SME Times News Bureau | 27 Feb, 2019
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Suresh
Prabhu on Tuesday said the government will take measures to address the challenges
of the pharmaceutical industry.
During a meeting with representatives of pharma
and chemicals industries along with chairmen of Pharmexcil and Chemexcilin New
Delhi, Prabhu said that the Ministry recognizes certain issues that need to be
addressed for enhancing exports in the chemical sector and he promised to take
up all the issues with other Ministries and Departments of Government of India.
Minister elaborated that expansion of Interest
Equalization Scheme needs to be done by adding more tariff lines,
The process of environmental clearance to be
speeded up especially relating to product mix and also expeditious approval
process.
There is also a need for the removal of
pre-import condition for advance authorization (with prospective effect).
Minister further said that additional MEIS
support for specific commodities for specific markets due to disadvantage
arising out of other countries FTAs also needs to be addressed.
Prabhu stated that Commerce Ministry will seek
support from Indian embassies and missions abroad to understand the market
profile of the country and then disseminate the same among the domestic
industries.
Speaking to the pharma industry representatives
Commerce Minister said that Ministry recognizes that some important factors
have affected exports recently, especially to the US, including buyer
consolidation in US into three major groups with accompanying buyer’s power, pressure
on drug pricing due to record number of US ANDA (Abbreviated New Drug
Application) approvals, foreign regulatory issues, lack of blockbuster drugs
going off patent in the recent years.
However, the Commerce Minister observed that the
pharma industry has made a very good recovery with industry consolidation,
resolution of export related long standing regulatory issues, strong domestic
growth and export led focus, leading to a strong growth of exports to US, EU
and other important markets.
Prabhu said that Commerce Ministry supports
pharma exports through its schemes of reimbursement of product registrations
abroad upto Rs 50 lakh per year- this ceiling has been enhanced recently to Rs
2 crore per year with additional components, which will encourage exporters to
register and sell more products in new and potential markets.
Commerce Ministry also provides financial support
to industry for participation in trade events, BSMs abroad and in organizing
flagship industry events in India, like IPhex and CPhI. Minister also said that
the Ministry is facilitating market access in important markets like China,
Russia and CIS and Vietnam.
The other initiatives of the Commerce Ministry
include highlighting and resolving pending issues with various Government of
India Departments, like waiver of GST to incentivize export of R&D
services, extending validity of CoP and waiver of NOC for exports.
India’s pharma exports have grown handsomely from
USD 15.43 billion in 2014-15, based on current trends. India is likely to record
highest ever pharma exports this FY 2018-19 of approx. USD 19 billion.
Indian pharma industry plays a leading role
globally, with 10% share of world production volumes and 2.4% share globally in
terms of value. Exports are more than 50% of the total Indian pharma industry
turnover and help provide affordable healthcare through high quality yet
affordable generic drugs and formulations.
Pharma exports in 2017-18 were USD 17.27
billion.Main components are drug formulations & biologicals USD 12.91
billion and bulk drugs & drug intermediates USD 3.54 billion.