Abani Roy asks govt to review policy for pharma sector

NEW DELHI: Left leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abani Roy has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to review the government's policy for the pharma sector as it is beneficial only to the larger companies and threaten the existence of smaller companies.

In his letter, Mr Roy said that the Rs 15 crore monetary package offered by the government to upgrade the manufacturing plants benefited the larger companies and curbed competition from small drugmakers who sell drug at much lower price.

Similarly, research and education subsidies provided by the government has only helped multinationals and big Indian companies.