New Delhi, March 5 -- Cancer patients facing prohibitive treatment costs in India can hope for relief: the nation's top drugmakers have started manufacturing key medicines for such diseases in the country.

India's largest drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and its peers Cipla Ltd., Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Cadila Healthcare Ltd and Biocon Ltd are making cancer drugs under one of the two Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for the sector, according to information shared by the department of pharmaceuticals with Mint. They are among the 55 companies selected for incentives to produce 175 high-value medicines in India.

At present, most cancer drugs are imported, making them prohibitively expensive. That's when India's c...