UP to open 6 pharma parks; gets Rs 5,000-6,000 Crore commitment

The Uttar Pradesh government is planning to open six pharma parks across the state and has received an investment commitment of about Rs 5,000-6,000 crore from domestic and multinational pharma companies, a senior minister said Thursday.

The government is in talks with several multinational companies like Mylan, GE, Pfizer and Sanofi along with domestic players for setting up pharma units in the state, Uttar Pradesh health minister Sidharth Nath Singh said.

"Uttar Pradesh is already a major centre having 30 per cent of manufacturing and exports of pharmaceuticals in the country. We had announced new pharma policy three months back and have already received an investment commitment of about Rs 5,000-6,000 crore, of which we hope that several will materialise soon," Singh told.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) annual celebration event, Singh said, the government is setting up six pharma parks in Noida, Bundelkhand, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Lucknow and Allahabad, which will help in achieving faster growth.

The government will allot 100 to 250 acres of land and offer incentives like free electricity, zero stamp duty and interest-free loan up to Rs 10 crore for the infrastructure development, he said.

"We are also reimbursing for five to seven years the state GST component. For the R&D support, we are providing capital intensive subsidy in the form of reimbursement to 60 per cent (up to Rs 50 lakh for the maximum unit)," Singh said, adding that the state offers single window system and follow ethical practices.

Singh said the Centre's Ayushman Bharat is a huge programme and "we intend to be the backbone of implementing this initiative". He said the state government has already reached out to 1,000 private and public hospitals and is reaching out to 1,000 more.

"We already have a huge training programme for the ASHA, ANMs and Anganwadi workers in UP to speed up the training process," he said.