Baddi : Large number of reputed pharmaceutical manufacturers in the country had set up their manufacturing units in industrial area Baddi at the Haryana-Himachal border adjoining Ambala district when Himachal was declared exempted from sales tax by the Union Government. Later, when sales tax exemption was withdrawn and the government introduced GST all over the country, most of the pharmaceutical and cosmetic manufacturers units in Baddi either closed down their manufacturing units or shifted to other places. In-spite of this, there are still nearly 675 units manufacturing pharma products owned by the local entrepreneurs as well as large companies at Baddi, although most of these units are turning sick due to lack of amenities available in this hilly town, seeking support by the government. Information reveals, the pharma industry in Himachal including Baddi still doing nearly 40 thousand crore annual business having more than 12 percent share of the total pharma business in the country for amounts worth Rs 3 lakh crore every year having nearly 10 thousand units, providing employment to nearly 1.5 lakh persons directly or indirectly.
The World Health Organization (WHO), recently has revised schedule M in order to upgrade the quality of pharmaceutical products in the world. Welcoming the decision, the former Chairman of Himachal Drug Manufacturers Association Satish Singhal said that it is necessary to boost the quality of drugs manufactured in the country on humanity ground, which saves life of the suffering patients from health disorders, as such pharma industry of our country will match with the quality of pharmaceutical products manufactured in European countries by 2028, which is possible only with the support of government in the country make available easy loans to the entrepreneurs without collateral security to provide them financial relief. According to Maneesh Thakur, General Secretary Himachal Drug Manufacturing Association WHO is taking appreciable step to boost the quality of life saving medicines in the country, which needs qualified manufacturing staff, as such there is need for the training centres to be developed by the government, besides providing special packages to the pharma industry.
Maneesh Thakur and Sanjay Sharma of the association said, there is immediate need for special packages or subsidies provided to the pharma manufacturers in Baddi situated in hilly area, deprived of road as well as railway facilities where the manufacturers have to spend huge amount on the transportation of goods for getting raw material, as well as supply of goods produced by them to various destinations across the country as well as against export orders. They said, nealy 65 percent drugs manufactured at Baddi are being dispatched to various destinations across the country and nearly 35 percent drugs are being exported to several countries. They further said that there are no transport companies or a railway station in Baddi as such the manufacturers are dependent on tempo union and have to spend a lot of money as well as inconvenience on the despatch of goods manufactured by them.
