Even as the proposal by the Commerce Ministry to launch a Rs.2000 crore venture capital fund to help pharma industry in research and development (R&D) has not made any headway yet, the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) claimed that a proposal for Rs.500 crore venture fund is still on track.

A detailed project report (DPR) has already been prepared by Ernst & Young Pvt Ltd and submitted to the Department which plans to consult all stakeholders before finalizing the same, it is learnt.

The Department had included the proposal for the Pharma Venture Fund for investment of identified funds for taking up research and development by the pharmaceutical industry. In November 2011, Ernst & Young was appointed as the global level consultant to prepare the DPR which was submitted to the Government some time back, sources, said.

However, the Planning Commission is yet to give its in-principle approval to the proposal. Though the proposal was included in the report of the working group, it did not find a place in the final document, putting question mark on the fate of the fund.

The small and medium scale sector had raised apprehensions that the VC fund by the Commerce Ministry would only help the big companies, and they wanted a separate fund which would give adequate support to the SME players. However, the fate of both the funds remains uncertain, going by the progress made so far in this regard.