Haryana showcases readiness to bid for bulk drugs and medical device parks at PHDCCI webinar

The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) is ready to bid for the central government announced bulk drug and medical device parks. It has acquired 1000-acre land in Panipat for a proposed bulk drug park and is in the process of acquiring more land. The state government is also proposing to set up a medical devices park in Karnal.

In the recently held webinar organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) on “The Future of Pharma Industry”, the authority informed that the proposed bulk drug park will be designed and equipped keeping all the industry requirements for ease of doing business.

Anurag Aggarwal, MD, HSIIDC said that Haryana is ideal for setting up the pharma parks due to its strategic advantage as Haryana surrounds Delhi from three sides providing access to nearly 11 per cent of the domestic market. It has excellent road and air connectivity because 15 national highways are present in Haryana with four of them passing through the Delhi-NCR region and has international airports in its vicinity, at Delhi and Chandigarh.

However, he also raised concerns that the evaluation criteria of the bulk drug parks seem to be favouring the coastline states. He said that the state has slipped from its ranking of ease of doing business and will be losing the three points for coastal preference in the selection criteria. He stated, “We do not understand why the coast has been given the advantage in the detailed guidelines of Bulk Drug Parks when only 11 states in the country have a coastline.” He said that during the Britishers’ time the ports used to play an important role in the movement of goods but now the situation is not the same. And it is something that cannot even be created. He said that the state is looking forward to a fair evaluation in the selection criteria.

N K Ahuja, Haryana State Drug Controller highlighted the pharma policy of Haryana, which has been drafted in consultation with all stakeholders. He added that the regulatory policy of Haryana acts as a friend, philosopher and guide and its focus is to handhold and encourage entrepreneurs in the State.

Presenting the industry’s expectations, B R Sikri, Vice President, Bulk Drugs Manufacturers Association of India stressed that transparency, ease of doing business, location of all concerned offices in the park, single window system and deemed approval, competitive land cost etc., will go a long way in the success of proposed parks in Haryana.

Mohit Jain, Chairman, Haryana State Chapter PHDCCI, appreciated the Haryana Government’s move to boost the pharmaceutical sector in the State by launching a dedicated Haryana Pharmaceutical Policy 2019.

A K Singh, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Government of Haryana also informed that there is a big scope for the pharma industry in Haryana as the State has an attractive industrial policy, titled Enterprise Promotion Policy. He said that the policy will now lay stress on employment too. He said that for designing the bulk drug park in Panipat it has entered into an MoU with NIPER Mohali for setting up a research unit. It is also aiming to sign 10 more MoUs with the industry for research collaborations.

Responding to the query on the coastline, Navdeep Rinwa, Joint Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India said that the Bulk Drug Parks scheme is on a challenge mode and the marks to the coastline states is not only considered only from a dumping purpose but also from the fact that huge capital is required for effluent treatment plants and compete with China when it is playing the game of volume. To make Indian industry competitive, the Government of India is giving preference to high scale and high-quality manufacturing.

He also informed that pharma is one of the ‘champion sectors’ identified by the Government of India to provide hand-holding to investors for improving manufacturing capabilities in the country. He said that the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for promoting domestic manufacturing of KSMs, Dis, APIs and medical devices will go a long way in boosting domestic manufacturing.

Informing that for the PLI scheme, the government is receiving a good response, he mentioned that it has received a suggestion from the industry to increase the investment criteria of one of the product categories for which the minimum investment criteria was set at Rs 4000 crores.

The participants at the webinar also raised queries like; will anti-dumping duty be put on China on all government announced PLI scheme products to safeguard the industry, would the units in the bulk drugs parks be exempted from Environment Clearance etc.

[email protected]
[email protected]