The SME Pharma Industries Confederation (SPIC) has urged Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to address the issues facing the thousands of small pharmaceutical manufacturers in the country before the formation of the Central Drug Authority (CDA) which is under active consideration of the Parliament. Major issues include implementation of Schedule M, MRP-based excise, FDC issue and 60 per cent abatement rate to the SSIs.

In a recent letter to the Prime Minister, the SPIC has regretted that though the Prime Minister had directed the finance ministry to implement the recommendations of Dr Pronab Sen and Dr Rangarajan committees, the Finance Minister did not implement them so far, putting the small industries in an uneven ground.

Blaming the large units for the present woes of the SSIs, the SPIC letter said, "Now that enough laws are in place to finally decimate SSI, CDA bill has been introduced in the Parliament obviously at the behest of large industry lobby to ensure that states cannot allow relaxation to protect their industry any more from Schedule M and FDCs, etc. Such is the zeal to destroy SSIs ignoring the grave social implications."

"SSIs employ 80 per cent workers in private sector worldwide, India is no exception. Ten lakh workers dependent on 5000 pharma SSI and know nothing other than pharmaceutical production. As they are losing their jobs, they are getting sucked into production of fake and spurious drugs which has become a Rs.10000 crore industry, mostly located in and around Delhi," the letter added.,

SPIC asked the Prime Minister to look into the issues like MRP-based excise regime, Schedule M implementation, FDC issue and 60 per cent abatement rate to the SSIs as all these measures did not give the intended result. Though the MRP-based excise was introduced in 2005 as a deterrent on higher MRP, the revenue dipped by Rs.300 crore in 2006-07 and is likely to dip at least by another Rs.1000 crore in 2007-08. As a matter of fact, MRP of products in tax exempt states has skyrocketed as confirmed by NIPER defeating the very purpose of the incentive, the SPIC letter said.