India looking to incentivize excipient manufacturers

India's Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) is in the midst of a second round of production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes to boost domestic manufacturing of excipients. Currently, India imports 95% of its requirements from regulated markets like the USA, Europe and China. With a five-member technical committee assisting the DoP for Phase II of the PLI scheme, India is keen to incentivize its excipient manufacturers, reports The Pharma Letter’s India correspondent.

The DoP has taken the initiative to draw out another PLI scheme for excipients following an appeal by industry representatives. The scheme is aimed at decreasing Indian drugmakers' dependency on other countries.

As Dinesh Dua, chairman of Pharmexcil pointed out, introducing the PLI scheme to boost domestic manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) was the first step. He added that the scheme needed to be extended to excipient manufacturing as well, for India largely imports excipients from regulated markets which are quite expensive.