Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers and Health & Family Welfare virtually inaugurated 27 greenfield bulk drug park projects and 13 greenfield manufacturing plants for medical devices.

The PLI scheme for bulk drugs will lead to reduced import dependence and better supply chain resilience. Investment worth Rs 3,651 crore has already been grounded, till December 2023, by the scheme participants. PLI scheme envisages manufacturing of 41 Bulk Drugs with a total outlay of Rs 6,940 crore during the tenure of the scheme from 2020-21 to 2029-30.

The inauguration of 13 Greenfield plants of companies such as Sahajanand Medical Technologies, Poly Medicure, Trivitron Healthcare, Wipro GE HealthCare, Siemens Healthcare, Panacea Medical Technologies etc. will be a big step towards achieving self-reliance in manufacturing of wide range of medical devices. 26 Applicants for manufacturing of Medical Devices have been approved for 138 products under the PLI scheme with total financial outlay of Rs 3,420 crore for the period 2020-21 to 2027-28.

Highlighting the government’s efforts towards making India atmanirbhar in the field of critical medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), the Union Minister stated the example of Penicillin G, a widely used drug which were locally manufactured in India until the late 1980s. Due to globalisation, the import of Penicillin G led to the closure of all such plants in India. He highlighted that the Union Government is working on bringing back production of Penicillin G in India after three decades. The production is likely to begin in June 2024 by a Hyderabad-based enterprise.

Dr Arunish Chawla, Secretary, Dept. of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) highlighted that under the PLI scheme, as many as 1800 pharmaceutical products and formulations and 22 bulk drugs will be manufactured in India.

He also informed that when the PLI scheme came in, India imported 90% of medical devices. After the introduction of the PLI scheme, the net imports of medical devices decreased for the first time in 2023.