Top 10 Pharma Companies in Kolkata to Know in 2026

Why Kolkata matters to pharma regulation and manufacturing

For quality and regulatory teams anywhere in India, Kolkata matters as much for who sits here as for what is made here. The Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) on Kyd Street calls itself the "only 'National Appellate Authority'" for disputes over drug quality under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. If a manufacturer contests a not-of-standard-quality finding, the final test can end on its bench. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), India's national drug regulator, also runs its East Zone office from the city, covering five states and one union territory.

The manufacturing base is long-established and largely domestic-facing. It includes a government-owned company whose founder, Acharya P. C. Ray, started its precursor in 1901; family-run formulators dating from the 1930s and 1940s; and Ayurvedic makers with roots in the city. Around the city sit newer operations: an oncology API plant at Kalyani, a contract research campus in Salt Lake and an API maker in Lake Town.

The list below separates the two. Companies with a confirmed operation inside Kolkata come first; verified operations in the neighbouring districts follow.

How this list was built

Each company appears because a filing, the company's own site, a rating agency's report or a regulator's document places a manufacturing, research or laboratory operation in Kolkata district. Verified operations in neighbouring districts, such as North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Nadia, are listed separately. Many pharma names in Kolkata run sales or branch offices there rather than plants; those are not listed, and nor are distributors, franchise marketers or pharmacies. Inclusion is editorial and never paid. For the national picture, see our guide to pharma companies in India and India's 20 largest pharmaceutical companies.

Pharma companies in Kolkata

The six companies below are listed alphabetically, not ranked. They span a listed formulator and infusion maker, a government-owned drugmaker, two Ayurvedic houses and two long-established family firms.

1. Albert David Limited

Est.: 1938, Kolkata

Headquarters: Gillander House, 8 Netaji Subhas Road, Kolkata 700001

Kolkata operation: Factory at 5/11, D. Gupta Lane, Kolkata 700050

Type: Formulations, IV infusions, small-volume parenterals and medical disposables

Listed / Revenue from operations, FY26 (April 2025–March 2026): NSE (ALBERTDAVD), BSE (524075) · ₹33,359.81 lakh (standalone, audited)

Albert David is a Kolkata company in the Kothari Group. The letterhead on its 14 February 2025 NSE filing describes it as a maker of allopathic and herbal formulations, intravenous (IV) infusions and medical disposables, with two factories, in Kolkata and Ghaziabad. Its audited standalone results, filed on 13 May 2026, show revenue from operations of ₹33,359.81 lakh.

The company's FY2024-25 annual report gives the Kolkata plant's address on D. Gupta Lane. Its own site describes the Kolkata unit as "WHO GMP approved", with a small-volume parenteral suite "compliant to USFDA cGMP requirements"; that is the company's description, not a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. The company's Ghaziabad factory is covered in our Ghaziabad list.

2. Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited

Est.: 1901, Kolkata, as Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works

Headquarters: 6 Ganesh Chandra Avenue, Kolkata 700013

Kolkata operation: Maniktala factory in north Kolkata, on about 20 acres, with eight production units

Type: Formulations · Government of India enterprise

Acharya P. C. Ray founded the precursor company in 1901, according to the Department of Pharmaceuticals, which records that the company was nationalised in December 1980. Bengal Chemicals describes itself as "A Government of India Enterprise".

The company's manufacturing page says the Maniktala site makes ointments, external solutions, capsules, dry-powder injections (cephalosporin and beta-lactam), and beta-lactam and non-beta-lactam tablets across eight units that follow good manufacturing practice (GMP). It says three new units for antibiotics, injectables and topical ointments will be operational "shortly". Its second Bengal site, at Panihati, makes industrial chemicals and home products rather than medicines.

3. Dey's Medical Stores (Manufacturing) Limited

Est.: 1957 (incorporation)

Kolkata operation: Medicine manufacturing plant in the Bondel Gate area of south Kolkata

Type: Formulations

Listed: Not listed

Dey's Medical Stores (Manufacturing) Limited was incorporated in West Bengal in 1957, as its corporate identity number shows. It is a family-run maker of prescription formulations.

The Bondel Gate plant came to public notice on 2 August 2025, when a fire broke out there. The Press Trust of India and Medical Dialogues both reported it as Dey's Medical's medicine manufacturing plant, quoting fire officials who said seven fire tenders were deployed and no casualties were reported.

4. East India Pharmaceutical Works Limited

Est.: 1936

Kolkata operation: Formulation plant and R&D on a 19.06-acre site at Sarsuna, "at the southern edge of Kolkata"; an API plant on a 20-acre site at Durgapur, Paschim Bardhaman district

Type: Formulations and APIs

Revenue (rating agency figure): ₹249 crore operating income in FY2024, per ICRA

East India Pharmaceutical Works was incorporated in 1936. ICRA's rating rationale of 27 June 2024 reports operating income of ₹249 crore for FY2024, up 6.7%, and says the company makes its key formulations in-house while contract manufacturers produce other products under a loan-licence model.

