Pharma, healthcare key sectors for economy: Jaitley

HYDERABAD: Union minister for law, Justice, Commerce and Industry Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the pharmaceutical industry and health care have become the key sectors in the growth of Indian economy.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the new Pharmaceutical Formulation Intermediates (PFI) Facility at the Granules India Limited at Gagillapur in Rangareddy district, the Union minister said those who had been manufacturing cheaper products were dominating the world market.
Since the drugs manufactured in India were cheaper, many countries, including the US, had been importing these drugs in a huge quantum, he added.
Jaitley said due to participation of private entrepreneurs in health care sector, the health care became cheaper and the quality was also improved by many folds. There has been a flow of patients to India from other countries for quality treatment at cheaper price, he said adding India has become the health care centre for the entire Region.
The Union minister claimed that India still had been playing major role in service sector. Developed countries show their interest to import skilled manpower from India.
Jaitley said several major international companies had increased out sourcing from India. Hence, our nation can go further ahead in service sector, he added.
All India president of Bharatiya Janata Party M Venkaiah Naidu, who inaugurated the PFI facility, lauded the contribution of private entrepreneurs for their important role in Indian economy.
Government should stop its direct involvement in business, he said adding it was ridiculous on the part of government to run organisations and suffer losses resulting in imposition of taxes on public.
Naidu said there was a need to hold a public debate on the government running business organisations. The government should only look after administration besides monitoring the overall development rather than keep on calculating profits and losses.
Chairman of the company Nageshwara Rao said the new PFI plant at the Granules India Limited was the world''s largest commercial PFI plant. The company, which has a turnover of Rs 80-crore, has invested Rs 30 crore in the highly sophisticated and fully automated plant on 20 acres with a capacity of 7,200 MTPA.
Company''s managing director C Krishna Prasad said Granules markets its PFI products in 15 countries, including the US and UK. The PFI concept is similar to bulk drug intermediates, he added.