DoP amends operational guidelines for PLI scheme to change norms on claim submission
New Delhi, October 27, 2022:
The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has amended the operational guidelines for the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for pharmaceuticals once again, to allow the applicants to submit the claim of disbursement of incentive on a quarterly and half yearly basis, apart from the existing norm for submission of claim on an annual basis.
DoP, in a corrigendum issued recently, said that an applicant may submit a claim for disbursement of incentive on quarterly/half yearly/annual basis, though the condition that the claims for any period shall be made only once, unless withdrawn, and no subsequent part claims shall be allowed for the same period, stands.
The clams for disbursement of incentive shall be filed along with supporting documents immediately after the end of the quarter/half year/year, within one month. According to the previous guidelines, the claims for disbursement of incentive shall be filed along with supporting documents within one month of the closure of the given financial year.
The condition that if the claim is found to be in order, 75 per cent of it shall be released and the remaining 25 per cent shall be released after submission of final audited accounts of the company, will continue to be the same after the amendment.
The timeframe for the Project Management Agency (PMA) to process the claim for disbursement has also been reduced with the amendment.
The PMA shall process claim for disbursement of incentive within 30-45 days from the date of receipt of such claim and make appropriate recommendations to the DoP. Earlier, the PMA was directed to process claim for disbursement of incentive within 60 days from the date of receipt of such claim.
The DoP, which issued the operational guidelines of the PLI scheme for pharmaceuticals on June 1, 2021, has issued corrigenda on the guidelines twice, first on June 30, and second on August 13, 2021.
The objective of the scheme is to enhance India’s manufacturing capabilities by increasing investment and production in the sector and contributing to product diversification to high value goods in the pharmaceutical sector. One of the further objectives of the scheme is to create global champions out of India who have the potential to grow in size and scale using cutting edge technology and thereby penetrate the global value chains.
The scheme will provide financial incentives on the incremental sales (over Base Year) of pharmaceutical goods and in-vitro diagnostic medical devices to selected applicants based on pre-defined selection criteria.
The incentives will be paid for a maximum period of 6 years for each participant depending upon the threshold investments and sales criteria to be achieved by the applicant. The total quantum of the incentive for the scheme is Rs. 15,000 crore. SIDBI is the Project Management Agency for the scheme.
The applications were invited in three different categories of applicants to ensure fair competition and broad coverage amongst the industry players. The categories were based on the size of the applicant as determined by the global manufacturing revenues from pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The DoP has said that the scheme received a very good response from the industry and a total of 278 applications were received by the closing date of August 31, 2021 against which a maximum of 55 applicants were to be selected.
The scheme covers three different product categories for which applicants have applied under the scheme. These products are expected to give an impetus to innovation, R&D and widening of product profile of India pharmaceutical industry.PharmaBiz