Source:- IBEF
“Union minister For Chemicals and Fertilizers, Shri Gowda has said that this is the best time to invest in Pharma & Medical device sector in India as It is likely to grow into a 65-billion-dollar industry by 2024 to 120 billion dollars by 2030.
Shri Gowda was addressing the Inaugural Session of “CII Life Science Conclave 2020”, in New Delhi yesterday.
He said business-friendly reforms carried out by Government have helped India to emerge as one of the best investment destinations among emerging economies. Implementation of policies to promote financial inclusion and to check corruption and easing of compliance of labor laws & regulations has made India the best destination for investment.In 2018-19, India attracted FDI inflows of 73 billion dollars, up 18 % from the previous year. Especially mentioning the pharma and medical device sector, he said, this is the most opportune time to invest in this sector in India as It is likely to grow into a 65-billion-dollar industry by 2024 to 120 billion dollars by 2030.
Union minister said the Indian pharma and medical device sector have immense potential to contribute towards making India a 5 trillion-dollar economy in the next 4-5 years. The Medical Devices industry in India has the potential to grow at 28% per annum to reach the US $ 50 Billion by 2025. In this backdrop, the Indian Government is supporting the development of three Bulk Drugs and four Medical Device Parks with State of Art Infrastructure and world-class Centres of Excellence across the country. The government will also provide Production Linked Incentives (PLI) to eligible new manufacturing units to ensure a level playing field to domestic manufacturers.
Highlighting the contribution of the pharma industry during this testing time of the covid-19 crisis he said that the Indian pharma and medical devices industry was able to rise to the occasion. The crisis is being turned into opportunities by supporting the development of mega bulk drug and medical device parks through a mix of the right policies. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji himself has been personally involved in this, right from the initial stage of conception. It is expected that these schemes of the Union Government for the development of bulk drug & medical device parks will attract cumulative investment of Rs 78000 crore (US$ 10.60 billion) and can generate about 2.5 lakh employment.
He said it is a matter of great pride for millions of Indians that from being a net importer, India became the second-largest producer of PPE Kits in the world with daily production capacity surpassing more than 5 lakh per day. Similarly, within a very short span of time, the indigenous production capacity of ventilators has increased to 3 lakhs per annum. We have also achieved self-sufficiency in the production of N-95 masks
Shri Gowda said that there is a need for the pharma industry to focus on R & D activities to remain as one of the leading global suppliers of medicines. The full potential of growth cannot be fully tapped unless we come up with the discovery of a new drug or repurposing in India. He expressed hope that the Indian pharma sector will be among the first ones to develop and supply low-cost vaccines for covid-19.
He appreciated the efforts of the CII Life Sciences conclave for providing the necessary platform for stakeholders across the world to converge and embed their ideas to help usher in a new era of competitiveness of the Indian pharma segment in the post-COVID-19 world.
Shri P D Vaghela Ji, outgoing Secretary & new TRAI Chairman, Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, D/o Biotechnology, Dr. V G Somani, Drugs Controller General of India, Ms. Samina Hamied, Executive Vice Chairperson, CIPLA Ltd, Dr. Rajesh Jain, Chairman, CII Biotechnology Committee, Shri G V Prasad, Chairman, CII Committee on Pharma, Shri Vivek Kamath, Vice Chairman, CII Committee on Pharma and Captains of Industry were present on this occasion.”