Over Rs 460 crore support by govt for development of pharma sector

New Delhi: The government has proposed over Rs 460 crore support for the development of pharmaceuticals industry with an aim to reduce the cost of bulk drugs and medical devices through setting up of common facility centres and to help SMEs upgrade technology.

Announcing guidelines for five sub-schemes under the pharma development programme, the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) said the objective is to reduce the cost of production by 20-25 percent in bulk drug parks.

Similarly, for medical devices also, the aim is to bring down the cost of production significantly in the dedicated medical device parks, thereby leading to better availability and affordability in the domestic market.

The government is looking at providing assistance to bulk drug industry by setting up common facility centres which is proposed as a central sector scheme with a total size of Rs 200 crore for 2018-2020, the DoP said in an announcement on its website.

"The scheme would be implemented through a one-time grant-in-aid to be released for creation of identified infrastructure and common facilities to a State Implementing Agency (SIA) set up for the purpose," it added.

The purpose of the grant is to render the financial assistance for the establishment of common facilities in any upcoming bulk drug park promoted by state governments/state corporations, it added.

Another scheme for which the guidelines for implementation have been mooted is for assistance to medical device industry for setting up of common facility centres.

"The scheme termed as development of common facility centre for medical device (DCFCMD) is proposed as a central sector scheme," the announcement said.

The total size of the scheme is proposed as Rs 100 crore for DCFC-MD for 2018-2020, it added.

Assistance under the scheme will be admissible for creation of common facilities in medical device park and it will be implemented through a one-time grant-in-aid, the note said.

The third scheme proposed is for the assistance for cluster development.

"The scheme termed as cluster development programme for pharma sector (CDP-PS) as a central sector scheme and the total size of the scheme is proposed as Rs 20 crore for CDP-PS for 2018-2020," the note added.

It would be implemented on a public private partnership (PPP) format through one time grant-in-aid to be released in various phases for creation of identified infrastructure and common facilities to special purpose vehicles (SPVs) set up for the purpose, it added.

Besides, the DoP said the pharmaceutical promotion development scheme (PPDS) will aim at promotion, development and export promotion in pharma sector by extending financial support for conduct of seminars, conferences and exhibitions, among other activities.

Under the scheme, mounting delegations for promotion of exports as well as investments, conducting studies/ consultancies, for facilitating growth, exports as well as critical issues affecting pharma sector will be supported.

It further said a budgetary allocation of Rs 144 crore for 2018-2020 has been made for pharmaceutical technology upgradation assistance scheme (PTUAS).

It is possible to extend benefit of interest subvention to around 250 pharma SMEs under the scheme, it added.

The goal of this scheme is to facilitate small and medium pharma enterprises (SMEs) of proven track record to World Health Organisation (WHO)/Good Manufacturing Practices norms to enable them to participate and compete in global markets and earn foreign exchange.