Even as the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) is contemplating to roll
back its much publicised Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS)
due to the extremely poor response from the allopathic drug
manufacturers, the Ayurveda drug units have asked the DoP to extend the
scheme to them to upgrade their units as per the GMP norms.

According
to sources, some Ayurveda drug manufacturers from Maharashtra have
already approached the DoP in this regard. The Ayurveda drug
manufacturers had some time back met senior SIDBI officials in this
connection to know their response for their demand. SIDBI is the nodal
agency appointed by the DoP for disbursing the loan under the CLCSS
scheme.

The DoP had introduced the tweaked CLCSS scheme in the
country last year to financially assist the SSI units to upgrade their
units as per GMP norms. Though the scheme was originally drafted for
allopathic industry, it did not mention about the status of the scheme
vis-a-vis ayurvedic industry. There was confusion among the Ayurveda
industry whether the scheme can be availed by the Ayurveda industry.

Meanwhile,
the ayurveda industry is hopeful that the DoP may extend the scheme to
them, especially in the wake of the poor response from the allopathic
drug manufacturers. Against the DoP's expectation of around 3000
allopathic SSI pharma units taking advantage of the scheme and avail
upto Rs. 400 crore of fund after the relaxation of norms, only 34 units came up for the loan with a total sum of Rs. 2.21 crore during the last about one year.

After
tweaking the CLCSS scheme to make it industry-friendly as per the
direction of the planning commission, the DoP was engaged in aggressive
marketing of the scheme. The top officials of the DoP and the Ministry
of Micro, Small &Medium Enterprises (MSME) have been touring
different parts of the country to popularize the scheme. The DoP held
several workshops in different parts of the country where there are
concentration of pharma SSI units to popularize the scheme.

Despite
all its efforts, the CLCSS scheme failed to make any inroad as there
were still several handicaps in the scheme like the provision of
submitting three years balance sheet showing profits.