Development of bulk drug, medical device parks to cut India's dependency on imports: Gowda

New Delhi: The development of bulk drug and medical device parks will help in bringing down India's dependency on imports and making the country emerge as a major pharma exporter, the Centre said on Wednesday. Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers D V Sadananda Gowda in a meeting reviewed various aspects of proposed development of three bulk drug parks and four medical device parks across the country.

Modalities of selection of locality of parks as well as of the beneficiaries under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme should be based on some well-defined objective criteria to ensure orderly development of the parks, Gowda said.

"These schemes will increase competitiveness of domestic production of bulk drugs and medical devices due to benefits available in clusters in the form of state of art common infrastructure and logistics facilities," he added.

"Development of these parks will not only reduce India's dependency on imports but will also be helpful in making it a major player in global pharma exports", Gowda said.

Stating that these schemes are the need of the hour, the minister said that it is necessary that medicines are produced in the country at cheaper rates in line with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make affordable medicines available to every citizen.

The Union Cabinet had approved schemes for supporting development of three bulk drug parks and four medical device parks on March 21, 2020 in order to reduce dependency on imports and boost local manufacturing and employment.

The Wednesday meeting was attended by Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya, Secretary Pharmaceuticals P D Vaghela, Joint Secretary Navdeep Rinwa and Joint Drugs Controller S Eswara Reddy, the ministry said in a statement.