Bulk drugs, med devices parks to reduce dependency on imports: Gowda

The development of bulk drug and medical device parks will help in bringing down India’s dependency on imports and making the country emerge as a major pharma exporter, said D V Sadananda Gowda, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers.

Gowda reviewed various aspects of the proposed development of three bulk drug parks and four medical device parks across the country.

Modalities of the selection of locality of parks as well as of the beneficiaries under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme should be based on some well-defined objective criteria to ensure orderly development of the parks, Gowda said.

“These schemes will increase the competitiveness of domestic production of bulk drugs and medical devices due to benefits available in clusters in the form of state of art common infrastructure and logistics facilities,” he added.

“Development of these parks will not only reduce India’s dependency on imports but will also be helpful in making it a major player in global pharma exports”, Gowda said.

The minister said that it is necessary that medicines are produced in the country at cheaper rates to make affordable medicines available to every citizen.

The Union Cabinet had approved schemes for supporting the development of three bulk drug parks and four medical device parks on March 21, 2020, in order to reduce dependency on imports and boost local manufacturing and employment.

The meeting was attended by Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers; PD Vaghela, Secretary, Pharmaceuticals; Navdeep Rinwa, Joint Secretary and S Eswara Reddy, Joint Drugs Controller.