<span style="color: #222222;">Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers today accorded approvals to 16 applicants under Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Promotion of Domestic Manufacturing of critical Key Starting Materials or Drug Intermediates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in the country. The setting up of these 16 plants will lead to total committed investment of over 348 crore rupees and employment generation of about 3 thousand 42 by the companies. The commercial production of these plants is projected to commence from 1st April, 2023 onwards.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">  </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">With an objective to attain self-reliance and reduce import dependence in the critical Bulk Drugs – Key Starting Materials or Drug Intermediates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in the country, the Department of Pharmaceuticals had launched a Production Linked Incentive Scheme for promotion of their domestic manufacturing by setting up greenfield plants. In total, 215 applications were received for the 36 products spread across the 4 Target Segments.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">  </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Indian pharmaceutical industry is the 3rd largest in the world by volume. It has high market presence in several advanced economies such as the US and EU. The industry is well known for its production of affordable medicines, particularly in the generics space. However, the country is significantly dependent on the import of basic raw materials like Bulk Drugs that are used to produce medicines. In some specific bulk drugs, the import dependence is 80 to 100 per cent.</span>