The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) at its 12th annual general body meeting, to be held on September 23, 2016 in Hyderabad, will have a final discussion on the proposed amendment in the Council’s article 4.2 to reduce the average export turnover from Rs. 100 crore to Rs. 20 crore to make MSME members eligible for contesting for the post of chairman and vice chairman of the Council.

The Council had earlier proposed an amendment in eligibility criteria for the post of chairman and vice chairman by reducing the average export value of Rs. 100 crore to Rs. 20 crore for its MSME members.

As per article 4.2 of the Council, any person having annual export turnover of Rs. 100 crore can stand for the election as chairman or vice chairman. As per the said article, the large section of the MSME was deprived of the right to become the chairman or the vice chairman because the small and medium manufacture exporters were not able to meet the target of Rs. 100 crore.

In May, 2016, the Committee of Administration (CoA) members had written a letter to the Union commerce ministry to intervene in the election procedure of the Council and informed about Rs. 100 crore export turnover as the eligibility criteria to become the chairman of the Council. It informed the ministry that due to this criteria, many of the interested MSME members were not eligible for the election to the Council’s chairman post.

Considering the issue, the Council has come up with the amendment in its article to reduce the export turnover to Rs. 20 crore to give an equal opportunity to its MSME members. The Council will be having a final discussion and approval of the proposed amendment in article 4.2 in its annual general body meeting.

As per the proposed amendment in article 4.2 (b), where a person is standing for election as chairman or vice chairman, he/she, or the entity represented him/her, must have, to his/her or its credit, during the last three financial years immediately preceding, an average export value of not less than Rs. 100 crore (one hundred crore)/Rs. 20 crore (Rupees twenty crore) in case he/she, or the entity represented by him/her is a small & medium scale manufacture exporter.