Atmanirbhar Bharat stimulus package: FM grants ₹900 cr for Covid vaccine R&D
1 min read . Updated: 12 Nov 2020, 05:40 PM IST
Premium- Actual cost of vaccine, distribution cost will be separate, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman clarified
- She also said that ₹10,200 crore additional budget outlay will be provided towards capital and industrial expenditure for domestic defence equipment, industrial incentives and infrastructure and green energy
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced ₹900 crore funding for Covid-19 vaccine research in the country.
While announcing the third stimulus of the Atmanirbhar Bharat package today, the finance minister clarified the funding will only be for research and development of COVID-19 vaccine. Actual cost of vaccine, distribution cost will be separate, the minister clarified.
" ₹900 crore provided for COVID Suraksha Mission for research and development of the Indian COVID vaccine to the Department of Biotechnology," Sitharaman said.
She also said that ₹10,200 crore additional budget outlay will be provided towards capital and industrial expenditure for domestic defence equipment, industrial incentives and infrastructure and green energy.
Currently, there are three coronavirus vaccine candidates that are in different stages of human clinical trials in India. The human clinical trials two vaccines developed indigenously, one by Bharat Biotech and the other by Zydus Cadila Ltd, are going on.
Pune-based Serum Institute of India has also partnered with AstraZeneca for manufacturing Oxford vaccine in India and the government has also permitted Serum Institute to conduct Phase 2 and 3 human clinical trials of the vaccine.
Moreover, SII and ICMR announced the completion of enrolment of phase-3 clinical trials for the novel coronavirus vaccine-Covishield in India and has already produced 40 million doses of its covid-19 vaccine, it announced today.
On 11 November, the Cabinet announced production linked incentives for 10 sectors including auto, pharmaceuticals and textiles worth ₹2 lakh crore in a bid to boost manufacturing, make India self reliant and generate employment.
Briefing reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said production-linked incentives will be offered for sectors such as white goods manufacturing, pharmaceutical, specialised steel, auto, telecom, textile, food products, solar photovoltaic and cell battery.
Under the new scheme, the government approved ₹15,000 crore financial outlay over five-year period to the Department of Pharmaceuticals to incentivize the global and domestic players to engage in high value production of medical drugs.
