New Delhi:
Pharmaceutical companies allege that they are facing
heavy demurrage charges on
consignments from
China that are stuck at the airports for no fault of theirs.
Demurrage is a charge levied on the importer when cargo exceeds the time allotted for it to be at the terminal.
The
pharma industry representatives ET spoke with said that while the customs department has been clearing containers of some drugs from China, consignments containing key starting material, active pharmaceutical ingredients (
APIs) of vitamins, blood thinners and some critical drugs, etc., are still not cleared. Besides, port authorities are demanding demurrage charges.
In case of air consignments, authorities start charging demurrage 24 hours after the cargo has reached the terminal.
Dinesh Dua, chairman of Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council (
Pharmexcil), said several pharma companies have paid
demurrage charges for their air consignments. The demurrage charged varies from ₹14 to ₹22 per kilo per day.
According to Dua, 200 tonnes of raw material was stuck and the industry has paid about ₹2 crore in demurrage charges till now.
“We appreciate the reasons for the hold-up at the airports, but demurrage charges are exceptionally high, which is additional stress on the working capital of the pharma companies. On an average, it has taken 6-10 days from day one of the air consignments, leading to an additional 2 crores for the industry in terms of demurrages for no fault of the industry,” he said.
Dua said in view of the challenges brought on by the viral pandemic, demurrage charges beyond one day should be refunded to the pharma companies.