During the day, a presentation on these development projects was made to CM Yogi Adityanath, who asked officials to explore the possibilities of setting pharmaceutical and medical device parks. (File photo)Seeking to tap the pharmaceutical market amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the UP government has decided to make a pitch to the Centre for a “bulk drug park” in the Bundelkhand region and a “medical device park” in the western part of the state. Land for these two parks have already been identified.
The proposals will be sent to the Centre. Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet had cleared a scheme for setting up three mega “bulk drug parks” in partnership with states. Under the scheme, a maximum Rs 1,000 crore each was allotted for each park as “grant-in-aid”. Under the medical devices park scheme, the Centre will provide Rs 100 crore as one-time “grant-in-aid” for building common infrastructure facilities.
Sources in the state government on Friday said while about 2,000 acres had been identified for the “bulk drug park” in Bundelkhand’s Lalitpur district, about 350 acres had been identified for the medical device park in Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida). The land belongs to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority.
During the day, a presentation on these development projects was made to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who asked officials to explore the possibilities of setting pharmaceutical and medical device parks, and said there were lots of opportunities in this sector. Adityanath also asked the officials to speed up the two projects under consideration.
Sources said there was a strong competition among the states seeking to set up these parks. Each of them is offering different incentives over and above their existing policies and also highlighting the advantages they provide.
A senior state official said the Adityanath administration had also decided to offer additional incentives to those setting up these parks. Moreover, in its pitch to the Centre, the state government will also point out that it has one of the biggest numbers of MSME (medium, small and micro-level) industries in India, along with considerable chemical and medicinal raw material base. The state also has an advantage in terms of research and development activities as it has premier institutions such as the Central Drug Research Institute in Lucknow, the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research in Raebareli, the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR) in Lucknow, the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Lucknow, the Biological Sciences and Bioengineering Department of IIT- Kanpur, the MNNIT Biotechnology Department in Allahabad, and the Indian Institute of Technology at Banaras Hindu University (IIT BHU).
The state also has over 70,000 retail pharmacies. With about 100 colleges providing B Pharm degrees and about 60 colleges providing M Pharm degrees, UP also claims to have a big enough skilled labour force required for the sector.
In addition to these, the state government will also expedite the road network connectivity through expressways.
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