The Union commerce ministry has set up a sub-committee to look into simplifying the exports of pharmaceutical cargo from the airports and sea ports with a single clearance. The committee will look into the possibility to permit a pharma consignment cleared by the customs inspector and sealed electronically at the first point of clearance to ensure that it would not need any further checks.

Currently, the pharma export cargo moving out from the international airports and sea ports are required to adhere to 17 legislations including Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, Wildlife Protection Act, Drug Quality and Security Act, besides   norms of DGFT and WTO which mandate inspections at every stage of its entry into any airport and sea port.

“We intend to put an end to this cumbersome process. Once a consignment is signed by the inspector at the first point of clearance,  it will be sealed electronically and there will be no need for further checks,” Sudhanshu Pant, joint secretary, department of pharmaceuticals (DoP), said at the inauguration of the Pharmexcil's Bengaluru office.

Coinciding this event, a seminar on "Export Opportunities and Regulatory Challenges for Pharmaceuticals & Traditional Medicines" was jointly organised by Pharmexcil and KDPMA supported by department of commerce, government of India.

The DoP joint secretary further pointed out in his keynote address that there were several issues impacting the growth of the Indian pharma sector which clocked revenues of $15 billion from exports and registering 12 per cent growth rate. These included issues of documentation of process at production plants, delays at the state excise departments, taxation and infrastructure. The government had taken measures to set up an inter-departmental committee to look into a number of pharma export related issues to give a fillip to overseas shipments.

For a streamlined export clearance, the pharma industry too needed to take on the responsibility to adopt a zero tolerance-zero defect attitude and prepare itself to tread such a path, he pointed out.

With the government keen to drive growth, the pharma industry should put in place a mechanism to address these issues with the government on similar lines of the western world. Like for instance, the state and national pharma industry associations should be engaged in a constant dialogue with the government to ease the export challenges, he said.

Indian pharma associations need to devise a redressal for grievances and capture their issues into a policy making exercise for the government so that export hassles can be solved. It is high time Indian pharma reorganises its engagement and list out all the export related issues which will enable the commerce ministry to address each of them, Pant said.

“Currently industry looks at the government as an adversary instead it should create a meeting ground for deliberation to ensure that solutions are provided. Of course, policy making in the government is not an overnight affair. Therefore it is important for the industry to engage with the government with the right suggestions and information at frequent intervals,” he further said.