Union Minister for Chemicals &
Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Ananthkumar inaugurated the 2nd
edition of India Pharma & India Medical Device International Conference in
Bengaluru today. The three day event, with the Vision – ‘For Responsible healthcare’, is being
organized by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals &
Fertilizers and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry
(FICCI) from 11th-13th February, 2017.
Addressing the gathering, Shri Kumar called
the International Conference as a ‘Pharma and Medical Devices Kumbh’. He called
upon all the stakeholders present to make India as the ‘Pharmacy of the World’.
The Minister said that the highlights of the 2nd edition of the conference
would be the International Drug Regulators Meet and the interface between the
regulators and the industry. This interface would help the industry to better
understand the International Regulatory framework on one hand and the
Regulators to appreciate needs of the industry, on the other. It would help
both the stakeholders of pharma sector to fine tune the policies governing the
sector, the Minister added.
Talking about the achievements of the
Pharma sector, the Minister congratulated the industry for achieving a
Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of over 15% and expressed confidence that
the sector would be worth $55 billion by 2020 from the present $32 billion. The
Minister also said that India accounts for around 20% of the World’s generic
Medicine supply chain, exporting to over 250 countries globally. Indian Pharma
Industry provides over 60% of global vaccines, he added.
Further, Shri Kumar informed that in
this fiscal year, the Indian Pharma sector has received Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) close to $14 billion and has generated employment for over 2.5
million people across India. The Minister also announced from the podium
that Bengaluru, being the hub of Information technology and skilled manpower,
would prove to be the ideal location to set up a Pharma and Med Tech Zone and
hence the Ministry would work with the State Government to establish it soon.
This step would give a boost to domestic manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and
medical devices in India under the Make In India mission, he added.
Highlighting the long pending issues
addressed by the Government to promote Ease of Doing business in pharma and
medical devices sector, Shri Kumar said that correction of the Inverted Duty
structure for medical devices, withdrawal of extension duty on imports to
promote domestic manufacturing of bulk drugs and bringing about a fair,
transparent, predictable and level playing field in the sector etc., has been done
by the Government. The Minister further assured the industry that the
Government would maintain this stability for the sector in the future as well.
Shri Kumar also mentioned about deliberations being made at the highest levels
in the Government to make the Department of Pharmaceuticals into an independent
Ministry.
Shri Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister,
Karnataka said that this is the second time Karnataka is hosting this
conference on Medical Device & Pharmaceutical sector, thus giving the State
an opportunity to emerge as the desired destination for investments under pharma
& medical devices sector and give a boost to Make in India Mission in this
sector. The state pharma industry constitutes 264 manufacturing units that
include small-medium, large, Public sector and multinational companies. The State
stands 5th in Pharmaceuticals exports with 40% of its Pharma produce
being exported overseas, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of
State for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shipping, Road Transport and Highways,
Shri Mansukh Lal Mandaviya highlighted that the recent approval of the Pharma
and Med Tech zone in Andhra Pradesh has attracted over 30 investment proposals
from domestic and international pharma companies which has the potential to
reduce the manufacturing cost of drugs and medical devices by around 30% as
compared to global prices.
The India Pharma
exhibition, being held as part of the event, will
cover all the segments of the pharmaceutical industry starting from
finished formulations, APIs, bio–pharmaceuticals,
fine chemicals & intermediates, natural extracts and excipients. India
Medical Device exhibition will showcase med–tech Innovations
in India across segments from preventive to therapeutic care. Leading
Pharmaceutical & Medical Device companies will showcase their expertise and
products to Indian and International Healthcare community at the exhibition that
will result in creating new business opportunities. Sessions
on Biopharmaceuticals will include The New Engine of
Growth, Scaling Med–Tech
Manufacturing and the Investors Meet, which will be a step forward to the ‘Make in India’mission of the
Government of India.
The event will witness over
250 exhibitors from the Pharmaceuticals & Medical Device sector, Buyers
from over 24 countries, International Regulators from eight countries (USFDA–USA, PMDA–Japan, MoH–Malaysia etc), over 29
Embassy officials and over 10,000 Business Visitors during the three days of
the event. Karnataka
will be participating as the Host State of the event while Chhattisgarh will be
the Partner State.
Other key dignitaries present on the
podium during the inauguration function were Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister
of State (IC) for Commerce & Industry, Shri D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Minister
for Statistics and Programme Implementation, along with Government of Karnataka
Ministers, Shri R.V. Deshpande, Minister of Industries and Dr. Sharanapraksh
Rudrappa Patil, Minister of Medical education. The distinguished gathering also
included Shri Jai Priye Prakash, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Smt.
Soumya Swaminathan, Director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research,
Mr. Henk Bekedam, WHO Representative to India along with other senior officers
of the Ministry and doyens of pharma and medical devices industry.
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