‘On the whole the Budget is welcome’

The budget doesn’t have any special announcements with respect to the pharma industry except strengthening of drug testing laboratories, formation of rural health centres and bio-tech clusters in Kolkata and Pune.

The proposal to revise the capital ceiling for definition of MSME as well as committees to be set-up for SME developments can help the pharma SMEs.

Only after seeing the fine print, we can evaluate the extent of benefit to the pharma industry on announcements like reduction in basic customs duty on certain chemicals, 15 per cent capital subsidy for investment beyond Rs 25 crores in the manufacturing sector, formation of export promotion mission, skill India programmes, etc. On the whole, the budget is welcome in the sense it doesn’t have any negatives for the pharma industry.

– SV Veerramani, President, IDMA