By Rishika Sadam

(Reuters) -Eli Lilly ( LLY ) will invest more than $1 billion in India in the coming years to boost manufacturing and supply through local drugmakers, the company said on Monday, as it seeks to tap into skilled workforce to bolster its global manufacturing expansion.

The collaborations aim to increase the availability of Lilly's key drugs, including those for obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer's, cancer and autoimmune conditions, the company said.

"We are making significant investments to increase manufacturing and medicine supply capacity around the world," Patrik Jonsson, president of Lilly International, said, adding, India is a hub for capability building within its global network.

The company, which launched its blockbuster weight-loss drug Mounjaro in India this year, currently does not operate its own manufacturing facility in the country, which hosts several firms that develop and manufacture complex drugs, vials, injectables for larger pharmaceuticals on a contract basis.

"Lilly is actively engaging with contract manufacturers in India," the company told Reuters, but did not divulge any further details.

Lilly's investment plans in India come at a time when global drugmakers are rushing to bolster U.S. manufacturing capacity after the Trump administration imposed a 100% tariff on imported branded and patented drugs from October 1.

Last month, Lilly announced a $5 billion investment in a new facility in Virginia, part of a $27 billion expansion plan to build four new U.S. plants over the next five years.

Meanwhile, the India launch of Mounjaro, alongside Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, has increased patient awareness of obesity treatments in a country projected to have the world's second-largest obese population by 2050.

Sales of both drugs doubled within months of their launch.

Lilly is also preparing for increased competition from India's generic drugmakers, who are racing to launch cheaper versions of Wegovy once its main chemical ingredient, semaglutide, goes off patent next year.

Separately, Lilly is setting up a manufacturing and quality facility in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad to expand its presence beyond the city's global capability center.

The new hub will oversee the firm's contract manufacturing network across India and provide technical capabilities.

Recruitment for the new site "will begin immediately", Lilly said, with plans to hire engineers, chemists, analytical scientists, quality control and assurance experts and managers.