India's first medical cannabis company receives major backing

As 2017 draws to a close, a country that accounts for 18% of the world's population is moving very fast on cannabis, thanks in part to one of the country's best-known and most powerful businessmen, Ratan Tata.

Last August, a first medical cannabis license was granted for scientific purposes to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

On December 17, the first march in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Less than a week later, Ratan Tata, former head of the $100 billion Indian conglomerate of the same name, founded the first medical cannabis research organization, the Bombay Hemp Company (BHC). Tata is joined by Rajan Anandan, Managing Director of Google India, who is also investing in the startup.

To save time, BCH has set up a partnership with CSIR to take advantage of its research license on the medical marijuana.

BCH grows cannabis in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, with the intention of seeking treatments for epilepsy, breast cancer and palliative care.

«We already have our first batch of plants from cannabis grown in Jammu,» said Avnish Pandya, co-founder of BHC. «It's all part of the CSIR».

The company added that Tata and Anandan's investment will be used to hire scientists from India and the international community, particularly in the Netherlands, where they already have contacts. Product development announcements will arrive in 2018 with first products for palliative care.

BHC is also exploring the possibilities of hemp, with the creation of hemp-based renewable energy.

India sold recreational cannabis until 1985. The country then bowed to pressure from the United States and banned the possession and consumption of narcotics, including cannabis. In fact, some of the country's states have continued to cultivate cannabis for religious, medical or recreational purposes.