The Haryana government’s project of a modern pharma park in Karnal will change the state into a hub of pharma industries by creating globally competitive pharma MSMEs. Once realized, it will generate employment opportunities for 25,000 skilled and unskilled personnel, says R L Sharma, chairman of the SPV, Karnal Pharma Park Ltd (KPPL).
KPPL is the special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed for developing the government promoted cluster scheme and it will be set up on a 100-acre land on the national High Way 1 at Karnal. KPPA will purchase the identified land and distribute it to the investing units. Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) is the nodal body to execute the project.
For the development of pharmaceutical sector, the state government has brought out a pharmaceutical policy-2019 giving as much importance to the development of a pharma park.
“The government has identified an ideal site for the park in Karnal which is 125 Km from New Delhi and 135 Km from Chandigarh. The site enjoys excellent road, rail and air connectivity with rest of India. Close to the site, the government has already set up one world-class laboratory as a common facility centre (CFC). It will serve as an extra service provider for the entrepreneurs. Since the country is going through a one tax system (GST), we wish to bring back the entrepreneurs who had gone to the tax-free zones in Himachal and Uttharakhand to the soon-to-be developed pharma park in Karnal,” said Sharma.
Enumerating the benefits of the cluster scheme, he said government will provide so many fiscal incentives to the new entrepreneurs as per the Haryana Enterprises Promotion Policy 2015. In addition to this, all the new units coming in the pharma park are eligible for various special packages of incentives.
Government will reimburse 25 per cent of the cost of plant and machinery, subject to a maximum of Rs.50 lakh. An interest subsidy of 5 percent will be given to the units who avail loans from banks to meet the working capital requirements, subject to a ceiling of Rs.25 lakh per year per unit. Similarly, financial aid will be given in the form of subsidy for capacity building of persons belonging to Haryana (skilled/semi-skilled). Other reliefs include waiver of central excise, reduction in electricity charges and integration of pharma sector related clearances with a single window system.
Quoting the state’s pharma policy, the SPV chairman said hundred percent of the cost of external and internal infrastructure development will be borne by state government subject to a ceiling of Rs.50 crore. Besides, government will set up a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) to support the park, but the running expenditure of the plant has to be borne by the units as per their usage.
Commenting on the government project, Narendar Kumar Ahooja, the drugs controller of Haryana, said the pharma park will have separate wing for API manufacturing and medical devices. He said the major manufacturers of medical devices are located in Haryana. The pharma park will help create an industry-academia relation in the state which has over 90 pharmacy institutions running various courses.
Reference: Pharmabiz