The small scale pharma industry (SSIs) in the country has asked the central government to give the SSIs adequate representation in all the departmental committees being constituted by various government departments to find amicable solutions to several controversial issues regarding the health and pharma sectors.

Taking strong exception to the exclusion of SSIs in the Expert Group constituted by the union health ministry to examine the definitions of spurious, adulterated and misbranded drugs under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and suggest amendments, the SME Pharma Industries Confederation (SPIC), a federation that claims to have thousands of SSI pharma units as its members, said that the small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) have not been included in the Expert Group despite the fact that over 5000 SMEs contribute 40 per cent to local production and export, making them the single largest stakeholders and backbone of Rs.90,000 crore Indian pharma industry.

In a letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, SPIC secretary general Jagdeep Singh said, "the proposed change in definition of Drugs and Cosmetics Act is a very serious issue affecting SMEs unless government has decided to have a different definition for large industry. In the past when changes have been made in Schedule-M and MRP-based excise, neither the SSIs nor the chemicals ministry was consulted, with the result that the SSIs suffer till today. Changes have only been used to eliminate the SSIs and relief has been near impossible. On top of it all, there has been no accountability when MRP-based excise has proved counterproductive to the objectives of higher revenue and lower prices of medicines".

Besides, the SMEs are not only the largest employers but also responsible for bringing down the prices of medicines in India from highest in the world levels in the 1960s to the lowest level without any government support, Singh added.

He also said that even though the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) has been made a member of the committee, it is not effective as the IDMA might have a few hundred SME members but it is run by large industry and has worked totally against SME interests in the past.