Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Sadananda Gowda on Monday outlined plans to boost local manufacturing in bulk drugs and medical device industries to reduce the country’s reliance on imports, particularly from China.

India has a robust $40 billion pharmaceutical sector that is seen as a reliable supplier of generic drugs. But it is reliant on China for about 70% of active pharmaceutical ingredients, or raw materials, which are often cheaper to import than make.

“Some of them are very critical as they are used in production of essential medicines,” Mr. Gowda tweeted on Monday. About 86% of materials used to make medical devices are imported, he added.

The pandemic has exposed weaknesses in global supply chains and posed a “threat to the health security of the country,” he tweeted. “These parks will be based on plug and play model with prior regulatory approvals, state of art infrastructure, excellent connectivity, affordable land, competitive utility charges, and strong R&D ecosystem,” he said, adding these would begin operating in “about 2 or 3 years”.