<p>With a substantial increase in cost of production of drugs in India and shortage of life-saving medicines looming large, the commerce ministry is holding a meeting with manufacturers and exporters of medicines, textiles, electronic devices and electrical machinery among others to assess the impact of coronavirus outbreak and explore alternative sources to help businesses.</p>.<p>According to industry sources, the cost of production of medicines has increased upto 40% in the past fortnight but consumers are not feeling the heat due to price control of essential drugs by the government.</p>.<p>“The meeting chaired by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will discuss challenges and opportunities arising out of the coronavirus outbreak. The government will explore a sector-wise solution to industry problems. Import duty cuts are very much on the discussion table,” according to sources attending the Tuesday's meeting.</p>.<p>The government may reduce customs duty on pharma, electronic goods and other imports to help industry cope with the shortfall arising out of the crisis in China.</p>.<p>An estimated 68% raw materials for pharmaceutical were imported from China in in the financial year 2019. Around 40% of India's electronic equipment came from China last year and 80% of solar cells and modules which absorb sunlight to generate electricity were shipped from the neighbouring country.</p>.<p>India gets 14% of total imports from China. A slowdown in imports of inputs could have an impact on domestic production as India has a high dependency on China for manufacturing inputs.</p>.<p>The sectors that already have held discussions with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are information technology, textiles, pharmaceuticals, automobiles health, telecom, metals, mobiles, edible oil and marine food among others.</p>.<p>Among these, the sources said, chemicals, solar and pharma, have flagged potential price rise issues.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, India has been getting queries from the European Union and the United States for textiles, homeware, ceramic tiles, engineering goods, furniture among others, seeking to replace China as a supplier.</p>
<p>With a substantial increase in cost of production of drugs in India and shortage of life-saving medicines looming large, the commerce ministry is holding a meeting with manufacturers and exporters of medicines, textiles, electronic devices and electrical machinery among others to assess the impact of coronavirus outbreak and explore alternative sources to help businesses.</p>.<p>According to industry sources, the cost of production of medicines has increased upto 40% in the past fortnight but consumers are not feeling the heat due to price control of essential drugs by the government.</p>.<p>“The meeting chaired by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will discuss challenges and opportunities arising out of the coronavirus outbreak. The government will explore a sector-wise solution to industry problems. Import duty cuts are very much on the discussion table,” according to sources attending the Tuesday's meeting.</p>.<p>The government may reduce customs duty on pharma, electronic goods and other imports to help industry cope with the shortfall arising out of the crisis in China.</p>.<p>An estimated 68% raw materials for pharmaceutical were imported from China in in the financial year 2019. Around 40% of India's electronic equipment came from China last year and 80% of solar cells and modules which absorb sunlight to generate electricity were shipped from the neighbouring country.</p>.<p>India gets 14% of total imports from China. A slowdown in imports of inputs could have an impact on domestic production as India has a high dependency on China for manufacturing inputs.</p>.<p>The sectors that already have held discussions with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are information technology, textiles, pharmaceuticals, automobiles health, telecom, metals, mobiles, edible oil and marine food among others.</p>.<p>Among these, the sources said, chemicals, solar and pharma, have flagged potential price rise issues.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, India has been getting queries from the European Union and the United States for textiles, homeware, ceramic tiles, engineering goods, furniture among others, seeking to replace China as a supplier.</p>
