Notwithstanding some of the provisions introduced by the Union Finance Minister in the Budget 2007-08, the Small Scale Industries (SSIs) in the pharma sector are a disappointed lot as they feel that there is nothing beneficial for the SSIs in the budget.

Speaking to Pharmabiz, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PMA) president Sethuraman said, that the finance minister has completely ignored the issues related to the SSIs. He said, that though it was good that the government had increased the excise exemption limit from Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore, it is much below to the industry's demand of Rs 3 crore.

He said, that there has been no mention about the hike in abatement rate that had been proposed to the government by the SSI sector. As of now the government has given a 42 per cent abate rate, but the SSIs had requested 50 per cent abatement. According to him, only 50 per cent abatement will be beneficial to the SSIs.

Sethuraman said that even the plea by the SSIs to reduce the excise duty from 16 per cent to 8 per cent had been ignored by the government. The SSI sector had been raising this issue many a time before the budget session. They are of the view that if the government did not reduce the excise duty, many companies will move out to excise free zones. And it will have a negative impact on many state exchequers.

He said, that even though lots of concessions have been given for research and clinical trials, this would invariably benefit the big players in the industry and not the small-scale sector. He said, that even the additional 1 per cent additional education cess would be a burden on the SSIs.

He said, that it was saddening that the Finance Minister had turned a deaf ear to the pleas of the SSI and had totally ignored the please of small-scale pharmaceutical companies. "Even the Chemical and Fertilizers Ministry had taken up this issue, but despite that the Finance Minister has ignored the issues," Sethuraman regretted.