Rs. 900-cr. revival package for three IDPL units

Union Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, on Friday announced that a Rs. 900-crore revival package for the public sector undertaking, Indian Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IDPL), was under way.

“By this July, IDPL will starting making formulations,” he said, expressing confidence. While about 50 per cent of the investment would be made in the Balanagar facility, the rest would be used for the Gurgaon and Rishikesh plants of the company, he explained, on his first visit to Telangana since Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated.

Mr. Gangaram, who was here for a conference of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ‘Make in India’ policy, Telangana was poised for massive industrialisation.

“IDPL will soon get back its pride of place and Telangana will become the pharma capital in the strict sense of the term,” he said, adding that Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Ananth Kumar, had declared 2015 as the ‘Bulk Drugs Year’. “Indian drug companies have always been doing very well and India is considered the medical shop for the entire world now, with manufacturing and supplying operations in over 150 nations. About 20 per cent of the drugs sold in the United States of America and other developed countries are Indian. With the revival of IDPL and other similar initiatives that are in the pipeline, we are confident of not depending on China for certain bulk drugs and getting a cost benefit,” he pointed out.

As for NIPER, which currently functions from an IDPL building, he said plans were afoot to establish it in Genome Valley, with a high-tech pharma research and development centre with the State as a partner. One of IDPL’s several strengths is its infrastructure, he said, referring to the fact that the IDPL campus here had 84 buildings with office space ranging between 70,000 to 1-lakh square feet.

Likewise, the Centre has put together a Rs. 5,000-crore revival plan that is already under way, for the fertilizer factory in Godavarikhani near Ramagundam. Mr. Gangaram referred to the MoU signed by the Fertilizer Corporation of India, National Fertilizers Ltd and Engineers India Limited. Once this is done, the State will become self-sufficient on the urea front, he said.

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