Karnataka's six Indian System of Medicine manufacturers are among the seven national recipients of a grant from Union Government's Department of Ayush centrally sponsored scheme. The grant is for the six Schedule T compliant units in the state in the small scale sector who will receive a total of Rs 24 lakh to upgrade their manufacturing units and modernize the research labs with the purchase of advanced test equipment. The state directorate of Ayush is in the process of disbursing funds to each of them in April first week.

Out of the six companies five are Bangalore-based: Maddur Pharma, Capro Labs, Raspel Pharma, Shankar Pharmaceuticals, and Zen Pharma. The sixth company, Vijayendra Pharmaceuticals is located at Udupi in Dakshina Kannada. While Maddur Pharma, Capro Labs and Vijayendra Pharmaceuticals will receive Rs 5 lakh each, Raspel Pharma gets Rs 3.17 lakh, Shankar Pharma gets Rs 0.10 lakh, and Zen is sanctioned Rs 0.80 lakh.

The department of Ayush has allocated a total of Rs 3.19 crore under the Centrally sponsored for quality control of ayurveda, siddha, unani, and homeopathy drugs. The states chosen for the grant in aid are Haryana, Jharkhand, Uttaranchal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa and Rajasthan. In addition to modernization of the ayurveda units, the grant is also allocated for the modernization of the state drugs testing labs at Haryana and Rajasthan and for the state enforcement mechanism for state licensing authority at Jharkhand.

Department of Ayush in a communiqué to the State Directorate of Ayush has stated that the financial assistance would be utilized to meet the expenditure on renovation and expansion of building. The grantee institutions need to maintain separate amount of grant received and submit the statement of accounts y audited by a government auditor or the chartered accountant. While submitting the utilization accounts certificate within six months of receiving the grant. It is mandatory that all the renovation would be done through the public works department or government approved agencies like HSCC/NBCC/CPWD.

According to industry sources, the amount is a major incentive to pursue the manufacturing plant and lab renovation.

"With the sword of the excise duty on MRP is still looming large on the SSI units, the grants are a breather as it will help to chalk out plans for the future," added Chitra Phadnis, Maddur Pharma.