Speaking at the curtain raiser of ‘India Pharma & India Medical Device 2021’, an event organised by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India jointly with FICCI and Invest India, DV Sadananda Gowda, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India congratulated the pharma, medical device and healthcare industry partners for their outstanding work during the pandemic.

Gowda said, “Healthcare continues to be an integral part of the Government’s priorities with emphasis on medicines at affordable rates, increasing the accessibility to diagnosis and treatment, boost local manufacturing of medical equipment and encouraging innovation to further reduce the cost of healthcare. The government through its various policies and schemes is encouraging the manufacturing of affordable medical devices and pharma under its ‘Make in India’ initiative. The India Pharma 2021 & India Medical Device 2021 will lay the groundwork for the next wave of development.”

He added, “India is a leading exporter of affordable generics and a major hub for medical devices and diagnostics. It has been serving more than 200+ countries and territories with its pharma products and will continue to discharge its responsibilities. We intend to continue formulating plans that are based on sound science, technology, business sense, and ethics. We continue to strive to increase the ease of doing business in India for which several measures have already been announced and continue to support domestic manufacturing through measures such as the Rs 400 crores impetus given for the creation of four world-class medical device parks, or the Rs 3000 crores allocated for the creation of three major bulk drug parks. “

He said, “We are talking about two very high potential sectors of India in this event. The total market size of the Indian pharma industry is expected to reach the $130 billion by 2030. The medical devices industry in India has the potential to reach $50 billion by 2025.”

Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Govt of India said that under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the industry has been given a platform to work closely with the government and together chart out a path of progress for the industry and the country. The CEO’s Forum with the Minister is indicative of the positive approach which the Government has taken to work closely with the industry.

He said that India is at the forefront of the global fight against COVID-19 and is being applauded globally not only for its fight against the pandemic but also for the remarkable efforts made by Bharat Biotech on developing an indigenous vaccine as well as Serum Institute of India (SII), with AstraZeneca, to develop and manufacture vaccines for India and the world that are completely safe and efficient. Currently, the development of seven more vaccines is in pipeline. India has launched the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination programme and is at the center of the global effort to provide vaccines to many developing and developed countries both as grants and on a commercial basis.

Mandaviya said he is confident that this conference will help us unlock potential, achieve the required levels of penetration in the sectors, and catalyse innovation.

S Aparna, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals mentioned that inspite of various challenges during the pandemic year, pharma and medical devices sectors have shown positive growth. To further provide business linkages and remove bottlenecks in the growth of the sector this edition of event will be organised virtually and participants from across the globe will participate, she added.

She said that the Department has been working continuously to ensure a stable long-term policy environment and reduce the compliance burden on the Industry. The efforts are supported with the help of other Ministries, such as the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) which recently released an amendment letter, clubbing APIs and intermediates as a single category instead of individual products – a change warmly welcomed by the industry. The Department is also working on formulating other dedicated policies to give an impetus to investments in both pharmaceuticals and medical devices sector in India, for both manufacturing and R&D.

Talking to the media, the Secretary said that the Government has also formulated several mechanisms to support the investments into the sector, including the setting up of the “Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) and Project Development Cells (PDCs) across the Ministries/Departments of Government of India for attracting investments into the country. The ‘Project Development Cells’ (PDC) expedite investments through focused coordination between the Central Government and State Governments, supporting the pipeline of investible projects in India. A PDC has also been created in the DoP, supporting faster issue resolution and extensive outreach activities with the collaboration of Invest India.

She added, “We have also set up a dedicated Pharma Bureau which acts as a single point interface of the Department with Industry. It facilitates investments in partnership with Invest India and also acts as a think tank for policy research.”