Centre announces Rs. 10,000-cr booster dose for domestic drug production

The Centre announced a Rs. 10,000-crore booster for ramping up domestic production of raw materials for producing drugs and indigenous medical devices.

Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers DV Sadananda Gowda launched schemes from the Department of Pharmaceuticals for promotion of domestic manufacturing of bulk drugs and medical devices parks in the country.

Addressing the media he said, the proposal is divided into four key segments – Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) which consists of an outlay of Rs. 6,490 crore, Rs. 3,000 crore in all for three bulk drug parks, outlay of Rs. 3,420 crore for PLI scheme for medical devices, and grant-in-aid of Rs. 400 crore in all for four medical device parks.

PD Vaghela, Secretary, DoP, said, “This booster including incentives will bring in an expected investment of Rs. 77,900 crore, and generate employment for 2,55,500 persons. Applicants will be selected on basis of capacity of proposed plant and sale price of APIs they offer. We are looking for those companies which are offering APIs at the cheapest price,” said Vaghela.

But, according to industry, it will take at least six months for pharma companies to apply and get approvals for PLI scheme to manufacture APIs, which are basic raw materials to produce drugs.

The technical committee of bulk drugs identified 53 critical key starting materials, drug intermediaries and API for doling out incentives linked with starting indigenous manufacturing to in all 136 applicants.

In the PLI scheme for APIs, in case of Penicillin G which is a key fermentation-based starting material for several antibiotics, two pharma manufacturers can apply, and have a minimum production capacity of 5,000 tonnes.