The company's plant page gives annual capacity of 2.46 billion tablets, 186.2 million capsules, 7.26 million litres of liquids and 130.22 tonnes of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). ICRA says the Durgapur plant makes the APIs for two key products, Enteroquinol and Tonoferon, and that both plants are WHO-GMP approved.

5. Emami Limited

Est.: 1974 (commercial operations); incorporated 1983

Headquarters: Emami Tower, 687 Anandapur, E.M. Bypass, Kolkata 700107

Kolkata operation: Research and development (R&D) centre of 30,000 sq ft

Type: Ayurvedic

Listed: NSE (EMAMILTD)

Emami's FY26 Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report gives its registered office in Kolkata and says 85% of turnover comes from "Ayurvedic" or "Unani" pharmaceutical preparations. It lists one R&D lab and five manufacturing units in India.

The company's August 2024 overview places its R&D centre in Kolkata, a 30,000 sq ft facility with a laboratory that follows current good manufacturing practice (cGMP), staffed by ayurvedacharyas and Ayurveda scientists. Its plants sit outside West Bengal, at Pacharia and Abhoypur near Guwahati, Vapi and Masat among them.

6. Shree Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan Private Limited

Est.: 1917, Baidyanath Dham; Kolkata unit 1921

Kolkata operation: Ayurvedic manufacturing unit, set up in 1921

Type: Ayurvedic

Listed: Not listed

Baidyanath began making Ayurvedic medicines at Baidyanath Dham in 1917, and its own history lists the Kolkata unit as its first factory outside Bihar, opened in 1921. The company says it makes more than 700 Ayurvedic formulations, including chyawanprash.

A March 2021 Business India report placed the Kolkata unit at Joka and said a Rs 10 crore, 7,000 sq ft WHO-certified block for capsules, powders and tablets had been added there, mainly for export-quality products. The company's own site says it received GMP certification in 2004 and was "on track" for WHO-GMP certification in 2018.

Nearby: 4 more operations around Kolkata

Four more sites sit just beyond the city boundary: a consumer-health factory at Narendrapur to the south, an oncology API plant at Kalyani to the north, and a contract research campus and a mineral-salts API plant in the Salt Lake and Lake Town areas to the east.

7. Dabur India Limited

Est.: 1884, Kolkata

Headquarters: Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Kolkata-area operation: Narendrapur Unit, 9 N.S.C. Bose Road, Narendrapur, South 24 Parganas

Type: Ayurvedic and consumer health

Listed: NSE (DABUR), BSE (500096)

Dabur began in Kolkata in 1884, when Dr S. K. Burman started making Ayurvedic medicines there, according to the company's own history. Its headquarters has since moved to Ghaziabad, and it now runs a large network of plants across India.

The company's 2023-24 annual report lists Narendrapur, West Bengal, among its 12 named Indian manufacturing plants, and its contact page gives the unit's address on N.S.C. Bose Road. Neither source says what the Narendrapur unit makes.

8. Fresenius Kabi Oncology Limited

Parent: Fresenius Kabi AG, Germany

Kolkata-area operation: Oncology API plant at Kalyani, Nadia district

Type: APIs (oncology and specialty)

Regulatory status: U.S. FDA warning letter dated 1 July 2013, following a January 2013 inspection; guilty plea announced by the U.S. Department of Justice on 23 March 2021

Fresenius Kabi Oncology is the Indian subsidiary of the German group Fresenius Kabi. The group's contract manufacturing site describes the Kalyani plant as "located near Kolkata" and lists the APIs it offers, among them azacitidine, docetaxel, gemcitabine, oxaliplatin, paclitaxel and pemetrexed, plus local anaesthetics such as ropivacaine.

Fresenius disclosed on 5 July 2013 that the FDA had issued a warning letter dated 1 July 2013 to the Kalyani plant after a January 2013 inspection. The company said the letter concerned GMP issues in manufacturing, documentation and data integrity. On 23 March 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that the company had agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanour for "failing to provide certain records to FDA investigators" in connection with that inspection, and to pay $50 million: a $30 million criminal fine and $20 million in forfeiture.

9. TCG Lifesciences Private Limited

Est.: 2001, Kolkata, as Chembiotek Research International

Kolkata-area operation: Research campus at Salt Lake Sector V, North 24 Parganas

Type: Contract research and manufacturing (CRO/CDMO)

Listed: Not listed

TCG Lifesciences says it began operations in Kolkata in 2001, under the name Chembiotek Research International. It is part of The Chatterjee Group and describes itself as a contract research and manufacturing services company.

In a July 2022 release, the company reported about 1,200 scientists and technical staff, more than 280 of them with PhDs. It listed services in chemistry, in vitro and in vivo pharmacology, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) and analytical development, and named Kolkata among its operating locations alongside Hyderabad and two U.S. sites.

