Its Annual General Meeting has become one of the few occasions each year when regulators, corporate leadership and researchers sit in the same room to talk through where the sector is headed.
The Indian Federation of Animal Health Companies (INFAH) completed 15 years of existence this month, and the organization chose its Annual General Meeting (AGM) to look back on that journey while setting out where it wants the industry to go next.
The 15th AGM, held under the theme ‘Advancing Animal Health, Enabling National Growth’ drew member companies, regulators, scientists and business leaders from across the country’s animal health and dairy sectors, and the sessions that followed touched on nearly every pressure point the industry is currently working through, from drug regulation to artificial intelligence.
INFAH represents companies working in animal pharmaceuticals, vaccines and related health products in India, and its AGM has become one of the few occasions each year when regulators, corporate leadership and researchers sit in the same room to talk through where the sector is headed.
This year’s edition opened with a traditional lamp-lighting ceremony before moving into a series of talks built around the themes of productivity, sustainability and nutritional security, the three pillars the federation used to frame this year’s meeting.
Regulators and industry leaders share the stage
Dr Rubina Bose, Deputy Drugs Controller (India) at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), opened the knowledge sessions with a look at how India’s regulatory framework for animal health products is evolving.
Her talk gave member companies a sense of the direction CDSCO is taking on approvals and compliance, a subject that rarely gets this kind of direct airtime from a sitting regulator.
Burjis Godrej, Chairperson of Godrej Agrovet, followed with a broader look at where animal health fits into India’s food security picture. He spoke about the country’s growing protein requirements and argued that innovation, productivity and sustainability need to move together if the sector is to keep pace with demand and contribute meaningfully to national growth.
Amit Vyas, Managing Director of Amul Dairy, brought the dairy sector’s perspective into the conversation, speaking about digitalization and technology-driven transformation as tools for improving productivity and creating value further down the supply chain. Given Amul’s scale, his comments carried weight for an audience that includes many companies supplying health products into the dairy value chain.
On the science side, Dr Naveen Kumar, Director of the National Institute of Virology in Pune, spoke about emerging animal diseases, biosecurity and where scientific innovation is heading in response to new disease threats.
Closing out the sessions, Hareesh Tibrewala, CEO of Manabu AI Solutions, spoke about the growing role artificial intelligence is starting to play in reshaping how the animal health sector operates, a topic that has moved from novelty to genuine business planning for many companies in the room.
Recognition for long-standing contributors
The federation used the occasion to present the INFAH Award to Dr Ramesh C Sikka and Dr Raghuvir Trifale, recognizing what the organization described as significant contributions to India’s animal health sector over the years.
The AGM also included a Members’ Spotlight segment and felicitations for past presidents, partner associations, sub-committee chairpersons and general members, a part of the event INFAH said reflected the collective strength the federation has built over the past decade and a half.
A sector taking stock and looking ahead
What stood out from this year’s AGM was less any single announcement and more the range of voices INFAH brought together in one room: a drug regulator, a corporate agribusiness leader, a dairy cooperative head, a virologist and an AI executive.
That spread says something about how animal health as a sector is being pulled in several directions at once, expected to keep up with regulatory change, meet rising protein demand, guard against new diseases and adapt to digital tools, often all in the same budget cycle.
INFAH described the turnout, which it said included enthusiastic participation from members and stakeholders across the animal health fraternity, as a sign of the collaboration and knowledge-sharing the federation has tried to build since it was founded.
Fifteen years on, the organization is positioning itself less as a trade body ticking through routine business and more as a platform trying to hold together the different parts of an industry that touches everything from livestock disease control to the country’s dairy supply and, ultimately, its food security.
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