Goyal to pharma industry... Aim to become healthcare custodians of world

Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Friday urged the Indian pharmaceutical industry to work towards becoming the healthcare custodians of the world.

Speaking at the ‘Indian Pharma – Global Health Care’ diamond jubilee conclave of the Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA) in Mumbai, Goyal said that India is already recognised as the ‘pharmacy of the world’. The minister noted that industry is the fifth largest contributor in exports, having touched $25 billion in March 2022.

“It’s extremely important that we focus not only on our strengths in the generic sector, but also ensure our backward and forward linkages. It is important that we try product development, break new grounds,” Goyal said.

The minister spelt out three mantras to economic success: focus on innovation, stress on quality and work with the world market. “International competitiveness will be very important. It is important to keep abreast of new developments and good manufacturing practices,” he added.

Goyal further urged the 750 large pharma companies of the country to hand-hold the smaller companies and help them become quality manufacturers. He suggested that the GMP (good manufacturing

‘It is important that we try product development, break new grounds

practices) companies may create a fund for this purpose and work out how in a defined time frame to ensure that the entire industry works with GMP.

Referring to the recently concluded FTAs with UAE and Australia, Goyal stated that the government has created the pathway for easier approval of their products. “For the first time ever, we have been able to bring in some game changing decisions in the agreements which focus on non-technical barriers”.

It is particularly of benefit to the pharma industry, he added and hoped that the industry will be able to use these new agreements for faster approvals. He also noted that the government has come up with many schemes like the production linked incentive (PLI) for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and for medical devices.