The Department of Pharma has assured the industry to facilitate more 'liberal funds' especially for the small and medium sector in upgrading them and be competitive in the domestic and international market.

The department authorities, on a mission to popularize the newly-revised Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS), however asked the pharma firms to fully utilize the available Rs 400 crore under the scheme first. Once these funds were utilized, the department would help facilitating more liberal funds, they have assured the industry.

The department officials in association with the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) officials have already launched meeting the pharma units across the country to brief 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 bodies. SPIC is hosting five of the nine seminars while other associations like CIPI and IDMA are also being associated in other places. The series of workshops have started already, being the first one held in Goa last week. The other places selected for the seminars included Thane in Mumbai, Dehradun, Ahmedabad, Indore, Kolkata, and Chennai.

Department informed the units at the workshops that MSME had included as many as 167 items for pharma industry in the CLCSS scheme. The senior officials from the department are also clarifying the procedural problems being faced by the industry in availing benefits under the scheme.

Holding of workshops and close interactions between the industry and the officials including development commissioner (MSME) has been one of the three main strategies prepared by the department to popularize the scheme. Apart from this, the department will also distribute brochures and related materials and release advertisements through the media as part of the strategy.