Pharmaceutical firm Panacea Biotec said that it has received manufacturing license from Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 pursuant to its collaboration with Russian Direct Investment Fund (Russia’s sovereign wealth fund).

Shares of India's Panacea Biotec Ltd (PNCA.NS) climbed as much as 9% in early trade on Monday, a day after the biotech company said it had received a manufacturing licence for the Sputnik V vaccine.

India is the world's second-worst coronavirus-hit country after the United States. India has shifted its focus to mass immunisations as experts warn of a looming third wave of the coronavirus pandemic as the country slowly reopens and a new variant, locally called the Delta Plus, emerges.

Sputnik V has been registered in 67 countries globally with a total population of over 3.5 billion people. The firm has production facilities at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. These batches were earlier shipped to the Gamaleya Center in Russia for quality checks.

So far, India has approved four vaccines - AstraZeneca and partner Serum Institute of India's Covishield, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, Moderna's shot and the Sputnik V.