When it comes to the question of whether the PLI goes far enough for all involved in pharmaceutical manufacturing, including those in the contracting sector, there is room for debate. While India rightly became renowned as a hotbed for global supply of generics in the late 1990s, over the past couple of decades the country’s reputation has evolved as more and more CDMOs offering manufacturing, development and discovery services for innovative pharma companies.
Critics of the PLI have described it as limited, pointing out that it appears designed solely to support the essential drugs industry rather than contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs) that offer custom synthesis for innovative drug companies in disease areas such as oncology, for example.
Dr. Kumar at Ipca says the lack of support in the PLI to CDMOs “may not be that important because they take up jobs based on the negotiated price agreed by both the parties before commencement.”
He warns that the PLI may not alone be able to replicate China’s success in domestic API manufacturing unless there is a change in mind set from ‘Jugaad’ – the Hindi word that loosely translates as a frugal workaround to solve problems -- to ‘Sustainability’.