Hyderabad: As Jaitley and his team get ready to present their maiden Budget next week, the pharma sector has given a run down of the things they hope to see, starting with strong growth plan for the future. Apart from hoping for manufaturing clusters and R&D ecosystem, the industry signalled a strong need to revive API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) segment and reducing dependence on China imports.
India is currently 100 per cent dependent on China for 15 essential drugs, but a supply-chain break down will have serious implications opined Satish Reddy, chairman, Dr Reddy’s Laboratory. “If there is breakdown in the supply chain in China, we will suffer, because India does not have the capacity to meet those kind of needs. we need to have a policy frame to tackle this issue,” he said.
In order to domesticate the manufacture of essential drugs, the government should concentrate on setting up industrial clusters, “this will reduce our dependence on neighbours,” Mr Reddy said. The industry also demanded that weighted deduction of 200 per cent of R&D expenses be hiked to 250 per cent in the upcoming Union Budget.
