The government issued operational guidelines for the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the pharmaceutical industry.

The Department of Pharmaceuticals has notified the ”Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Pharmaceuticals, for which the approved outlay is Rs 15,000 crore, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers said in a statement.

“The scheme envisages to create global champions out of India who has the potential to grow in size and scale using cutting edge technology and thereby penetrate the global value chains,” it added.

Based on a series of consultations with the pharma industry and stakeholders in the government, the operational guidelines for the scheme have been prepared and issued on June 1. The scheme is now open to applications from the industry, the ministry said.

The applications are invited in the three groups based on the Global Manufacturing Revenue of FY 2019-20 of the applicants. A special carve-out for MSMEs has been kept under the scheme, it added.

The application window is for 60 days starting from June 2, 2021, to July 31, 2021, the statement said.

“The products covered under the scheme are formulations, biopharmaceuticals, active pharmaceutical ingredients, key starting material, drug intermediates, in-vitro diagnostic medical devices, etc,” it added.

A maximum of 55 applicants will be selected under the scheme. An applicant, through a single application, can apply for more than one product and the products applied by an applicant can be in any of the three categories, it added.

The category-1 and category-2 products attract 10 per cent incentive and category-3 products attract 5 per cent incentive on the incremental sales, the ministry said.

An Empowered Group of Secretaries will undertake periodic reviews of the scheme to ensure its smooth implementation along with the other PLI schemes of the Government of India, it added.

SIDBI, the project management agency selected for this scheme, will be responsible for implementation and will be the interface with the industry for all issues concerning online applications, selection of applicants, verification of investments, verification of sales and disbursal of incentives etc, the ministry said.