Even as very little is earmarked for the public sector pharmaceutical enterprises, except for Hindustan Insecticide Ltd (HIL), for the next financial year, the Centre maintained that a draft rehabilitation scheme for the revival of the ailing Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IDPL) is firmly on the track.

The Government has decided in principle to revive all the units of the IDPL and the draft revival plan had been forwarded to the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE). The recommendations of the Board were awaited, according to the latest status report by the Chemicals Ministry.

However, it is found that the budget for the next fiscal has allotted almost nothing for the purpose of pulling the IDPL out of the red, making it still a distant dream. Smith Stainstreet Pharmaceuticals, Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, Bengal Immunity Ltd, Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd and IDPL would get just Rs one lakh each under the non-plan loans. Petrofils Co-operative would get Rs 1 crore while the HIL would get Rs 7.43 crore during the next financial year, budget documents revealed. The total loans would thus come around Rs 8.49 crore.

The investment in public enterprises, proposed for the next year, also stood very low at Rs 2 crore for 2007-08, against the revised budgetary support of Rs 293.31 crore of the current financial year.

HOCL will get the Rs 1 crore for renewal and replacements while Rs 6 crore, set apart for the HIL, would be utilised for repair and replacement of plant and machinery and other ongoing schemes. However, the allotment for the Bengal Chemicals would be used for rehabilitation purposes.

The revival package for the IDPL units has been in the news for long time now and the government had already released Rs 3 crore for three plants at Rishikesh, Gurgaon and Chennai while another Rs 1 crore was given for Muzzafarpur plant.

Though the Government initially allocated Rs 25 crore in the 2006-07 budget as investment, Rs 293.31 crore had been spent on the ailing pharma PSUs during the current year. Hence, it is hoped that the IDPL revival package would get enough funds as it is finalised, though no amount is envisaged so far.