The Central Government has rejected two out of the four proposals received under the programme it has announced for pharma Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) clusters, designed to be developed with 70% support from the Government of India. This is part of the 12 key announcements made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi under the support and outreach programme for MSMEs on November 2, 2018.
The proposals from Marathwada Pharma Cluster, a Special Purpose Vehicle formed for pharma cluster in Maharashtra and another from MP Small Scale Drug Manufacturers Association were rejected, according to the Ministry of MSME’s annual report for the year 2021-22. The reason for rejection is not revealed.
Indumati Pharma Pvt. Ltd (Pune), Maharashtra, Marathwada Pharma Cluster (Aurangabad), Maharashtra, Himachal Drug Manufacturers Association (Baddi), Himachal Pradesh and M.P. Small Scale Drug Manufacturers Association (Indore), Madhya Pradesh were the applicants who have submitted proposals for the scheme, according to documents in the Parliament.
The Prime Minister has made 12 key announcements, including launch of 59-minute loan portal to enable easy access to credit for MSMEs, two per cent interest subvention for all GST registered MSMEs on incremental credit, increase in interest rebate from three per cent to five per cent for exporters who receive loans in the pre-shipment and post-shipment period, among others, to address challenges faced by MSMEs such as access to credit, market access, technology upgradation, ease of doing business and others.
The announcement for pharma clusters were part of improving ease of doing business, under this programme. He said 70 percent cost of establishing these clusters will be borne by the Union Government.
The proposals were received from all the four districts under the programme - Aurangabad, Pune, Solan (Baddi) and Indore.
However, as of December 31, 2020, only one such proposal has been accepted, from Indumati Pharma Pvt. Ltd, Pune, which was approved on March 26, 2021. The government has also released part payment of the first installment of 30 percent of financial assistance, of around Rs 5.49 crore out of the total financial assistance it has approved, of Rs 20 crore. The project cost is estimated at Rs 31.43 crore.
Another proposal from the Government of Himachal Pradesh for providing financial assistance for an existing Pharma Testing Lab, Solan, Baddi, was later dropped from the list on the request of the State Government.
“The proposal received from Marathwada Pharma Cluster, SPV, Aurangabad for setting up a pharma cluster in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra has been rejected,” said the Ministry’s status update of the programme as on December 31, 2021.
The proposal received from the Department of MSME, Government of Madhya Pradesh regarding the project from Madhya Pradesh Small Scale Drug Manufacturer’s Association has also been rejected by the Ministry, it added. |
