Govt plans 10 pharma clusters with Rs 120-crore outlay

The government plans to set up ten pharma clusters across the country in the next one year at an outlay of Rs 120 crore as part of its endeavour to make the sector globally competitive.
"Already we are thinking of pharma clusters in different parts of the country with common facilities. We have already finalised our strategy for that," Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar told reporters at a CII event here.
Elaborating, he said: "In the coming days we are going to have not less then 10 pharma clusters across the country with common facilities with an outlay of Rs 120 crore."

The clusters would see development and sharing of various infrastructure and resources and like water, power, affluent treatment facilities by the pharma companies in a particular region.
"We are in the process of appointing a project management consultant who will help in creating a project report, like what are the common facilities they require," the minister said, adding based on the project report, the government will fund the setting up of the common facility.
He further said wherever there is a cluster, companies will have to come out with a special purpose vehicle with the proactive support of the state government.

Commenting on the benefits of the scheme, Kumar said: "Common facility will make them competitive...In pharma clusters they can reduce 25-30 per cent of their manufacturing cost thus making them globally competitive.