10. West Bengal Chemical Industries Limited

Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Kolkata 700091 (corporate office)

Kolkata-area operation: Unit I at 145/1 Jessore Road, Lake Town, North 24 Parganas

Type: APIs (mineral salts)

Listed: Not listed

West Bengal Chemical Industries makes mineral salts used as APIs. Its website lists salts of iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium and zinc, along with trace elements such as copper, manganese and chromium. The company describes a legacy of "over 64" years but gives no founding date.

The company lists two plants: Unit I at Lake Town, on the northern edge of Kolkata, and Unit II at Dahej in Bharuch district, Gujarat.

Who checks their work

Every plant above, from Maniktala to Kalyani, makes product that a regulator can sample, test and inspect. In Kolkata, an unusual share of that checking happens in the city itself. When a manufacturer disputes a government analyst's finding that a sample is not of standard quality, the matter can go to the Central Drugs Laboratory on Kyd Street, the national appellate laboratory for drug quality.

Licensing works on two levels. West Bengal's Directorate of Drugs Control licenses manufacturing in the state, while the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation's East Zone office in Kolkata represents the national regulator for the eastern states. The two offices below are the ones a quality or regulatory team in eastern India is most likely to deal with.

Regulators and laboratories in Kolkata

Two central government offices in Kolkata cover drug regulation and testing across eastern India.

CDSCO East Zone office

Status: Zonal office of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), India's national drug regulator, headed by a Deputy Drugs Controller (India)

Address: Nizam Palace, 7th Floor (Eastern Side), 234/4 A.J.C. Bose Road, Kolkata 700020

Jurisdiction: West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Sikkim, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

CDSCO's East Zone page lists these six jurisdictions and the office's contact details. CDSCO's zonal offices work with state drug controllers on inspections of manufacturing sites and represent the central regulator in their region. Any company in this list may deal with this office alongside West Bengal's own licensing authority.

Central Drugs Laboratory, Kolkata

Status: "National Appellate Laboratory of the Government of India", under the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Address: 3 Kyd Street, Kolkata 700016

Accreditation: NABL-accredited for chemical, biological and mechanical testing, according to its disclosure

The laboratory's suo motu disclosure, dated 10 July 2026, describes it as the appellate authority under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, for disputes over drug quality. It lists the samples it tests: appellate samples, imported samples, new drugs, statutory (Form 18) samples, samples from the National Survey on the Quality of Essential Drugs, zonal samples from CDSCO, samples received from the World Health Organization (WHO), and samples linked to adverse events following immunisation.

For more on how Indian and international regulators are changing their approach, see our regulatory intelligence coverage.

What this means for sourcing and regulatory teams

A Kolkata address does not always mean a Kolkata plant. Several well-known names keep head offices in the city while making their products elsewhere; Emami's laboratory is here but its factories are in Assam and western India, and Dabur's only Bengal plant sits outside the city at Narendrapur. Before an audit is planned, the site on the manufacturing licence is the one that matters.

Many of the makers here are unlisted, so their public record is thin. For East India Pharmaceutical Works the most detailed outside source is a credit-rating report; for Dey's Medical it is press coverage of a fire. Those documents carry dates, and buyers should ask the company for anything newer: the current licence, WHO-GMP certificate and most recent inspection outcome.

Regulatory history should be read by date. The Kalyani plant's FDA warning letter and the later U.S. guilty plea relate to a 2013 inspection; neither says anything about the plant's status today. The same discipline applies to company claims such as "compliant to USFDA cGMP requirements", which describe a standard, not an approval.

For companies with sites in more than one city, compare this list with our Ghaziabad list and our wider list of pharma companies in India.

Frequently asked questions

Which pharma companies make medicines in Kolkata?

The pharma companies in Kolkata with verified manufacturing or research sites in the city include Albert David, Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, Dey's Medical Stores (Manufacturing), East India Pharmaceutical Works and Shree Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan, while Emami runs its research centre there. Dabur, Fresenius Kabi Oncology, TCG Lifesciences and West Bengal Chemical Industries operate just outside the city boundary.

Why aren't some well-known pharma brands on this list?

This list includes only companies that make medicines or run research in or near Kolkata, confirmed by a company, regulator or rating-agency document. Many national and multinational drugmakers have sales offices, depots or distributors in the city but no manufacturing there, so they are not listed.

What does the Central Drugs Laboratory in Kolkata do?

The Central Drugs Laboratory on Kyd Street is the national appellate laboratory for drug quality. According to its July 2026 disclosure, it settles disputes over test results under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and also tests imported samples, new drugs, statutory samples and samples sent by CDSCO's zonal offices and the WHO.

Which drug regulator covers West Bengal?

West Bengal's Directorate of Drugs Control licenses drug manufacturing in the state. At national level, the CDSCO East Zone office in Kolkata covers West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Sikkim, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Can my company be added?

Yes, if it makes medicines or runs pharmaceutical research in or near Kolkata and can point to a document that shows it, such as a manufacturing licence, a regulator's listing or an annual report. Listings are never paid for. Write to the editorial desk through our contact page.