The Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) and Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (BDMA) are expected to decide upon the status of the Head Quarters of the proposed Pharmexcil, the separate export promotion council for drugs and pharmaceuticals, within a couple of weeks from now.
While the associations have already reached at an understanding with regarding the formation of the Pharmexcil and also to have two Export Promotional Centres one at Mumbai and the other at Hyderabad, the status of the HQ is yet to be decided.
It is known that the associations are working out separate programmes for mobilization of the finances and the final decision will be taken by them depending on the finances available at the disposal of each state government.
According to Venkat Jasti, president BDMA, the programmes are "being worked out differently and will hopefully be finalised soon."
The formation of the council has already been delayed by over a year due to the insistence of the associations on the Head Quarter issue.
The ministry sources confirmed that the 'consensus between the associations' is a fact and said that they are awaiting the written proposals from both associations in this regard. The Ministry had asked the associations to suggest a location and also forward a corpus amount of Rs three crore towards the setting up of the council.
The governments of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have earmarked token funds for Pharmexcil. While the former has allotted a token amount of Rs five lakh, the latter has cleared Rs three crore and 10 acres of land for the purpose.
The formation of Pharmexcil has been a long-standing demand of industry associations like IDMA, BDMA, Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) and the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI). Accepting the demand from the industry, the government cleared the decks for the council last year on the condition that the industry should raise the initial fund for the establishment of Pharmexcil.