India’s role commendable during COVID-19 pandemic: Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers

DV Sadananda Gowda was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of India Pharma 2021 & India Medical Devices 2021

DV Sadananda Gowda, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India commended India’s capabilities as a global and reliable supplier of drugs and medical devices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Citing the recent UNCTAD report, he also pointed out India’s positive FDI growth even with a decline in FDI of 42 per cent globally.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of India Pharma 2021 & India Medical Devices 2021 organised by FICCI along with Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India, and Invest India, Gowda said, “As the pandemic exposed the global vulnerabilities of the supply chains in the pharmaceuticals sector, the Department of Pharmaceuticals launched the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for bulk drugs, with a financial outlay of Rs 6,940 crores across 53 APIs over six years. For medical devices, another PLI scheme was announced with an outlay of Rs 3,420 crore. Such interventions and incentives have played an instrumental role in realising PM’s vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, or India for the world.”

Gowda added, “We supplied numerous COVID-related medical devices such as ventilators, RT-PCR kits, PPE Kits, and masks at a global level and ramped up our production capacity rapidly from virtually nil to 0.5 Mn. We supplied HCQ to over 100 countries and are now leading vaccine production for our neighbours. The medical devices industry in India has the potential to grow at 28 per cent per annum to reach $50 billion by 2025. Moreover, FDI growth has been close to 100 per cent year-on-year, reflecting the incredible level of opportunity that is being tapped into.”

Gowda further said, “In this edition of India Pharma Medical Device 2021, the goal is to identify ways to realise the potential of the industry such that we can emerge an even stronger supplier of quality drugs and medical devices, through solving challenges and plan for continued growth.”

Highlighting the ease-of-doing-business within the sector, Gowda added, “Pharma Bureau established in the Department of Pharma has started actively engaging with industry, handholding the investors and taking up the pending issue of investors with various govt departments.”

Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways, Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution said, “57 countries have already joined India’s leadership in demanding Intellectual Property Waiver for COVID-19 vaccine. Globally, India is a one-stop solution provider for the entire health ecosystem, and we are confident enough to deal with anything related to health. Regulatory & good manufacturing practices, systems and certifications, approvals, will always help us grow in scale and bring down the price.”

Mansukh L Mandaviya, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India, said, “With a population of more than 1.3 billion, India was the most vulnerable to the pandemic given its socio-economic background. India has undoubtedly emerged as the victor in fighting COVID-19. With the Government’s strong grit and fighting spirit of the Indians, India has also emerged as one of the largest manufacturers of PPE kits, masks, ventilators, and testing kits. Where India used to import even testing kits from the outside world in the past decades, it is now self-reliant or ‘Aatmanirbhar’ and is playing a major role in the global supply chain.”

Mandaviya further added, “As India continues to strengthen its status as a leading investment destination by continuously improving its ease of doing business through the enactment of several policy measures especially during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure continuity, I am sure this platform will be instrumental in contributing to India’s growth story and to chart out the path of progress of both the industry and the country.”

S Aparna, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India said, “The multi-disciplinary medical device industry along with the Department of Pharmaceuticals has strived towards the interest of the patient, sustainable growth of the sector, and the goal for affordable and universal healthcare. In close partnership with DPIIT under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, we are happy to acknowledge the PLI scheme for pharmaceuticals with an unpreceded outlay of Rs 15,000 crores. We believe this will be a game-changer in transforming our industry.”

“We are at a juncture where enhanced cooperation between industry and policymakers will help us to achieve the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat in its truest sense of making in India and making for the world,” Aparna added.

Pankaj Patel, Mentor, FICCI Pharma Committee and Chairman & Managing Director, Zydus Cadila said, “An increase in spending by the government on healthcare and investment is necessary with a policy that is clear and coherent resulting in the sustainability of the industry. Upscaling the people’s talent and getting the regulatory system on a global level is the need of the hour.”

Addressing the medical devices industry, Dr Shravan Subramanyam, Co-Chair, Medical Devices Committee, FICCI and President and CEO, GE Healthcare South Asia said, “The 2021 budget has focussed on a stronger public healthcare system. It has dedicated Rs 14000 crores to the pharma and Medtech infrastructure industry over the six years. To achieve the universal goals and make India self-resilient, the first step is to build mutual trust and develop innovative partnership models and Integrate digital technology and tools which can bring in the needed transparency and accountability. As we move towards becoming a manufacturing hub, exports will increase but at the same time, certain imports will increase too.”

Sriram Shrinivasan, Global Generics and National Health and Life sciences Leader, EY, said, “The pandemic has revealed the importance of digital in all walks of life. This fits in well with two sectors that India is strong in — Technology and Pharmaceuticals and the convergence of both these strengths could make India a leader in the healthcare of tomorrow. We must take upon ourselves a moon-shot target for the pharma industry in India, whereby all stakeholders come together on one platform and take a pledge of commercialising indigenous novel drugs (both biological and chemical). We must build efficiencies across the pharmaceutical value chain, adopt technology, be globally competitive, create newer markets for branded and speciality pharmaceuticals, complex APIs, build to scale differentiated innovative drugs to meet the collective ambition of all stakeholders.”

During the event, EY-FICCI report titled ‘Indian Pharmaceutical Industry 2021: future is now’ was also launched. 

The 6th India Pharma and medical device award were announced. 

The India Pharma Leader Award was bagged by Laurus Labs; India Pharma Bulk Drug Company of the Year Award by Metrochem API; India Pharma Innovation of the year Award by Glenmark Pharmaceuticals; India Pharma Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programme of the Year Award by Lupin and India Medical Devices Company of the Year Award by WrigNanosystems.