Hyderabad: India has proposed to settle Venezuela’s dues towards drug imports through a barter system as the Latin American is in midst of economic crisis due to low oil price. “In Venezuela, the situation has gone out of control of the government there. The currency has gone for a toss. We would like to have some kind of barter system like China had. We have some kind of a draft proposal. Unfortunately, the response from their side is very slow. We have to be little patient,” said Anice Joseph Chandra, director, ministry of commerce.
Several Indian pharma companies have taken a hit due to curbs imposed by the Venezuelan government on the transfer of foreign currency. Dr Reddy’s wrote off $65 million in the March quarter, which it said was almost all the money it was owed from Venezuela. Its rival Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc says it is due $45 million.
According to the official, Venezuela too wants to solve the issue. "The situation in Venezuela is very precarious... the government knows it needs to do something about the medicine shortage, that’s why it is willing to discuss such a deal,” another official said. According to an estimate, Venezuela owes more than Rs 2,000 crore to Indian companies.
