The Pharmaceutical and healthcare industry said it was disappointed with the Budget as it did not have any significant proposals for the sector.

“In our view, the healthcare concerns of the country have not been given adequate importance in the Union Budget proposals to help improving the healthcare needs of the nation,” said the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India.

The Finance Minister has only tweaked the duty structure on some life saving medicines for cancer and HIV patients. There is also a proposal to extend concessional basic customs duty of 5 per cent with full exemption from excise duty/CVD to 6 specified life saving drugs/vaccines.

The drugs are Raltegravir potassium, Rotavirus Vaccine, Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Vaccine, Posaconazole Oral suspension, Temsirolimus Concentrate for infusion for injection and Natalizuma

Ms Ameera Shah, MD & CEO, Metropolis Healthcare Ltd & Co-chairperson of FICCI's Healthcare Committee said that the industry expected more. “There has been no decrease in customs duty on lifesaving medical devices or diagnostic reagents, no subsidies for setting up healthcare in small towns in India, no tax benefits for investment in healthcare and no mention of a PPP model. It shows that health of the common man is of little interest and will be ignored for one more year.”

There is however some relief on the R&D front with the weighted tax exemption for in house R&D being extended by another 5 years to 2017. “While this budget did not specifically address the concerns of the pharma industry, the tax exemption for R&D is a small, albeit important step in the right direction to encourage companies to invest more in research and development. It will aid pharmaceutical companies in entering high-barrier, niche therapy segments which are research-intensive,” said a Lupin spokesperson.

>tkt@thehindu.co.in

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