Bengal Chemicals plans Rs 150 crore anti-snake venom plant in West Bengal after 15-year gap

PTI, September 6, 2026, Kolkata: Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BCPL) has proposed to restart manufacturing anti-snake venom in West Bengal after a gap of nearly one-and-a-half decades, citing the state's high incidence of snake bites and the need to reduce dependence on supplies from southern and western parts of the country.

The Kolkata-based Central PSU, which traces its origins to a small enterprise started in Calcutta in 1892 and was formally incorporated as Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd in 1901, and is now a Central PSU, has initiated discussions with the state government over the proposed project.

"We have shown interest in manufacturing anti-snake venom again, which will be a Rs 150 crore project. I have apprised the minister and said the government has to make a procurement guarantee and needs to raise the procurement price of each vial to Rs 700-800 against Rs 450 now," Bengal Chemicals Managing Director S Ghosh Choudhury told PTI on the sidelines of the RISE Conclave 2026.

West Bengal Health Minister Sharadwat Mukherjee said an initial discussion had been held with Bengal Chemicals and that the company had sought certain measures from the government.

"An initial discussion regarding anti-snake venom in West Bengal has been held with Bengal Chemicals, and they have asked for a few things which I will apprise the chief minister," Mukherjee said. "This was a very early stage talk," he added.

Choudhury said that although the proposed procurement price would be higher, the project could prove cost-effective for the government if treatment cost is taken into consideration.

He said Bengal Chemicals' past experience showed that between 2010 and earlier, only 10 to 15 vials of anti-snake venom were generally required for a snake-bite patient to recover, whereas the requirement currently goes up to 60 vials from vials sourced from the west and south India.

"The reason for the higher number of vials is that the toxicity of snakes in Bengal is greater than that in southern and western India, and that is why larger quantities of anti-snake venom are needed when it is outsourced from other states,"