Need to reduce import dependence of India and promote domestic manufacturing: Mandaviya

Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, and Health and Family Welfare, yesterday said that to meet the critical requirements of the country, India’s dependency on import for pharma and medical devices must be reduced.

Addressing the Curtain Raiser press conference on the 7th edition of India Pharma & Indian Medical Device 2022 organised by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Dr Mandaviya said that the domestic manufacturing needs to scale up as we want to dominate the world and our aim is not to be dependent on anyone.

He added that India currently has the highest manufacturing capacity for generic medicines. He further said that in order to increase the production of patented drugs manufacturing in India, both innovation and research are required. To bring more innovation and research, the government is taking various steps, and, soon, the government will announce a policy also in this regard, noted Dr Mandaviya.

He further added that this conference will decide the roadmap of the Indian pharma and the Indian medical devices sector for the next 25 years to take India beyond ‘Pharmacy of the World.’

Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, said that with the growth in the pharma sector, India is aspiring to become a pharma hub. He further stated that to boost the Indian medical devices sector, we need to bring new technologies and innovation, along with the focus on R&D activities. We have to increase the production of Indian medical devices to reduce the import dependency, he added.

S Aparna, Secretary, Department of Pharma, said that the Indian pharma and medical device sector requires collaboration between industries, academia, researchers, regulators and policymakers that will help these two sectors. The government has formulated several mechanisms including empowered group of secretaries, project development cell, PLI schemes and a conducive policy environment to strengthen the pharma and medical device ecosystems.