Government releases guidelines for schemes to boost domestic manufacturing of bulk drugs, medical devices

The Centre on Monday released guidelines for four schemes for the development of bulk drug and medical device parks in the country to promote domestic manufacturing and reduce India's reliance on imports, particularly from China.

The objective is to make India self reliant in production of 53 critical Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) or Key Starting Materials (KSMs), and in production of medical devices, for which India is crucially dependent on imports, Union Chemicals and Fertilizer Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said.

"The selection of parks location will be based on objective criteria, and in spirit of competitive federalism," Gowda said in a tweet.

Similarly, eligible manufacturers will be selected for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme on the basis of marks obtained in the evaluation criteria as per the guidelines, he added.

"Supported by both Central and State Governments, these parks will be based on plug and play model with prior regulatory approvals, state of art infrastructure, excellent connectivity, affordable land, competitive utility charges, and strong R&D ecosystem and so on," Gowda said.

Once operational, in about two to three years, these parks will generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs, reduce import dependency and make India a global pharmaceutical hub, he added.

"Currently valued at around $40 bn, pharma sector can reach $100 bn by 2024 given right support, and thus help achieve PM''s goal of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2025. I am of a firm belief that these schemes will prove to be a turning point for the pharma industry," he added.

Though India is a global leader in pharma sector, it is depending on China for most of critical APIs or raw material, which is cheaper to import than producing.