Government mulls Rs 500 crore venture capital fund for pharma

New Delhi: The government plans to set up Rs 500 crore venture capital fund to boost domestic pharma industry and give cheaper loans to entities looking to establish or upgrade manufacturing facilities. The government is working on various proposals, including single window clearance for drug approvals, to rejuvenate the local pharma sector and make medicines more affordable.

The steps were suggested by a task force formed by the department of pharmaceuticals (DoP) in a report submitted to chemicals and fertilisers minister Ananth Kumar. While releasing the report last week, Mr Kumar had said this is in line with the government’s agenda of promoting ‘Make in India’ and the ministry will take action on all the steps suggested by the task force.

In the report, the task force had also said the DoP may also come up with seed capital and facilitate funding with other financial institutions for the medium and small scale pharmaceuticals industry. The panel in the report titled ‘Recommendations of the Task Force on Enabling Private Sector to lead the growth of Pharmaceutical Industry’, has said DoP may come up with a pharmaceutical specific venture fund, for channelising public resources into drug design and discovery.