Govt to approve 6 pharma parks at Rs 180 cr investment

The NDA government at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to approve six pharma parks this year at an estimated investment of Rs 180 crore to promote the pharmaceuticals manufacturing. Millennium Post was the first to report in March that Chemicals and Fertiliser Ministry was mulling setting up of 10 pharma clusters to make sector globally competitive.

 “This year six pharma parks will be allocated on pilot basis and in the next year my ministry will seek Rs 1,000 crore from Finance Ministry for setting up of parks across the country,” said Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar while inaugurating the launch of cluster development programme of pharma sector on Wednesday.

Kumar said out of the six parks to be allocated, three will be greenfield and remaining three will be brownfield. The minister also mentioned that there will be sufficient infrastructure and facilities in these parks, for testing and treatment of drugs and also for imparting training to industry professionals.

“These parks will go a long way in ensuring health security for the country. Our broad objective is the availability of quality medicines at affordable prices,” the minister added. Speaking at the event secretary pharmaceuticals VK Subburaj said that <g data-gr-id="22">government</g> will provide a grant of Rs 20 crore for each park totalling to Rs 125 crore. “The investment on these parks will be around Rs 180 crore, out of that Rs 125 crore will be given by the government as <g data-gr-id="21">grant</g>,” Subburaj told reporters. Department of Pharmaceuticals has appointed Projects and Development India Ltd (PDIL) as project management consultant for these pharma parks. The parks will be implemented through special purpose vehicle/entity (SPV), in which pharma enterprises will have 51 per cent stake.