Visit by the PM Modi to the Serum Institute of India.

Pune: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Serum Institute of India and lauded the efforts taken by the Institute to produce low-cost vaccines.

At a brief visit to the Serum Institute of India on Sunday, the Prime Minister showed interest in Adar Poonawalla's Clen City Initiative. The Prime Minister vocalised that initiative was good and that other cities in the country should also kick-start such a initiative.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Poonawalla Group, said that Narendra Modi who paid a brief visit to the Serum Institute of India commended their efforts to produce low-cost vaccines to save poor children and also took note of the Clen City Initiative started by Adar Poonawalla.

By pledging 100 crore rupees to clean Pune, Poonawalla has joined this year's Forbes Asia's annual list of philanthropists being one of the only five Indians to be in the list. Clean City Movement aims at making Pune city completely garbage free. The Initiative which was launched early this year, is in collaboration with Pune Municipal Corporation.

Speaking about the Prime Minister's visit, Poonawalla said, "The Prime Minister's Office informed us regarding the visit by the Prime Minister and that he had showed interest in our Clean City Initiative. He also said that the initiative should be considered as base for similar initiatives in other cities. 1700 tonnes of waste is being generated everyday in Pune city of which 800-850 is wet waste. This movement just collects, transports and processes organic waste in an environmentally sustainable manner with scientific methods."

Serum Institue of India is the world's fifth largest vaccine by volume. It has an installed capacity of over one billion doses annually including many different vaccines. The Institute has one manufacturing plant in Pune and another in Netherlands. Poonawalla further added, "The Prime Minister appreciated us for producing low-cost vaccines to help protect children. He further encouraged us to manufacture vaccines at affordable rates to be available for the masses."

Also present were Chairman of Serum Institute Cyrus Poonawala, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Sharad Pawar and others.