical egg lecithin to make propofol, an anaesthetic, mucormycosis drugs and total parenteral nutrition products. VAV’s facility will produce 1000 kg of egg lecithin per month.

The new capacity will be operational from August 2023 and will boost VAV’s sales by about 3.5 times from its current Rs 17 crore ($2 million) to about Rs 60 crore ($7.5 million) by 2025. The company has invested Rs 20 crore ($ 2.5 million) to expand and upgrade the facility.