Hyderabad: A portion of land worth hundreds of crores belonging to the Indian Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd in Balanagar is proposed to be sold to raise funds for its revival. The once-famous drugs maker was shut down nearly a decade ago after it turned sick. The NDA government has offered to revive the plant under its Make in India initiative.
The TS government has proposed that a portion of the 800-acre campus of the company, located on prime land in in Balanagar, can be sold to raise funds for revival. The IDPL is a Central public service undertaking. The state government sought permission to revive the unit on its own after investors began approaching it to reopen the plant in response to its new industrial approval policy, TS-iPASS.
The Centre had announced a Rs 900-crore package for the IDPL in March 2015, there has been no progress since. Union minister of state for chemicals Hansraj Gangaram, who visited IDPL in March last year, said, “Of the Rs 900-crore revival package, about Rs 450 crore would be spent on the Balanagar facility and the rest would be utilised for the Gurgaon and Rishikesh plants. By July 2015, IDPL Balanagar unit will start making formulations.”
That did not materialise though the Centre had declared 2015 as Bulk Drugs Year, as part of which the revival of IDPL was annouced. Industries minister Jupally Krishna Rao said, “The revival of IDPL will strengthen Hyderabad as the capital of the Indian pharma industry.
The state government is receiving proposals from potential investors to revive IDPL provided the government allows the sale of some portion of IDPL’s unutilised land in Balanagar to raise funds. We have submitted a report to the Centre on how unutilised lands can be used for revival of IDPL.”
