Sun Pharma And Dr. Reddy's To Wockhardt: 55 Pharma Firms Selected Under PLI Scheme

India has selected 55 pharmaceutical companies, including Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. and Lupin Ltd., for production-linked incentives worth Rs 15,000 crore as part of the government’s effort to boost local manufacturing.

The government selected companies under three groups based on product category and revenue, according to a media statement by the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. Other companies on the list include Cipla Ltd., Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Wockhardt Ltd.

The PLI scheme was announced under the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative by the Indian government in February. It aims to give impetus to innovation, research and development, and widen product profile of the Indian manufacturers.

As many as 278 pharma companies applied to get benefits under three product categories:

• Complex and specialty drugs.

• Active pharmaceutical ingredients, key starting materials and Intermediates.

• All other drugs across therapy areas and drugs not manufactured in India.

Applications were invited based on an applicant's global business revenue as of FY20. The 55 companies that were eventually selected are:

Group A: Companies having a global manufacturing turnover of more than Rs 5,000 crore; 11 applicants.

Sun Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd., Dr. Reddy’s, Lupin, Cipla, Cadila Healthcare Ltd., Amneal Pharmaceuticals Pvt., Mylan Laboratories Ltd., Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Group B: Companies with manufacturing turnover of Rs 500-5,000 crore.

Biocon Ltd., Wockhardt, Alembic Pharma, Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Natco Pharma Ltd. and Strides Pharma Science Ltd., among nine selected.

Group C: Companies with manufacturing turnover of less than Rs 500 crore.

35 applicants, of which 20 are medium and small manufacturing enterprises.

• The scheme will provide financial incentives on the incremental sales (over the FY20 base year) of pharmaceutical goods and in-vitro diagnostic medical devices to selected applicants based on pre-defined selection criteria.

• The incentives will be paid for a maximum period of six years for each participant depending upon the threshold investments and sales criteria to be achieved by the applicant.

• The companies are allowed to change the product mix up to five times during the duration of the scheme.

• The total quantum of the incentive for the scheme is Rs 15,000 crore.

• The Small Industries Development Bank of India is the Project Management Agency for the scheme.

While the details of the selected products and year-wise incentives for companies are not known yet, Nomura, in its report, said, “Most of the companies we have interacted with suggest that they expect to utilise the entire available incentive.”