400 MSMEs to be supported till FY26 under this pharma scheme, says MoS fertilizers Bhagwanth Khuba

Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: The Chemicals and Fertilizers ministry’s Pharmaceutical Technology Upgradation Assistance Scheme (PTUAS), which is a part of the government’s Strengthening of Pharmaceutical Industry (SPI) scheme, is looking to support around 400 MSMEs in pharma sector between FY22 and FY26, informed Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Bhagwanth Khuba in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. 

Also Read: These four ‘emerging business models’ can potentially bridge Rs 25 lakh cr credit gap in MSME sector: Report

SPI was launched in July this year with the financial outlay of Rs 500 crores and its sub-scheme PTUAS is a credit-linked scheme focusing on MSMEs with a proven track record to meet national and international regulatory standards. It enables interest subvention or capital subsidy on their loans, the minister noted. So far 60 MSMEs have applied for the scheme.

To promote the scheme, one national and 10 state-level outreach events have been conducted so far involving the state governments and pharma industry associations, Khuba said.

According to the PTUAS scheme details, MSMEs will be supported either through up to a maximum of 5 per cent per annum (6% in case of units owned and managed by SC/STs) of interest subvention or through credit linked capital subsidy of 10 per cent. In both the cases, the loan supported under this is limited to Rs 10 crores.

Among other measures for MSMEs in the pharma sector by the government included multiple Production Linked Incentives (PLI) schemes. For instance, the PLI scheme for promoting domestic manufacturing of medical devices had 21 applications or projects selected so far, of which 10 applicants belonged to MSME category, according to the data shared by the MSME Minister Narayan Rane in the Rajya Sabha on November 13, 2022 in a written reply to a question.

Also Read: Shiprocket partners with FIEO to help MSMEs in e-commerce exports

Likewise, under the PLI scheme for pharmaceuticals, which provides for financial incentive to applicants for manufacturing of identified products, had 55 applicants, of which 20 were MSMEs. Also, under the PLI scheme for promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical key starting materials (KSMs) and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), 51 applications were selected, of which 13 were from MSMEs in the segment.