Govt proposes Rs460-cr boost to pharma sector

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New Delhi: The government has proposed over Rs 460 crore support for the development of pharmaceuticals industry with an aim to reduce 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 cost of production by 20-25 per cent 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 financial assistance for 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.