hyderabad with the covid19 pandemic putting the spotlight firmly on the biotech and pharma sector after years of being ignored by successive fms the industry has its fingers crossed for key prescriptions in the upcoming union budget for boosting the health of the sectork anand kumar managing director indian immunologicals limited pointed out that while the pandemic demands increased budgets for improving healthcare infrastructure at all levels the sector expects some tax relaxations on rd to ensure affordable vaccines and drugs for the massespointing out that the sector is not only of national importance but a large exporter as well parag agarwal cfo dr reddys laboratories urged the fm to restore the weighted deduction on rd expenditure as well as the exports incentive scheme agreeing pharmexcil director general uday bhaskar said the sector expects not just restoration of the weighted deduction benefit but enhancement of the limit from 150 to 200 and introduction of new rd incentive schemes that are easy to implement he also pointed out that the sector is suffering because of mismatch of gst on apis 18 and finished formulations 12 and suggested a simple mechanism to ensure that companies do not suffer due to blockage of input tax credit on account of inverted rate of taxationthe budget can focus on aspects that help india emerge as a major supplier of not just vaccines but pharmaceutical products in pli2 the government must try to attract investments from mncs that have manufacturing bases in other countries including china to set up units in india as well it would not only result in reduction of pharma imports but would also boost exports said sanjay singh partner deal advisory and head of life sciences kpmg he also rooted expects the fm to lay a roadmap for increasing in spends on healthcare from the existing 13 to 3 in a phased mannernatco pharma ltds ceo rajeev nannapaneni said he expects a large allocation in public health institutions as we need to build a strong public health care system that can deal with chronic illness and pandemicsbulk drugs manufacturers association of india bdmai senior vice president rk agrawal said there is an urgent need to improve the ease of doing business and sought measures for tighter regulation of importsin the agri biotech space ram kaundinya director general federation of seed industry of india fsii sought improved ip protection reduced bureaucratic approvals nocs and a positive recognition for firms investing in biotech rd