The Serum Institute of India has signed a pact with a Russian agency to produce the Sputnik V vaccine and is set to become a source of three Covid-19 vaccines.

The first batch of the Sputnik vaccine from Serum is expected to be produced at its facilities in September, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, and the vaccine maker announced on Tuesday. They said they intended to produce 300 million doses of the vaccine in India per year.

“We hope to make millions of doses in the coming months with trial batches starting in September,” Adar Poonawalla, Serum’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “With high efficacy and a good safety profile, it is critical that Sputnik is accessible in full measure for people across India and the world.”

India’s regulatory authority for drugs and vaccines had approved Sputnik V in April this year but its use into the vaccination campaign has been limited by supplies.

But the Union health ministry has counted 100 million doses of Sputnik V in its projected inventory of 1,350 million doses with which it hopes to fully vaccinate India’s eligible population by the year-end.

The Sputnik V vaccine uses two differing doses and India has received 3.1 million first doses and 360,000 second doses, a Reuters report had said on Monday. The unequal numbers has meant the vaccine’s full rollout in India is currently on hold.

Serum has already received the raw materials for the vaccine — cell and vector samples — from Russia’s Gamaleya Centre and has initiated the cultivation process, the RDIF and the company said.

The Sputnik V vaccine is registered for use in 67 countries.

Serum is already producing Covishield, the AstraZeneca vaccine, currently used in the vaccination campaign, and Covavax, another Covid-19 vaccine designed by the US-based Novavax.

The company had said earlier this year that it is ramping up Covishield production to 100 million doses per month and its pact with Novavax announced last year had set a target of a billion doses of Covavax in 2021.

Russia is hoping India will emerge as a leading production hub for Sputnik V. The RDIF had earlier signed production pacts with other companies — Panacea Biotec, Stelis Biopharma, Hetero Biopharma, Gland Pharma, Virchow Biotech and Morepen.“The more the manufacturers the better — but much of the Sputnik produced in India is also likely intended for the international market,” said R. Ramakumar, a professor of developmental studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

The RDIF has said the Sputnik V vaccine has shown an efficacy of 97 per cent based on the analysis of data on the coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both doses between December 5, 2020, and March 31, 2021.