The Alathur Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (APMA) has appealed to the Tamil Nadu government to approach the Centre to grant an excise free zone for pharma biotech industry in the state. The demand was in the wake of large scale migration of pharma companies to the existing excise free zones.

The Association appealed to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and the Chairman and Managing Director of State Industrial Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd., to present the case to the central government.

The letter comments that the state pharma industry has not developed much when compared to the neighbouring states. It was referring to the efforts made by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh to get a pharma park in the state.

"Our request is to solicit an excise free zone in any of the back ward district in the state to support the small scale pharma manufacturers in the country, or a pharma biotech park under excise free category," S.Lakshminarayanan, Secretary, APMA told Pharmabiz.

The Association pointed out that the migration of large and medium scale companies and the downsizing of small scale sector has resulted in drastic unemployment in the state. The excise free zones have provided a comparative cost advantage of more than 30 per cent over the companies in other parts of the country.