The government has removed the anomalies in the duty structure to boost the manufacture of medical devices, said Ananth Kumar Minister of Chemicals and fertilizers. The medical industry had been demanding removal of duty anomalies for many years.
The Minister also provided the industry with a transparent and predictable drug pricing regime and asked companies to provide quality drugs at affordable prices to all sectors of society.
An inverted duty structure has an adverse effect on the domestic industry as inputs and raw materials are taxed at a higher rate than the import duty on finished products.
He also announced setting up of a pharma-cum-medtech zone near Bangalore, while noting that a proposal to create a separate pharma ministry is under active consideration of the PMO. That apart, Kumar said that the government has launched e-portal for registration of pharma companies.
"I would like to thank Prime Minister and Finance Minister for correction of inverted duty structure to give level playing field to medical devices sector. It is a big thing. It has already been done," Kumar said addressing the three-day 'India Pharma 2017' event organised by the central government along with industry body Ficci here.
Stating that India is ready for major transformation, the Minister said, "We want to make India pharmacy of the world. "The pharma department was established in 1960 in the Defence Ministry. Later, it was shifted to petroleum ministry and now it is part of the Fertiliser, Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ministry. From here, we will become full-fledged ministry," he said.
On regulation of drugs and their prices, the Minister said, "I assure there will be transparency and fair play We have not changed the goal post so far." The government will ensure transparent and predicable drug price regime and asked companies to focus on providing quality drugs at affordable rates, he said.
Union Ministers Nirmal Sitharaman and Sadananda Gowda and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, State Industry Ministry R V Deshpande and Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Rudrappa were among those present attending the event. Over 250 exhibitors, buyers from 15 countries, and international regulators from six nations are participating in the event.
Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government has included medical devices sector as one of the priority 25 sectors under 'Make In India' programme.
"We cannot afford to have Rs 24,000 crore worth of import of medical devices, instead we have to manufacture them here. We need to tap the immediate potential that India has," the minister said.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the state government has evolved a host of strategies, as part of the New Industry Policy 2014-19.
On India's dependency on import of medical devices, the CM said, "There is mismatch between the design of certain technologies being imported and realities of clinical conditions and healthcare infrastructure in India."
