India has enough capacity to produce COVID-19 vaccines for itself and others: Nirmala Sitharaman

India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that the country has enough capacity to produce COVID-19 vaccines for its needs and also export it to other countries that need its help. 

Also read: India's Covid-19 case tally edges closer to 1-crore mark

Sitharaman went on to say that India has to invest a lot more in health infrastructure and get more private partners into the sector and the country would be a major contributor to the revival of the global economy after the pandemic.

Recently, India has decided to produce about 300 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines next year, a Russian official was quoted as saying.

Also read: India to produce about 300 mn doses of Russian vaccine; new deals signed

According to Reuters, this new number is nearly three times the previously known quantity as deals have been signed with more manufacturers.

Russia is already testing the first samples of Sputnik V that were produced in India, its embassy in New Delhi said on Twitter on Friday, sharing a news story in which their vaccine czar Kirill Dmitriev was quoted.

"In India, we have agreements with four large manufacturers. India will produce about 300 million doses or more of the vaccine for us next year, " Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) told Rossiya 24 TV, according to news agency TASS.