Budget 2023: Expectations of pharma sector from Nirmala Sitharaman

The COVID-19 pandemic made us realise the importance of the pharmaceutical industry even more. According to a report by EY Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), the Indian pharmaceutical market is estimated to reach $130 billion in value by the end of 2023. Meanwhile, the global market size of pharma products is estimated to cross the $1 trillion mark in 2023. So it's quite natural that the sector has high expectations from the Union Budget 2023-24, which is going to be presented on 1 February 2023 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. According to Sanjeev Jain, Managing Director, Akums Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, after the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in China, pharma companies are worried that they will have to face the adverse impacts again.Here are the expectations of the pharmaceutical industry from Union Budget 2023-24:Allocating separate funds for R&D, formulation and APIsPharma industry experts told Financial Express that it is crucial to allocate separate funds for Research and Development (R&D), formulation and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). Nikkhil K Masurkar, CEO, Entod pharmaceuticals said that there needs to be an increase in budgetary allocation for R&D in the biopharmaceutical sector.Simplified regulations and GST norms for the pharmaceutical industryAccording to Sudarshan Jain, Secretary General of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, the budget needs to outline supportive policies. He went on to add that the budget should focus on simplified regulations and Goods and Services Tax (GST) norms for allowing the development of the pharmaceutical industry.Offering benefits like SEIS to pharma companiesPharmaceutical corporations also supply services like drug testing and certification. No export benefits like scrips issued under Service Export Incentive Scheme (SEIS) are provided for these services.According to a report by BW Healthcare World, the sector expects benefits such as SEIS to be made available to pharmaceutical companies as well.Eliminating GST on medicinesAmit Choudhary, Co-founder and CEO, Dawaa Dost told Financial Express that the government needs to consider eliminating GST on medicines. He added that this will decrease the out-of-pocket expenditure on health for Indians, which is presently 63 per cent. This in turn will have a large impact on the overall health outcome and any loss in revenue is going to be compensated with healthier citizens.Development of health infrastructureAccording to Choudhary, it is hoped that the upcoming budget addresses the challenge of health infrastructure development in India. He hopes that the allocation limit would be increased from 1.2 to 1.3 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to at least 2.5 per cent of the GDP, which is a globally accepted norm.Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.