Minister for Commerce and Industry Ms Nirmala Sitharaman convened a meeting with senior officers from Ministry of Health, DCGI, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Department of Biotechnology, Department of Commerce and Pharmexcil to take stock of the various issues and challenges that exports of Indian Pharma industry are confronted with. Shri Lanka Srinivas, Sr. Advisor, Pharmexcil gave a detailed presentation on the same. Various issues relating to Indian Pharma exports including domestic and international barriers / constraints were discussed.

 Looking at the complexity of issues, need for convergence among policies and Programme of different departments was felt. Since the scientific breakthroughs in chemistry, biology, microbiology, physics and biotechnology impact development of this sector directly or indirectly, it was considered important to have a platform where all these developments are shared between academia, industry and scientific community for the larger benefit of the society. A sector like Pharma which is deeply rooted in science and is truly global in nature, a "Think Tank" consisting of senior pharma professionals, CEOs, Government officials, scientists, researchers and pharmacists can provide an ideal forum to identify bottle necks and resolve various issues for overcoming challenges and promoting hassle free exports. Indian medicines have served the humanity across all continents of the world and their contribution in fighting HIV and various other diseases in various developing countries has been particularly notable. By putting its act together, the Indian Pharma sector can help the global community in its fight against various life threatening diseases. Minister directed senior officials to speed up the work on various proposals and realize full potential of the sector and assured them of government’s help in every possible manner in resolving various issues faced by the industry.

Pharmaceutical export policy convergence urged to tackle domestic and international barriers, with a high-level think tank to coordinate. Challenges confronting Indian pharmaceutical exports were reviewed, identifying domestic and international barriers and fragmented departmental programmes; the meeting emphasized the need for Policy Convergence across regulatory, scientific and trade instruments to remove export bottlenecks. A high level Think Tank of industry, government and scientific stakeholders was proposed to share developments, diagnose impediments and formulate proposals, and the Minister directed officials to expedite proposals with government support to realize the sector's export potential.