Pharma industry urged to upgrade R

Mumbai, Sept 19: The chemicals&petrochemicals secretary, Satwant Reddy, today exhorted the pharma industry to increase their R&D expenditure substantialy from the existing levels.

Making a policy statement on the government's initiatives and thrust areas during the inaugural session of two-day CII Chem Summit 2006, which commenced here today, he said that the present R&D spending by the Indian companies was quite low, at less than one per cent against the world average of five per cent. Keeping that in view, the Government of India has chalked out a conscious policy to encourage R&D in pharmaceuticals, he said.

India has strengths in producing generic drugs especially bulk drugs, in developing cost effective technology, process development technology and new drugs delivery system in the shortest possible time without compromising on quality, he pointed out.

Commenting on the petrochemical sector, he said that with a view to promote investment in the sector and make the country an important hub for both domestic and international markets, the Centre proposes to attract major investments, both domestic and foreign, by creating an investment region, he informed.

Talking about the aim behind the formulation of a policy for the petroleum, chemicals, and petrochemicals investment region (PCIPR) by his department, he said that the idea was to provide state-of-the- art infrastructure and support, that can boost manufacturing, augmenting exports and generate employment.

He further said that the PCIPR policy will provide a sustained, transparent and investment-friendly policy and facilities that would encourage production for both, domestic and world markets.

Also, he advised the chemical industry to gear up to face the challenges posed by REACH, which is a new legislation as proposed by the European Union under which exporters of chemicals will require registration of their products with complete safety data.

UNI