Set up at the behest of India?s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, India?s largest public sector drug maker, Indian Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL), has been languishing in the wilderness under the UPA regime as the recommendations on its revival are lying with the group of ministers (GoM), headed by defence minister AK Antony, which has not met since 2007.

Now the beleaguered PSU, sick since 1992, just wants the government to quickly decide if it is interested in reviving the company or simply shut it down. ?If you want to run the company, run it properly. If you want to close it, close it properly,? Jayashree Gupta, IDPL chairperson and managing director, told FE.

IDPL is saddled with accumulated losses of Rs 5,000 crore and has a negative net worth of Rs 4,816 crore. The company hasn?t even been able to finalise its annual accounts since 2002-03. Provisional numbers generated by the management indicate a turnover of about Rs 57 crore during 2007-08, 310% up than a year ago.

The company was set up in 1961 to enable the country attain self-sufficiency in life-saving drugs. At the time, Nehru had stressed that ?the drug industry must be in the public sector?.. I think an industry of the nature of the drug industry should not be in the private sector anyhow. There are for too much exploitation of the public in this industry.?

While the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority was set up in 1997 to regulate prices and prevent the exploitation Nehru had warned of, IDPL has received three bailout packages from the Centre since then but none of them have worked.

After it was referred to Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) in 1992, the Centre announced a financial assistance scheme in 1994, but it was not enough to revive IDPL?s fortunes. Another Rs 1,400-crore package was given to IDPL in 2001, followed by one in 2005.

?We have received umpteen number of packages but the final decision on the company is still awaited. A quick decision is required on the company. At the most, it should have taken six months to one year,? Gupta said.

The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises, the ?special doctor? for sick PSUs set up by the UPA, had examined the PSU and the revival package it mooted had been sent for Cabinet clearance in 2007.

But the Cabinet decided to set up a GoM under Antony to examine the proposals in depth.

When it met in the middle of 2007, the GoM asked for some clarifications from the company regarding the proposals that were submitted soon thereafter. But the GoM hasn?t met since. Union chemicals and fertiliser minister Ram Vilas Paswan has sought a meeting of the GoM. ?The meeting may take place soon and whenever it meets, we hope the proposals would be cleared as we have met all the demands,? Gupta said.

The measures being considered by the GoM involve waiver of Rs 3,500 crore government loans and one-time settlement of Rs 1,200 crore of bank loans, involving interest, at Rs 200 crore. The generic drug maker has also demanded bridge loan of Rs 300 crore from the government to finance its capital expenditure programme.

The firm is working toward raising production in the next three years. Besides, it has signed an agreement with National Buildings Construction Corporation to develop 15% of 90-acre plant at Gurgaon as commercial residential complex.

In 2007-08, IDPL produced medicines worth Rs 62 crore, accounting for only 1% of the total production in the country. ?The company?s production last year was like a dot in the sphere. We want to make it a visible company in the next three years but that depends on the decision taken by the government,? Gupta said.

IDPL plans to develop biotech research centers and medicine delivery mechanism at manufacturing plants in Gurgaon, Rishikesh, Chennai, Hyderabad and Muzaffarpur. It is also looking to restart production at Hyderabad and and Muzaffarpur plants. In addition, the company wants to enter production of lifestyle drugs like those to control blood pressure and hypertension.

All employees?291 at the end of FY08?have opted for voluntary retirement scheme and the position of two of its subsidiaries, IDPL (TN) Ltd and Bihar Drugs & Organic Chemicals Ltd is not different. The company employed more than 6,000 people in 2002.