MUMBAI: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday asked the domestic pharmaceutical industry to strengthen its generic medicine sector and ensure better linkage between input and output of products to become self-reliant.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association to commemorate its Golden Jubilee celebrations here, Goyal also asked the industry to plan for a long-term to tackle challenged related to global supply chain.
"The phenomenal growth that we have seen in the last ten years should be carried forward to ensure that we become self-sufficient. Global supply chains are becoming more and more difficult to predict. The challenges are getting unimaginably serious," he said.
In this situation, the minister said, "it's extremely important that we focus not only on our strengths in the generic sector but also ensure our backward and forward linkages."
"We should plan for the long term to become more and more self-sufficient and with that we will go to the world with the confidence of a powerful nation, engaging with the world on equal terms for a better future for our industry," Goyal said, adding that India's aim should be to become the healthcare custodian of the world.
Stressing on the need for mutual support within the industry, the minister said, "Every country does protect its core industry and I feel our core industry is the pharma industry."
Goyal also mentioned government measures like the production-linked incentive scheme for the manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredient and medical devices and said, "I do hope that many of the manufacturers in the pharma industry are taking advantage of the scheme."
It is important that the industry tries product development and break new grounds in medical research, he said.
"Our international competitiveness should be very important to keep us abreast of the new developments and good manufacturing practices," he added.
He also said that the government's efforts towards having free-trade agreements with different countries will create pathways for easier approvals of Indian pharma products across the globe.