Govt to give preference to domestically produced drugs for public procurement

The government Tuesday said preference for public procurement programmes in the pharma sector will be given to domestically produced drugs with minimum of 75 per cent local content in the ongoing fiscal which will go up to 90 per cent by 2023-25.

With an aim to push Make in India in the pharmaceuticals sector, the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) also said for formulations that are not manufactured in India, the minimum local content shall be 10 per cent in 2018-19.

This will go up to 15 per cent in 2019-21, 20 per cent in 2021-23 and up to 30 per cent in 2023-25 for the formulations not manufactured in the country, an order by DoP said.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) had identified DoP as the nodal department for implementing the provisions related to goods, services or works related to the pharmaceutical sector in promoting Make in India.

The DoP further said "purchase preference shall be provided by all government procuring entities to local suppliers of pharmaceutical formulations in various dosages forms", while setting out minimum local content requirement.

For pharmaceutical formulations manufactured in India in different dosage forms and strengths, the minimum local content will be 75 per cent in 2018-19.

It will be increased to 80 per cent in 2019-21 and 85 per cent during 2021-23 and shall be 90 per cent during 2023-25, the order said.

The order will be applicable to procurement of medicines made by state governments or PSUs under state governments or local bodies under centrally sponsored schemes that are fully or partially funded by the Centre.