Serum Institute has sought indemnity against legal proceedings linked to the use of its vaccines in India as well as the government's nod to produce Russian Covid-19 jab Sputnik V in this country.

"Not just Serum Institute of India (SII), all the vaccine companies should get indemnity protection against liabilities if foreign companies are granted it," a company official told the local media on Thursday.

Read:India's COVID-19 tally rises to 28,441,986

Serum's demand comes in the wake of media reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is planning to grant legal protection to foreign Covid vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna.

The vaccine maker has also sought permission from the country's drugs controller for a test licence to manufacture Sputnik V shots in India.

"SII put up an application to the Drugs Controller General of India on Wednesday, seeking permission to manufacture Sputnik V in India," another company official told the local media.

Read: India to start trials on safety, efficacy of mixing Covid vaccine doses

Serum's Covidshield is being widely used in both India and Bangladesh's mega inoculation drives. Bangladesh has inked a deal with Serum to buy 30 million doses of Covidshield, but a recent surge in Covid cases in India has now made the delivery of the remaining doses uncertain.

In a recent interview with a British daily, Serum's chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla said that the company would increase the vaccine production capacity from the existing 2.5 billion to 3 billion doses a year within six months.

Read: India's COVID-19 tally reaches 28,175,044 with 127,510 new cases

India is currently witnessing a ferocious second wave of Covid-19. At the same time, an acute shortage of Covid vaccines has seriously hampered the country's mass inoculation drive.

Prime Minister Modi rolled out the world's largest Covid vaccination drive on January 16. Covishield and local company Bharat Biotech's Covaxin are currently being given to citizens.