A Parliamentary Committee on Commerce, comprising 30 Members of Parliament, will visit Chennai on January 29 to seek the views of the pharma manufacturers and other stakeholders in the field on the vexed issue of foreign direct investment (FDI) in pharmaceuticals.

The Committee headed by Shanta Kumar, Member of Parliament, will be coming to Chennai from Karnataka and will stay in the city for three days, said a senior officer in the health department. He added that the delegation would hold discussions with the pharmaceutical manufacturers, traders and departmental officials separately. Later, the team will meet the senior government officials including the health secretary.

The government of India is moving ahead with FDI plans in pharma sector, but it has also certain concerns that drug prices may increase due to the mergers and acquisitions of domestic firms by multinational companies. The common public and even the government view that takeover of Indian companies by MNCs will lead to increase in the prices of generic drugs. The parliamentary panel will seek the opinion of Tamil Nadu pharma industry captains on whether FDI is required in pharma sector.

The panel would visit some manufacturing units in the city in order to interact with the technical experts in the QA & QC departments. The committee’s visit in Chennai assumes significance in the backdrop of instances of illicit sale of date expired drugs all over the state two years ago, and the cases are still pending with the investigating agencies.

It is learnt that the committee would seek comments from the manufacturers and traders on drug prices, policies of central and state regulatory agencies, and how to ensure availability of quality affordable drugs to the people at large. Leaders of Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) TN branch, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Tamil Nadu and Tamil Nadu Chemists & Druggists Association will meet the parliamentary delegation.