16 applications cleared under PLI scheme for drug intermediaries & APIs

Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, accorded approvals to 16 applicants under Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Promotion of Domestic Manufacturing of critical Key Starting Materials or Drug Intermediates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in the country.

The setting up of these 16 plants will lead to a total committed investment of over Rs 348 crore and employment generation of about 3,042 by the companies.

Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers in its release said, "The commercial production of these plants is projected to commence from April 1, 2023, onwards." Companies that received a nod for their proposals include Honour Lab Limited, Anasia Lab Private Limited, Hetero Drugs Limited, Chemex Global, Surya Life Sciences limited, Andhra Organics Limited, Sreepathi Pharmaceuticals Limited, Global Pharma Healthcare Private Limited, Kreative Actives Private Limited, Amoli Organics Private Limited and Vapi Care Pharma.

With an objective to attain self-reliance and reduce import dependence in the critical Bulk Drugs - Key Starting Materials or Drug Intermediates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in the country, the Department of Pharmaceuticals had launched a PLI Scheme for promotion of their domestic manufacturing by setting up Greenfield plants with minimum domestic value addition in four different Target Segments for 41 products with a total outlay of Rs 6,940 crore for the period 2020-21 to 2029-30.

In total, 215 applications were received for the 36 products spread across the 4 Target Segments. "With this, all the 215 applications received have been considered and 47 (excluding two successful applications withdrawn subsequently), with a committed investment of Rs 5,366.35 crore, have been approved by the government under the PLI scheme for APIs. "Setting up of these plants will make the country self-reliant to a large extent in respect of these bulk drugs," the release stated.

The disbursal of PLI by the government over the six years would be up to a maximum of about Rs 6,000 crore against the budgetary outlay of Rs 6,940 crore.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry is the 3rd largest in the world by volume. It has a high market presence in several advanced economies such as the US and EU. The industry is well known for its production of affordable medicines, particularly in the generics space. However, the country is significantly dependent on the import of basic raw materials like Bulk Drugs that are used to produce medicines. In some specific bulk drugs, the import dependence is 80 to 100 per cent.