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Union minister for chemicals & fertilizers and health & family welfare Dr Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurated 27 greenfield bulk drug park projects and 13 greenfield manufacturing plants for medical devices under the production linked incentive (PLI) schemes.
Announcing the launch in an event organised by Department of Pharmaceuticals and industry body FICCI in New Delhi, he said that the country will see manufacturing of antibiotic penicillin G, after 30 years, to commence in India by June, this year. It may be noted that Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma has been awarded with the project to set up a penicillin G manufacturing facility in the country through the PLI scheme for promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical key starting materials (KSMs)/drug intermediates (DIs)/active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in India.
Commenting on the launch of greenfield projects, the Minister said that during the time of Covid-19 outbreak when the supply chains were disrupted and there were multiple challenges, the government took note that for 53 APIs, India was dependent on dependent on imports with almost 90 per cent of these products being imported. Production of around 1,000 formulations were dependent on these APIs and considering them as critical requirement, when the government came up with PLI scheme, such products were included under the scheme.
The PLI schemes for bulk drugs and medical devices has come to a stage where 22 bulk drugs and 39 medical devices are launched at one go now, he said.
Elaborating on the production of penicillin G, he recalled that in 60's India has penicillin manufacturing and it lost the steam with the globalisation in 90's. With global companies dumping penicillin products to Indian market, the last penicillin manufacturing facility in the country closed in 1998.
He blamed the governments during the time, stating that the governments should have realised the importance of manufacturing such a product in the country and could have protected them from global competition.
Now, with the PLI scheme, the new penicillin G manufacturing plant is ready for operations and it is expected to start production in June, this year, bringing penicillin G production in the country after a gap of 30 years, he added.
"This is the success story of PLI scheme in the country. There will be more plants coming up in the country in the coming days," he added.
Arunish Chawla, secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, said that through the PLI schemes in the sector, a total sales of Rs. 1,20,697 crore has been recorded till December, 2023, from which exports worth Rs. 73,025 crore - almost $10 billion - has already been made.
Commenting on the success of the scheme, he said, "last year, for the first time we exported as many bulk drugs as we imported in the country. We exported more than half of our pharma output, making India one of the export oriented pharma manufacturing country."
The bulk drugs for which green field projects has been commissioned include prednisolone, CDA (1, 1 cyclohexane diacetic acid), para amino phenol, atorvastatin, olmesartan, valsartan, losartan, levofloxacin, sulfadiazine, ofloxacin, norfloxacin, telmisartan, diclofenac sodium, levetiracetam, corbidopa, lopinavir, acyclovir, carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, vitamin B 6, levodopa and artesunate.
The PLI scheme for bulk drugs with an incentive outlay of Rs. 6,940 crore was announced for a scheme tenure from FY 2020-21 to FY 2029-30 with incentive rate of 10 per cent to chemically synthesised products and 5-20 per cent to fermentation based products.
Out of the 48 projects approved, 27 has been completed and 22 bulk drugs has been commissioned. Commissioning of all these 22 bulk drugs were announced through the event now.
Chawla said that through the DoP-FICCI event, almost half of the projects approved under the PLI scheme for medical devices are commissioned now.
Production of 39 medical devices commenced include important devices such as CT-Scan, Linear Accelerator (LINAC), Rotational Cobalt Machine, C-Arm, MRI, Cath Lab, Ultrasonography, Dialysis Machine, Heart Valves, Stents, and some of the cancer therapy equipment, among others.
The PLI scheme for medical devices with an incentive outlay of Rs. 3,420 crore was announced for the target segments of cancer care/radiotherapy, radiology, and imaging, anaesthetics and cardio-respiratory devices, and implants. The scheme tenure is from FY 2021-22 to FY 2027-28. So far 26 projects were approved for 138 products and 13 projects has been commissioned with 39 products.
The government has launched three PLI schemes in the pharma sector, including the PLI scheme for pharmaceuticals, with an incentive outlay of Rs. 15,000 crore with eligible sales of six years from. FY 2022-23 to FY 2027-28. A total of 55 applicants were approved for 1,800 new products.
Chawla added that the drug and pharmaceutical industry in India witnessed a 12% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the last 10 years.
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