Some of the initiatives taken by the Government to promote the pharmaceutical sector in India are as follows:

• As per the Union Budget 2022-23:
  • Rs. 3,201 crore (US$ 419.2 million) has been set aside for research and Rs. 83,000 crore (US$ 10.86 billion) has been allocated for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
  • Rs. 37,000 crore (US$ 4.83 billion) has been allocated to the ‘National Health Mission’.
  • Rs. 10,000 crore (US$ 1.28 billion) has been allocated to Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.
  • The Ministry of AYUSH has been allocated Rs. 3,050 crore (US$ 399.4 million), up from Rs. 2,970 crore (US$ 389 million).
• In March 2022, under the Strengthening of Pharmaceutical Industry (SPI) Scheme, a total financial outlay of Rs. 500 crore (US$ 665.5 million) for the period FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26 were announced.
• India could restart deliveries of COVID-19 shots to global vaccine-sharing platform COVAX in November-December 2021 for the first time since April 2021. The World Health Organization (WHO), which co-leads COVAX, has been pushing India to resume supplies for the programme, particularly after it sent ~4 million doses to neighbours and allies in October 2021.
• In November 2021, PM Mr. Narendra Modi inaugurated the first Global Innovation Summit of the pharmaceuticals sector. The summit will have 12 sessions and over 40 national and international speakers deliberating on a range of subjects including regulatory environment, funding for innovation, industry-academia collaboration and innovation infrastructure.
• In August 2021, Union Health Minister, Mr. Mansukh Mandaviya announced that an additional number of pharmaceutical companies in India are expected to commence manufacturing of anti-coronavirus vaccines by October-November 2021. This move is expected to further boost the vaccination drive across the country.
• In June 2021, Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman announced an additional outlay of Rs. 197,000 crore (US $26,578.3 million) that will be utilised over five years for the pharmaceutical PLI scheme in 13 key sectors such as active pharmaceutical ingredients, drug intermediaries and key starting materials.
• To achieve self-reliance and minimise import dependency in the country’s essential bulk drugs, the Department of Pharmaceuticals initiated a PLI scheme to promote domestic manufacturing by setting up greenfield plants with minimum domestic value addition in four separate ‘Target Segments’ with a cumulative outlay of Rs. 6,940 crore (US$ 951.27 million) from FY21 to FY30.
• In May 2021, under Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0, Mission COVID Suraksha was announced by the Government of India to accelerate development and production of indigenous COVID vaccines. To augment the capacity of indigenous production of Covaxin under the mission, the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, provided financial support in the form of a grant to vaccine manufacturing facilities for enhanced production capacities, which is expected to reach >10 crore doses per month by September 2021.