Budget 2023: Pharma gets a boost, Rs 1,250 crore set aside for bulk drug, medical device parks

Budget 2023: Nirmala Sitharaman delivered her shortest Budget speech.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget 2023 allotted Rs 1,250 crore for the development of bulk drug parks and the promotion of medical devices parks in the country.

“The allocation of Rs 1,250 has been for the development of bulk drug parks and for the promotion of medical device parks in the country. It includes Rs 1,000 crore for bulk drug parks, and Rs 200 Promotion of medical device parks,” an official from the Department of Pharmaceutical told Moneycontrol.

The allocations for developing the bulk drug and medical device parks has seen a record rise of over 1150 percent. Last year, the Centre had allocated only Rs 100 crore for developing the bulk drug and medical device parks.

The Centre has previously said that the department of pharmaceuticals would implement the scheme “Promotion of Medical Devices Parks” to create a world-class infrastructure to make Indian medical device industry a global leader.

“The scheme for ‘Promotion of Bulk Drug Parks’, has a financial outlay of Rs. 3,000 crores from FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-25. This scheme provides financial assistance to three states for establishing Bulk Drug Parks,” Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State of Chemicals and Fertilizers, told Lok Sabha last year.

The minister had said that the total financial outlay of “Promotion of Medical Devices Parks” was Rs 400 crore and the maximum assistance under the scheme for a medical device park would be limited to Rs 100 crore.

In her Budget speech, Sitharaman also announced that Centre will bring a new programme to promote research and innovation in the pharma sector will be taken up through centres of excellence in the country.

“A new programme to promote research and innovation in the pharma sector will be taken up through centres of excellence. We shall also encourage industry to invest in research and development in specific priority areas,” Sithraman said.

When asked about the fund allocations for promoting research and innovation in the pharma sector, the official said it would be done after the cabinet approves the proposal.

“The matter of promoting the research and innovation in the pharma sector would be first approved by the cabinet and then an allocation for the same would be done from health ministry,” the official added.