New Delhi, Mar 26 (KNN) Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2019, pharmaceutical industry has pinned hopes on political parties to address their issues and make the small industries in pharma sector competitive with policies in line with those for big players in the sector.

Talking to KNN India, President of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association R L Sharma said, “Government should focus on the fine lines of the policies framed for the pharmaceutical industry.”

The policies are usually formed keeping big MNCs in mind, so we request the government to make policies that will benefit more number of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), he added.

The pharma industry has been asking for resolution of export related long standing regulatory issues.

Ahead of the Budget, the government had assured the sector of expansion in Interest Equalization Scheme by adding more tariff lines and speeding up of the process of environmental clearance.

Talking more about issues being faced by the small players, he said, “The policies we follow keeps on changing every now and then which leads to the wastage of our products and serves us as a disadvantage.”

“Being connected with a pharmaceutical association, another major request from the government is that whenever any policy is formed rather than just involving people from big MNCs, member of various associations should also be involved in the discussions,” Sharma said.

This will help in better formation of policies as the government will be able to learn about the difficulties of MSMEs from the ground level, he added.

Speaking about the support from the government he said, “We get a lot of support from the state government of Haryana but that is not the same in case of Central government. So we expect the central government to also give the pharmaceutical industry hand-holding support so that we can grow.”

MSMEs give maximum employment in the country so the government should focus on helping them, Sharma said.

President of Punjab Ayurvedic Drugs Manufacturers Association, J.P Singh said, “Ayurvedic drugs industry is growing at a good pace, we expect government to educate and popularize more about it, so that the industry should flourish more.”

New institutes should be open in which good quality education related to ayurvedic medicines should be given, he added.

Policies formed for the pharmaceutical industry should be made keeping ayurvedic drugs industry in mind, Singh said.

Earlier this month the small and medium sized pharmaceutical companies have also requested the government to extend the deadline for the implementation of new labelling guidelines for scheduled drugs by at least 6 to 9 months.

The pharma industries have sent their representation to the Health Ministry to extend the deadline to save them from losses which they expect to incur with new guidelines.

The Indian pharmaceutical packaging market was estimated at Rs 147.8 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach Rs 245.5 billion by the end of 2023. There is huge demand for an increased supply of high quality primary packaging material.

India’s pharma exports have grown from USD 15.43 billion in 2014-15, based on current trends. India is likely to record highest ever pharma exports this FY 2018-19 of approximately USD 19 billion.

Indian pharma industry plays a leading role globally, with 10% share of world production volumes and 2.4% share globally in terms of value. Exports are more than 50% of the total Indian pharma industry turnover and help provide affordable healthcare through high quality yet affordable generic drugs and formulations.

Pharma exports in 2017-18 were USD 17.27 billion.Main components are drug formulations & biologicals USD 12.91 billion and bulk drugs & drug intermediates USD 3.54 billion.

Pharma exports to the stringent regulatory authorities (US, EU, Canada, Australia, Russia) account for 51% of the total exports, with the highest share of exports to US (USD 5.11 billion) and EU (USD 2.75 billion). India has the highest number of USFDA approved plants, outside of the US, and a large number of EU/Japan/Australia FDA approved plants too.

Pharma exports for April-December 2018-19 are USD 13.94 billion, a growth of 9.32% over the previous year. Exports to the most important and competitive markets of US and EU have grown by 8.74 % and 12.88 % respectively. (KNN/JM)