The government of Karnataka has now set a target for the state pharmaceutical industry to achieve a 15 per cent share of country's total pharmaceutical business from the present about 8 per cent. This has led the Karnataka Drugs and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (KDPMA) to submit a letter to the state department of industries and commerce to revive the Karnataka Pharmaceutical Policy (KPP) which has been in abeyance since its introduction in March 2013.

In order to garner much of the additional 7 per cent growth, the industry requires the revival of the Karnataka Pharmaceutical Policy along with the Pharma Park which would create a favourable investment environment, noted KDPMA.

In early March 2013, the state government had unveiled the Pharma Policy with incentives for infrastructure, education and research. But this dedicated policy had no chance whatsoever to see the light of the day as the same year, the state government announced a new Karnataka Industrial Policy (KIP) 2014-2019.

With the Union government evincing interest in the development of pharmaceuticals in Karnataka, it has identified the state to play host to a first-ever international exhibition and conference on pharmaceutical industry: India Pharma 2016 and Indian Medical Expo 2016 from January 7 to 9, 2016 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), Bengaluru. The event which is supported by the department of pharmaceuticals (DoP) in association with the Federation of Indian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (FICCI) has a concrete plan to stimulate growth of drug research and manufacturing. Besides it also endeavours to strengthen the core competency of the Karnataka pharma industry’s role in contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS).

KDPMA too has viewed that this would be right platform to aggressively look for investments and collaborations. It is now making every effort to ensure a comeback of the KPP to entice foreign direct investments and offer incentives to local companies to expand operations with both greenfield and brownfield projects, besides scout for collaborations in research and production technology.

The Association is also lobbying for a Pharma Park. It is also expecting the clearance for the formation of the Karnataka Pharmaceutical Development Council (KPDC) with a budgetary provision of Rs. 1 crore and the Vision Group on Pharmaceuticals with a Rs.25 lakh allocation which are two monitoring agencies of the development of the sector envisaged when KPP was unveiled.

According to Jatish Sheth, president, KDPMA and director Srushti Pharmaceuticals, the government support through the Pharma Policy could provide a slew of incentives in terms of infrastructure over and above the existing Industrial Policy (IP) to spur growth.

The state pharma industry constitutes 264 manufacturing units that include small-medium, large, public sector and multinational companies providing 25,000 direct employment and generating Rs. 12,000 crore worth revenues of which Rs. 5,000 crore was from the export.

The opportunity to organise India Pharma 2016 and Indian Medical Expo 2016 will provide the much leeway to lobby with the government to give Karnataka the much needed support in pharmaceuticals. KDPMA had been invited to discuss and deliberate the demands across the table for the promotion of pharma industry, said Harish Jain, treasurer, KDPMA and director, Embiotic Laboratories (P) Ltd.