In an attempt to reclaim the top position in the “Ease of Doing Business” rankings, Gujarat government on Saturday announced that it has reduced the duration for granting licences for new pharmaceutical units by 60 days. The government also announced a reduction in the time taken for granting new permissions and renewing existing ones for the sale of medicines in the state.
Speaking at the eighth edition of Pharma Vision 2017 organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in Gandhinagar, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said, “Gujarat wants to progress in the ease-of-doing-business. Any decision should be taken quickly, should be the least complicated and should contain the least paperwork. Today, we reduced the duration for granting licences to new drug manufacturers to 60 days from the earlier 120 days.” Rupani added, “Similarly, we have also reduced the time taken for renewal of licence for drug manufacturers to 60 days from 180 days. New permission for sale of medicines have also been reduced to 30 days from the earlier 45 days and the renewal of existing permission have been reduced to 30 days from 70.”
The chief minister said that the reduction has been done to minimise the delay in granting permission and the corrupt practices as a result of the delay. The decision has come at a time when more and more pharmaceutical units are approaching the state government to open new units. The move is also expected to help the state government promote itself as a pharma hub during the upcoming “Pharmac India 2017” event that is scheduled for November 2017.
In 2016, the state slipped to third spot behind Andhra Pradesh and Telegana in the ease-of-doing-business rankings prepared by the World Bank and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). Viranchi Shah, chairman of IDMA (Indian Drug Manufactures Association), Gujarat State Board had earlier told that the number of project proposals submitted to Gujarat’s Food and Drugs Control Administration for green-field projects and expansion of existing ones have risen three fold post-GST.
(Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/gujarat-govt-fasttracks-process-new-pharma-licence-now-in-60-days-only-4836529/