Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will announce Union Budget for financial year 2016-17 on Monday, Feb. 29, 2016 in the Lok Sabha.
Commenting on the expectations from Budget, Sanjay Murdeshwar, Managing Director, AstraZeneca Pharma India said, "We hope the Union Budget 2016 will have specific investment announcements for the biopharmaceutical sector, which plays a critical role in addressing unmet medical needs in chronic health diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart diseases and respiratory disorders. We are optimistic the Union Budget 2016 will focus on:
Healthcare spend: Increase healthcare spend to at least 2.5% of the GDP in the next two years. The health budget must include tax sops and financial aid for enhancing infrastructure and scientific innovation.
Skill development: As a science and knowledge based industry that is focusing on delivering the next generation of medicines for many of today’s diseases, the industry requires specialized and highly skilled resources. Last Budget, the government announced setting up of three new NIPERs (National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research). This year, we hope to see an increase in the current momentum of skill building, collaboration between companies and universities that will further drive innovation and economic growth in India.
New Pharma Ministry: Setting up a single consultative platform and a unified ministry for policy making to strengthen regulation and administration mechanism in the pharmaceutical sector will be a very positive move.
Universal Health Assurance Programme: Implementing the promised Universal Health Assurance programme will benefit patients and increase access.
There remains complexity on the transfer pricing. It is imperative that simplification and uniformity be brought on the transfer pricing assessment. We hope that the APA (Advance pricing agreement) concept is simplified and used as a common basis and the litigations on this front are reduced."