“We welcome the fact that FM has named Healthcare as one of the nine pillars of the Union Budget 2016. Our country’s demographic dividend can accrue only if we give priority to healthcare sector. I didn’t see a bold approach to increase financial outlay for healthcare sector in view of the stated objective of increasing healthcare spends from current 1.2% of GDP to 2.5% of GDP. There are relatively few salutary provisions for this sector.  Insurance cover, benefits for the elderly and more Government drug stores are welcome steps, as are the proposed National Dialysis centres where the equipment will also have concessional duties. From the Pharmaceutical sector perspective, the expectations were higher and I haven’t come across any specific provision that merits attention. The only relevant provision is the taxation of royalty income at 10% in respect of innovations discovered and registered in India. We had hoped that concessions on R&D for the life sciences sector would continue at 200%, but these are to be phased out to become aligned with other industries. There was also no mention of incentives for pharmaceutical clusters, especially for API manufacturing.”- Dr Shailesh Ayyangar, President, OPPI

“While Healthcare has been named one of the nine pillars of the Union Budget 2016, there are relatively few salutary provisions for this sector.  Insurance cover, benefits for the elderly and more Government drug stores are welcome steps, as are the proposed National Dialysis centres where the equipment will also have concessional duties. From the Pharmaceutical sector perspective, the expectations were higher and there is no specific provision that merits attention. The only relevant provision is the taxation of royalty income at 10% in respect of innovations discovered and registered in India. We had hoped that concessions on R&D for the life sciences sector would continue at 200%, but these are to be phased out to become aligned with other industries. There was also no mention of incentives for pharmaceutical clusters, especially for API manufacturing.”- Ranjana Smetacek, Director General, OPPIjordans for sale green