Commerce and Pharmaceuticals Department under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has decided to come forward and own the pleas of pharma MSMEs by way of financing the machinery and infrastructure lags of the sector in implementing the barcoding for drugs exported from India

Government has decided not to take any immediate actions against these small units for not being able to fully implement the track-and-trace barcoding requirements for exports by the stipulated and expired deadline of March 31, 2017.

Small pharmaceutical companies are struggling with lack of resources to install the required machinery, including scanners, and thus sought government subsidies. Hence the government has considered providing the required financial support to these units, a government official informed.

The Commerce Department has asked the Pharmaceuticals Department to examine if there is any way of including subsidies for bar-coding infrastructure for the SSI sector under any of their existing schemes on quality upgradation.

A barcode helps in tracking and tracing of origin of drugs, which in turn helps in minimising the chances of genuine drugs being considered spurious, sub-standard or counterfeit. While most large and medium exporters have the system in place, the small manufacturers are yet defaulters.

Industry experts suggest it is necessary for Indian pharma firms to ensure quality to tap the market and that barcoding will help in this regard.