PANAJI
Having to import raw material for drug manufacturing and even machinery, stakeholders are of the opinion that Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar should do away with entry tax in the budget.
“We expect that the entry tax should be abolished in the upcoming state budget. As of now, pharma companies in Goa have to get most of the raw material from outside of the state on which they pay entry tax. Besides, even importing machinery attracts entry tax,” says Suresh Kamath, president of Goa Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers’ Association.
The logic behind entry tax is to promote local manufacturers. If local manufacturers in Goa don’t even make raw material and machinery required by pharma companies, then applying entry tax on the same doesn’t make any sense, he adds.
N Sriram, director, Tulip Group of Companies, lamented that the state government hasn’t implemented 150% floor-area-ratio (FAR) for pharma companies even after state’s investment policy talked about it way back in June 2014.
Sriram added, “Many pharma companies wanting to expand in Goa can’t do so because there’s no scope for expansion in Goa as FAR remains at 100%.”
Pharma companies have complained about lack of skilled manpower in the past. Sriram said, “There’s a course called B.Sc (Biotech) in Goa, but we have seen that students of this course aren’t significantly different from an average science graduate. Knowledge should be imparted in such a way that students should be able to apply it at work-place, which isn’t happening now”
Apart from all this, pharma sector is still crying for basics in Goa even after being
