The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : 700 pharmaceutical units move north

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 13, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

700 pharmaceutical units move north

Staff Reporter

Tax benefits attract them

CHENNAI: Over 700 small and medium scale pharmaceutical units in Tamil Nadu have moved over to northern States such as Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh that offer tax benefits for industries in the last year-and a half.

Their decision, leading to several thousands of people losing their jobs and affecting those indirectly dependent on the units, has led to Tamil Nadu approaching the Centre to exempt pharma firms in the State from excise duty, said V.K. Subburaj, Health and Family Welfare Secretary.

"Chief Minister [M. Karunanidhi] during his meeting with the Prime Minister recently raised this issue and sought the excise duty concession," Mr. Subburaj said at the inauguration of a workshop on recent trends in pharmaceutical trade and industry, organised by the Department of Drugs Control Administration.

Bid to stall exodus

Mr. Subburaj said the State Government was trying to stall the exodus of pharmaceutical units in the State by setting up a pharma park at Nanguneri in Tirunelveli district. "By setting up the pharma park, we hope they will remain in the State," he said.

There are 20,000 registered units in the country of which 800 are in Tamil Nadu. The market size was estimated at around Rs. 35,000 crore for the country.

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