The government, as per the suggestion made by a task force formed by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) is planning to set up Rs 500 crore venture capital (VC) fund to boost domestic pharma industry and provide cheaper loans to entities looking to establish or upgrade manufacturing facilities.
The task force submitted its report to Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar, who has said that this is in line with the government's agenda of promoting ‘Make in India’ and the Ministry will take action on all the steps suggested by the task force. Adding that the government is working on various proposals, including single window clearance for drug approvals, to rejuvenate the local pharma sector and make medicines more affordable. The minister said that government will set up a committee chaired by Pharmaceuticals Secretary to suggest a mechanism for single-window clearance for the pharmaceuticals industry.
The panel in the report titled 'Recommendations of the Task Force on Enabling Private Sector to lead the growth of Pharmaceutical Industry', has said DoP may come up with a pharmaceutical specific venture fund, for channelising public resources into drug design and discovery. It has also said that said the DoP may also come up with seed capital and facilitate funding with other financial institutions for the medium and small scale pharmaceuticals industry.
In the report, the task force has also suggested that DoP may launch a scheme for giving financial assistance in form of soft loan or interest subsidy for upgradation of selected manufacturing facilities to the industry. The soft loan and interest subsidy will help the industry to compete in the highly regulated markets of US, Europe, Australia and the UK.