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HYDERABAD, June 6

THE Technology Upgradation (UPTECH) initiative for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially in the bulk drug sector in Hyderabad, is all set to get onto phase 2 of consolidation.

A meeting of the participating organisations with the Indian Institute of chemical Technology (IICT), the nodal implementing agency was held and the plan for the second phase firmed up.

The first phase of the UPTECH project involved nearly 70-bulk drug SMEs in and around Hyderabad and the focus was on improving their environmental credibility and enhancing competitiveness.

With the IICT co-ordinating, the State Government, the Centre and the Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (BDMA) formed a consortium to implement the project. The total cost of phase 1 was around Rs 3 crore, with the Centre contributing Rs 1.1 crore, the bulk drug industry about Rs 1 crore and the Andhra Government around Rs 30 lakh.

For the heavily-populated bulk drug sector, especially in the industrial areas of Patancheru with a large number of them being SMEs having pollution control equipment and treatment plants independently meant high costs.

Through UPTECH, the IICT & BDMA took up the technological upgradation of the Patancheru Common Effluent Treatment Plant (PETL) and environmental clean-up of three major process technologies for making Ciprofloxacin, Ranitidine and Ibuprofen. In the case of Ranitidine and Ibuprofen, the consortium also provided new techno-marketing skills for customs synthesis.

As a result of the project efforts, eight SMEs have come together to form a consortia to develop new techno-marketing skills under the banner of `Custom Molecules Pvt Ltd (CMPL). The consortia got 3-4 enquiries and one project has been implemented, according to Mr Venkat Jasti, President of the BDMA.

The UPTECH scheme undertook two other major initiatives — the process clean-up studies for Ciprofloxacin, Ranitidine and Ibuprofen at the IICT and bench scale studies for improving the anaerobic and aerobic treatment of wastes, according to Dr K.V. Raghavan, Director of the IICT.

With just over 50 per cent of the bulk drug production in the country coming from the SMEs, of which a lion's share is from Hyderabad, technology upgradation and synergy between industrial units was a must to face the challenges thrown up by globalisation and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), he said.

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