New Delhi: The government is working on a new support scheme for the bulk drugs industry even as it rules out any blanket increase in medicine prices despite cost pressures arising from the West Asia crisis, Pharmaceuticals Secretary Manoj Joshi said.
In an interview with Business Standard, Joshi said the proposed scheme would go beyond the production-linked incentive (PLI) approach to focus on long-term capacity creation, research and development (R&D), and stronger academia-industry partnerships.
“We are working on a new comprehensive support scheme for discovery and development of bulk drugs,” Joshi said. The framework would provide a longer implementation window for companies setting up facilities and more flexible support for product development, he added.
This comes as India seeks to reduce import dependence for key pharma ingredients and strengthen domestic manufacturing capabilities. According to Joshi, the Centre aims to support the sector through grants, infrastructure, R&D assistance and an improved minimum import price regime.
‘India pharma resilient despite disruption, no blanket price hike planned’
On supply chains, he said India’s pharma industry has remained largely resilient despite disruptions triggered by geopolitical tensions in West Asia. While there were initial shortages of some solvents and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) initially, supplies have since stabilised.
Supplies of methanol, ammonia and propylene — critical inputs in the manufacturing of isopropyl alcohol and other pharma products — have normalised. Higher crude and petrochemical prices, however, have pushed up manufacturing, packaging and transport costs.
For some medicines, raw material costs have risen by 20 to 30 per cent, but the industry has absorbed the increase so far. The Centre is not considering any emergency, across-the-board hike in medicine prices, Joshi said.
A few cases involving exceptional input-cost inflation, however, are being examined individually, he added.
Separately, he said the ₹10,000-crore Mission Biopharma Shakti is moving through the approval process, while 22 projects worth about ₹720 crore have already been sanctioned under the Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma MedTech sector (PRIP) scheme.
He added that consultations are under way on revising the medical devices global tender exemption list, and the government wants greater utilisation of its pharma technology upgradation scheme by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
