The government said it was working on measures to reduce India's dependence on large-scale imports of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), as members of Rajya Sabha expressed concern about question. Responding to zero-hour concerns, Trade Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the huge imports of pharmaceutical raw materials were a matter of serious concern.
She said that the government was fully aware of the issue of the country's dependence on IPA imports and that incoming shipments "come from a particular country and therefore there are national security concerns".
"We are very busy with the issue. There have been a number of discussions, and I would like to point out that the Prime Minister himself has sat on many of us and has had discussions. I can not go into details at the moment. Let me assure the House that the government is taking it very seriously, the minister said.
Earlier, BJP leader Prabhat Jha drew the attention of the Chamber to the large-scale imports of raw materials used by the pharmaceutical industry. He said that 92 percent of APIs are imported, mainly from China. He said Chinese APIs were about four times cheaper than those produced in India.
The senior Congress official, Anand Sharma, also expressed concern about this and suggested that an inter-ministerial committee should consider the issue. Vice President P J Kurien also expressed surprise at the large-scale imports of IPY. "How is it that 90 per cent of the raw material is imported from China, you can not have it," he said.
