Highlighting the country’s improvement in indicators like ease of doing business, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek has said that India is hopeful of further improving its ranking in the Global Innovation Index 2019.
Ramesh Abhishek also underlined several mechanisms taken by the government to improve accessibility to affordable medicines such as National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, National List of Essential Medicines, and Jan Aushadhi centres.
He said Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), an agreement under the World Trade Organization, provides sufficient flexibilities to take steps whenever a specific issue emerges regarding high prices of patented medicines.
DPIIT Secretary further noted that although India's position is improving, there is need to do lot more. He added that the department is working on strengthening the intellectual property rights regime.