Indian Pharmacopoeia should be recognised internationally for exporters: FPME

Mumbai, October 1, 2021:

The Federation of Pharmaceutical Merchant Exporters and Allied Products (FPME) wanted the Central government to take initiatives to make Indian Pharmacopoeia to be recognised internationally for exporters and it should be made part of every trade agreement with independent country.

FPME further added that with rising disputes as well as exporters dealing with multiple authorities, an Ombudsman for exporters needs to be appointed or central dispute resolution mechanism to be set up.

Besides, freight rationalisation scheme should be introduced where exporter is unable to perform contract due to sudden increase in freight, FPME stated.

The association added that Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd (ECGC) premium needs to be reduced as well as process needs to be simplified. Interest rates should match with libor in case if exporter is supplying to any international government body under contract supply where payments normally get delayed.

ECGC Ltd. (Formerly known as Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd.) wholly owned by Government of India, was set up in 1957 with the objective of promoting exports from the country by providing credit risk insurance and related services for exports.

ECGC is essentially an export promotion organization, seeking to improve the competitiveness of the Indian exports by providing them with credit insurance covers.

"There are other issues such as export financing. Banks have their own system of crediting MSME interest subvention. Many banks have not credited subventions for 18 months and uniformity is needed in process," stated FPME.

An interest subvention scheme is a scheme introduced by the Reserve Bank of India wherein relief is provided upto 2 per cent of interest to all the legal MSMEs on their outstanding fresh/incremental term loan/working capital during the period of its validity.

Incorporated on March 30, 2019, FPME today has 200 members in a span of just two years and is planning to add 500 more this year. As per Pharmexcil data, there are approximately 2,000 merchant exporters in the country. The main objective of FPME is to represent pharmaceutical and allied products merchant exporters in government, semi-government, regulatory, legislative and other trade and industry bodies for policy matters’ development and interventions as may be necessary in the interest of country’s trade, particularly exports. PharmaBiz