In order to attract pharmaceutical companies to invest in Assam, State Health and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said the Assam government is ready to travel extra miles in the pharmaceutical sector.
As there is no specific pharma policy in Assam, Assam Health Minister Sarma said on Sunday that his government is ready to tweak the investment policies in order to attract companies to invest in the pharmaceutical sector to set up their units in the State.
“We have a general investment policy. But some of your requirements may be different. Government of Assam is willing to customise the parameters for your requirements,” Sarma told the investors on the second day of the ongoing Global Investors’ Summit here.
“We will facilitate and go whatever way to help you invest in Assam. The government and political class here is helpful to you. We want investment. So we will go extra mile to have you in our state,” he said.
Health and Family Welfare Department Commissioner Samir Kumar Sinha informed that Assam has seen an investment of USD 142 million (over Rs 900 crore) in the healthcare segment with setting up of nine pharma units.
“The Assam government has been giving top priority to healthcare segment. The Budget allocation for the health and family welfare of the State in 2017-18 jumped by 17 per cent from 2016-17. This was one of the highest,” Sinha added.
On this occasion, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT-G) and the Kalam Institute of Health Technology (KIHT) to source innovation from the Assam-based centre and auction them to the industry.