Department of Pharmaceuticals has recommended creation of a Group of Ministers (GoM) to examine Rs 441-crore proposed bail-out package for the ailing Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IDPL).

The Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry, without suggesting any alteration to the proposed package, has submitted the recommendation to the Cabinet for constituting the GoM. The cabinet is soon expected to announce the GoM, the second one on the matter, it is learnt. The GoM headed by A K Antony under the previous government, after holding several meetings, failed to make any recommendation and referred it back to the government.

The DoP has not suggested any change to the rehabilitation package, which was under consideration of the GoM and it was left to the new panel to decide the fate of the scheme. Though the government was expected to infuse some funds into the sick PSU, the general budget presented in the Parliament on Monday had no special allocation for the IDPL. The total fund to be invested in the five pharma PSUs would be Rs 30 crore as non-plan grants. The share for IDPL under this is just Rs 0.02 crore as per the budget proposals. The plan outlay for these PSUs during the current financial year is Rs 139.22 crore.

The revival of the public sector giant is viewed as a tough task as it would not be easy to sell off the 2000 acres of land under the custody of IDPL units at attractive prices to fund the rehabilitation programme. Hence the department has left it the GoM to decide on approval of the proposed package, sources said.

The IDPL, having manufacturing units in Gurgaon, Rishikesh, Chennai, Hyderabad and Muzaffarpur, was declared sick by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) way back in 1992 and the revival package was formulated by BIFR in 1994. The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) vetted and approved the scheme, following which the cabinet set up the GoM.