NEW DELHI: In a move to spur innovation, pharma and med-tech sectors have sought a 10% allocation of the National Research Fund and reinstatement of 200% weighted deductions for R&D expenditure in the Budget, even as it awaits implementation of Rs 5,000 crore research scheme.
The National Research Fund or Anusandhan National Research Foundation with a corpus of a Rs 1 lakh crore corpus proposed to scale innovation in deep tech and sunrise domains, while the sector-specific Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma-MedTech sector (PRIP) was announced two years back.
“It would be encouraging if the Union Budget allocates at least 10% of the National Research Fund to life sciences, reinstates 200% weighted deductions for R&D expenditure and expands the patent box regime to include income from patents abroad. Additionally, removing Section 194R related to marketing samples would ease business operations. Further, incentives for AI research in the pharmaceutical sector should be introduced,” Sudarshan Jain, secretary general, IPA told TOI.
The tax incentive on R&D was lowered to 100% from 2020-21. Elaborating on the marketing samples’ issue, an industry official said physician samples and product reminders should be excluded from the ambit of section 194R.
Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) has sought reduction of import duty on devices to make them affordable. Patients are paying 10-30x the import landed price of the devices, the industry body which represents domestic firms, said.
Reducing or exempting GST on medical devices will make cutting-edge technology more affordable for healthcare providers and ensure patients receive timely, quality care, Harsh Mahajan chair-Ficci Health Services Committee and founder & chief radiologist, Mahajan Imaging & Labs said.
“If govt spend on health reaches 2% of GDP as envisaged in the National Health Policy, our route to becoming a healthier nation will be fast tracked,” says Anupam Sibal, group medical director, Apollo Hospitals group.
