The Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) has demanded that the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) should put up its regional offices in the major pharma hubs to promote more investments in the pharmaceutical sector. Such offices can turn to be an official platform of various pharma related government departments to hasten the procedures for the small and medium pharma entrepreneurs.

Setting up of industry promotion offices in major pharma clusters – in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh – and acting fast on the requests of the investing firms will create a more industry friendly atmosphere in these clusters and will attract more investment in pharmaceutical sector, said N R Munjal, president, IDMA. A request on this proposal would be submitted to the DoP soon, he added.

“The DoP has shown interest to attract more investment in the Indian pharma industry. But we also have to hasten the official procedures and feedbacks to the investors for this. In foreign countries, there are commercial attachees dedicated to work on requests of investors and the response from the government departments are speedy, which build confidence in the investor. We also have to follow that method,” said Munjal. In the recent Indian Pharma Summit 2009, organised under the leadership of DoP, the suggestion was conveyed to the government officials.

In order to support and promote the small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) in pharma industry, the IDMA has requested the DoP to create an official platform comprehending all the pharma related departments to hasten the approval, inspection and certification procedures.

The officials in price approving, drug regulatory, commerce and the policy making departments should be present in the platform and meetings of these officials could be conducted in a fixed time frame. This will help the SMEs to get their grievances addressed through a single window rather than approaching each department for different issues, comments Munjal.

“We have already conveyed our request to the government. The companies and associations can communicate their responses on government policies and get feedback easily through the platform. We can also reduce the time spent in official procedures and hasten our business projects, which will inturn result in more revenue to the country,” he added. The IDMA is working on a proposal on this regard and will submit it to the DoP soon.