On October 29, 2020, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has revised guidelines of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for promotion of domestic manufacturing of bulk drugs and medical devices.
Revised Guidelines:
i.Replacement of Criteria of ‘Minimum threshold’ investment with ‘Committed Investment’ by the selected applicant. To encourage efficient use of productive capital as the amount of investment required to achieve a particular level of production which depends upon choice of technology and varies from product to product.
ii.A provision which restricts the sales of eligible products to domestic sales for the purpose of eligibility of receiving incentives has been deleted to encourage market diversification.
iii.Change has been made in Minimum annual production capacity for 10 products viz Tetracycline, Neomycin, Para Amino Phenol (PAP), Meropenem, Artesunate, Losartan, Telmisartan, Acyclovir, Ciprofloxacin and Aspirin.
iv.Change in eligibility criteria of minimum sales limit in line with projected demand, technology trend and market development for availing incentive under the scheme.
Extension of Deadline:
- The last date for receiving applications under the scheme has been extended to November 30, 2020 from November 23, 2020.
- The tenure of the scheme has been extended by one year keeping in view the capital expenditure expected to be done by the selected applicants in FY 2021-22. Accordingly, the sales for the purpose of availing incentives will be accounted for 5 years starting from FY 2022-2023 instead of FY 2021-2022.
Background:
i.The PLI Schemes were approved by the Cabinet on March 20, 2020 and guidelines were by the Department of Pharmaceuticals on July 27, 2020.
ii.Post issuance of guidelines, the department received inputs and suggestions from the Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Manufacturing Industry.
iii.These suggestions and inputs were examined by Technical Committees and their recommendations were placed before the Empowered Committee chaired by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant. This recommendation has been approved by the Empowered Committee.
Recent Related News:
i.On August 13, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a platform for “Transparent Taxation – Honoring the Honest” via video conferencing that provides faceless assessment and appeal and taxpayers’ charter, as a part of direct tax reforms.
About Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers:
Union Minister – Sadananda Gowda
Minister of State (MoS) – Mansukh Mandaviya
