Union Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday urged the Indian Pharmaceutical industry to work towards becoming the healthcare custodian of the world. Goyal said that India is already recognized as the ‘pharmacy of the world’.
He was speaking at the ‘Indian Pharma – Global Health Care’ Diamond Jubilee Conclave of the Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA).
‘’It’s extremely important that we focus not only on our strengths in the generic sector, but also ensure our backward and forward linkages. It is important that we try product development, break new grounds,” Goyal said.
The Minister spelt out three mantras to economic success: Focus on innovation, stress on quality and work with the world market. “International competitiveness will be very important. It is important to keep abreast of new developments and good manufacturing practices,” he added.
Goyal further urged the 750 large pharma companies of the country to hand hold the smaller companies and help them become quality manufacturers of good products. He suggested that the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) companies may create a fund for this purpose and work out how in a defined time frame we can ensure that the entire pharma industry of India necessarily works with good manufacturing practices.
Referring to the recently concluded FTAs with UAE and Australia, Goyal stated that the Government has created the pathway for easier approval of their products. “For the first time ever, we have been able to bring in some game changing decisions in the agreements which focus on non-technical barriers”.
It is particularly of benefit to the pharma industry, he added and hoped that the industry will be able to use these new agreements for faster approvals. He also noted that the Government has come up with many schemes like the PLI for APIs and for medical devices.
The Minister noted that India’s pharma industry is the fifth largest contributor in exports, having touched 25 billion dollars in March 2022. “The phenomenal growth that we have seen in the last 10 years should be carried forward to ensure that we become self-reliant, as global supply chains are becoming more and more unpredictable,” he added.
(To receive our E-paper on whatsapp daily, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper’s PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
Published on: Friday, April 15, 2022, 06:00 PM IST
Source