The Hindu Business Line : Govt planning pharma warehouse in Russia

Hyderabad, April 8 The exporters of pharmaceutical products to Russia can look forward to some encouragement as the Union Ministry of Commerce is planning to set up a warehouse there.

The idea was to enable Indian exporters to store the goods in the warehouse and ensure ready availability of their products for entering the local markets in Russia.

“The pharmaceutical exports to Russia are on a growth path and a warehouse there will help cutting costs and greater market penetration,” Dr P.V. Appaji, Executive Director, Pharmaceutical Exports Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), told Business Line here.

About 80 small and medium enterprises engaged in formulations are exporting to Russia at present and there could be more demand in future due to the absence of formulations industry there, Dr Appaji said. In 2006-07, Indian pharma exports to Russia stood at Rs 1227 crore.

The proposal for a warehouse for pharma exporters was put forth by Pharmexcil a couple of years ago but could not be materialised due to lack of adequate response and viability problems.

“However, we recently received a communication from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on this subject again. Ministry has recognised the importance of setting up a warehouse in Russia for export promotion,” he said.

The Government was also willing to consider subsidising the cost of setting up a warehouse or taking the help of an agency like Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), he said.

Exporters can cut storage costs as the reimbursement of rentals towards warehouse would also be available to the Pharmexcil members who utilise the warehouse facilities, he added.

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