Union minister For Chemicals and Fertilizers  DV Sadananda Gowda has said that this is the best time to invest in Pharma & Medical device sector in India. Pharma sector is likely to grow into the 65-billion-dollar industry by 2024  and to 120 billion dollars by 2030 and  Medical Devices industry to reach the US $ 50 Billion by 2025.

He said business friendly reforms carried out by Government have helped India to emerge as one of the best investment destinations among emerging economies. Implementation of policies to promote financial inclusion and to check corruption and easing of compliance of labour laws & regulations has made India the best destination for investment.  In 2018-19, India attracted FDI inflows of 73 billion dollars, up 18 % from the previous year. Especially mentioning the pharma and medical device sector. He said pharma this is the most opportune time to invest in this sector in India as pharma sector It is likely to grow into the 65-billion-dollar industry by 2024 to 120 billion dollars by 2030 and medical device sector has the potential to grow at 28% per annum to reach the US $ 50 Billion by 2025.

Union minister said Indian pharma and medical device sector have immense potential to contribute towards making India a 5 trillion-dollar economy in next 4-5 year. In this backdrop, the Indian Government is supporting the development of three Bulk Drug and four Medical Device Parks with State of Art Infrastructure and world class Centres of Excellence across the country. The government will also provide Production Linked Incentives (PLI) to eligible new manufacturing units to ensure level playing field to domestic manufacturers. 

Highlighting the contribution of pharma industry during this testing time of COVID-19 crisis he said that Indian pharma and medical devices industry was able to rise to the occasion. The crisis is being turned into opportunities by supporting the development of mega bulk drug and medical device park through a mix of right policies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has been personally involved in this, right from the initial stage of conception.   It is expected that these schemes of the Union Government for development of bulk drug & medical device park will attract cumulative investment of Rs 78000 crore and can generate about 2.5 lakh employment.  

He said it is a matter of great pride for millions of Indians that from being a net importer, India became second largest producer of PPE Kits in the world with daily production capacity surpassing more than 5 lakh per day.  Similarly, within a very short span of time, the indigenous production capacity of ventilators has increased to 3 lakh per annum. We have also achieved self-sufficiency in the production of  N-95 masks

Gowda said that there is need for the pharma industry to focus on R & D activities in order to remain as one of the leading global suppliers of medicines. The full potential of growth cannot be fully tapped unless we come up with the discovery of a new drug or repurposing in India. He expressed hope that the Indian pharma sector will be among the first one to develop and supply low cost vaccines for COVID-19.

He appreciated the efforts of CII Life Sciences conclave for providing the necessary platform for stakeholders across the world to converge and embed their ideas to help usher in a new era of competitiveness of the Indian pharma segment in the post-COVID-19 world. 

 P D Vaghela, outgoing Secretary & new TRAI Chairman, Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, D/o Biotechnology, Dr V G Somani, Drugs Controller General of India, Samina Hamied, Executive Vice Chairperson, CIPLA Ltd, Dr Rajesh Jain, Chairman, CII Biotechnology Committee, G V Prasad, Chairman, CII Committee on Pharma, Vivek Kamath, Vice Chairman, CII Committee on Pharma and Captains of Industry were present on this occasion.