India Pharma INC's Tryst With Modi Sarkar

Pharma sector got overlooked in the recently announced interim budget though there were some radical announcements for other sectors. The industry continues to await its due. Express Pharma garners a few reactions to the interim budget and looks at Modi government's significant offerings for the sector in the last five years

Budget 2019: What does it hold for India Pharma Inc?

'TO INCENTIVISE INVESTMENT IN R&D, PARTICULARLY IN HEALTHCARE AND PHARMA SECTOR SEVERAL STRATEGIC INPUTS NEED TO BE PROVIDED'

Dr Ajit Dangi, President & CEO, Danssen Consulting

The interim budget 2019 presented by the interimFinance Minister had one eye firmly on the forthcoming general election. While the budget has something for every one from farmers to middle class to Bollywood, it has managed to balance the populist tone with the fiscal prudence reasonably well.

We were hoping to get some fiscal incentives for the start ups and scrapping of the Angel tax , however, this did not happen. While the overall healthcare outlay has been increased by 16 per cent to 54,302.50 crores, it should have been increased in line with the target of 2.5 per cent of GDP as being proposed for the last several years. Also, GST simplification to just two slabs as assured should have been implemented.

Inspite of India being world’s fastest growing economy,our investment in R&D particularly in Science & Technology has stagnated at around 0.65 per cent of GDP for over two decades. To incentivise investment in R&D, particularly in healthcare and pharma sector several strategic inputs need to be provided.

One positive anouncement is the proposed formation of National Centre for Artficial Intelligence. With the US and China leading the AI race, this will go a long way for India to remain competitive in technology sector.

Hopefully, the next full budget will address more such strategically important issues.

IT IS TIME INDUSTRY EXPECTATIONS AND THE GOVERNMENT FOCUS ARE ALIGNED

Anil Khanna, Partner, WisdomSmith