Business News›Prime›Pharma›An INR6,940 crore PLI scheme aims to secure Indian pharma’s supply chain. Here’s a progress report.

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Government schemes

An INR6,940 crore PLI scheme aims to secure Indian pharma’s supply chain. Here’s a progress report.

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Synopsis
In 2020, the government came up with a production-linked incentive scheme to encourage indigenous manufacturing of critical pharma ingredients because dependence on imports of such products poses a huge risk for the industry. With the highest-ever financing allocation for the pharmaceutical sector, there is no doubting the intent of the scheme. But two years on, is the initial promise intact?

K Anji Reddy, the late founder of Dr. Reddy’s Labs, was known for his cheeky humour. Decades ago, when a German trader wryly asked if he could match the quality of products from drugmaker Boots, the scientist-turned-entrepreneur in his inimitable style quipped, indeed, he just needed to add impurities to the product. Dr Reddy struck a fine balance of science and astute business sense. His desire to end the dominance of global giants was