The fate of the Rs.1200-crore Pharmaceutical Technology Upgradation Assistance Scheme (PTUAS) hangs in balance as the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) could not so far provide a list of around 100 interested units to the planning commission as was demanded by the commission.
According to sources, the DoP's efforts to cobble together a list of at least 100 interested and eligible units for the scheme did not bear fruit so far as the industry is not showing any interest in the scheme because of the dilly-dallying attitude of the department towards the industry's needs. Even though the DoP had convened an exclusive meeting for the purpose on December 13 this year, the industry turned a blind eye to the efforts of the DoP. The meeting was eventually canceled as not enough representatives turned up for the meeting.
The proposed Rs.1200-crore PTUAS scheme is an ambitious scheme of the DoP, aimed to assist the medium and small scale industry to upgrade their units to WHO-GMP, US FDA, UK MHRA and other international norms.
Under the scheme, the DoP will provide an interest subsidy of five per cent on loans availed for such purposes, amounting upto a project cost or loan amount of Rs.10 crore.
As per the initial plan of the DoP, the scheme was to come into effect from July 1, 2010 and the date was later postponed to January 1, 2011. But, the DoP is still waiting for the planning body's approval for the scheme as the commission had raised several questions mostly about the number of interested units for the scheme. The planning commission's objections in this regard come in the wake of its earlier experience with a similar scheme named CLCSS which was literally rejected by the industry as the scheme had several lacunae.
In the light of its earlier experience, the planning commission had asked the DoP to submit a list of at least 100 units who are actually interested in the scheme. But, as the DoP has so far failed in its efforts to provide a list of interested and eligible units, the fate of the scheme, which otherwise would have proved a boon to the units which are looking to upgrade their units to comply with WHO-GMP, US FDA and other international norms but are unable to do so due to financial constraints, remains uncertain.