Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has shortlisted places for setting up Pharma Growth Clusters by setting up common facilities with a total cost of Rs.500 crore, in collaboration with the associations of industries in the concerned clusters.

The Scheme for Cluster Development of Pharma Companies, proposed by the DoP and now under consideration of the Planning Commission, would establish clusters in some places and upgrade the facilities in some of the existing clusters.

The identified clusters are Baddi (Himachal Pradesh), Hardwar (Uttarakhand) and Gurgaon (Haryana) in the North, Pattancheru, Pashmalyram and Khazipalli (in Andhra Pradesh), Alandur and Ambattur (both in Tamil Nadu) in the South, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad (all in Maharashtra), Vadodara and Ahmedabad in Gujarat in the West and Goa/Sikkim in other special areas. Out of these, ten would be finally selected for unfolding the scheme, sources said.

“There is a need of synergy strategies to address infrastructure development issues for promoting integrated growth of the pharma industries. For this, cluster based approach is an important strategy and is now increasingly being recognized as an effective and sustainable strategy for competitive enhancement of MSMEs,” according to the proposal.

The scheme seeks to provide an integrated set up for enabling quality, productivity and innovative manufacturing by the pharma SMEs in existing and new clusters. The clusters will have central facilities for environment standards compliance, central facilities for quality testing and regulatory compliance, cold chain facilities, and formulation and product development facilities.

The assistance would be in the form of a grant to recognized bodies – association of industries in the concerned clusters with proper safeguard mechanisms and procedures. The assistance would be restricted to assistance for building and machineries. The operational cost of the central facilities so established to the extent of 70 per cent would be met by the industry on a recurring basis.

The DoP has sought approval from the Planning Commission so that 10 clusters labelled as Pharma Growth Clusters can be set up within the next five years. Each cluster would require an assistance to the tune of Rs.50 crore each, as per the detailed proposal.