The department of pharmaceuticals (DoP) and the ministry of small and medium enterprises (MSME) appear to be working at cross purposes on the issue of providing funds to the SME pharma units for technological upgradation of their units in compliance with the Schedule M norms of the Union Health Ministry.

While the DoP has been assuring the pharma industry that it will provide the required funds for upgradation of their units to meet the quality norms set by the Health Ministry under the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS), the office of the development commissioner in the MSME has told the pharma industry that the funds under the CLCSS is not assessing funds needed by SME pharma units on introduction of Schedule 'M' by ministry of health.

In reply to an RTI filed by a pharma industrialist, deputy director (CLCSS) Arvind Choudhury, in his reply on November 27, 2009, has said, “The Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) is functioning with the 47 sub-sectors including pharma. The ministry is not assessing funds needed by SME pharma units on introduction of Schedule 'M' by ministry of health”.

Meanwhile, several pharma industrialists, who have applied for funds under the CLCSS, regretted that the MSME has turned down their request for funds on the ground that the ministry has no approval from the government to disburse funds.

On the other hand, the DoP has embarked on a mission to popularize the CLCSS among the small scale pharma units. The DoP had launched a meeting with the SSIs across the country to brief them about the revised guidelines of the CLCSS and exhorting them to make use of the opportunity. The department is holding workshops at nine places in association with the industry associations. The series of workshops have already started, with the first seminar held in Goa some time back. The other places selected for the seminars included Thane in Mumbai, Dehradun, Ahmedabad, Indore, Kolkata, and Chennai.

Thousands of small drug manufacturers in the country have been eagerly looking forward for the launch of a government scheme to upgrade their facilities to meet the GMP norm as they have no wherewithal to do so on their own. Thousands of them have already closed down their units after the introduction of Schedule M by the union health ministry due to financial difficulties.

“Thousands of SSIs who have been waiting for government help to upgrade their units to meet Schedule M guidelines have been misled to believe that the CLCSS is for Schedule M compliance,” said Jagdeep Singh, secretary general, SME Pharma Industries Confederation (SPIC), a confederation of around 5000 small units spread across the country.