Question : Impact of Coronavirus on Chinese Supplies

(a) whether there is disruption in the supply of raw materials from China due to coronavirus and if so, the details thereof;
(b) the steps taken by the Government to deal with its impact on several Indian industries, especially in Pharma Sector, wherein imbalance in demand and supply has resulted in price rise of items across the industries; and
(c) if so, the details thereof along with the precautionary measures taken by the Government to bridge the demand and supply gap and contain the rise in prices of items across the country?

THE MINISTER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (c) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 246 FOR ANSWER ON 11th MARCH, 2020 REGARDING “IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS ON CHINESE SUPPLIES”.

(a) to (c) : The Corona Virus outbreak in China has led to restrictions on movement of people and business activities in many provinces of China, in order to control the spread of virus. The closure of factories in China may affect Indian industries, which import components, intermediaries and raw materials from China like the pharmaceutical, electronics and automobile industries.

The Government has engaged with the Export Promotion Councils and Trade Bodies and worked with them on assessing and addressing potential disruptions in their supply chains, including by putting them in touch with our missions abroad to secure and transport inventories available with the existing suppliers and find alternative sources of supply.

A Committee has been formed by the Department of Pharmaceuticals under the Chairmanship of Joint Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to regularly review the availability of stock of API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients)/KSMs (Key Starting Materials) and API based medicines, and to suggest and enable suitable and appropriate measures for their management.
Indian Missions abroad have also been asked to explore the possibility of sourcing raw material for our production, in their respective countries. Several Missions have shared the list of potential buyers/suppliers in their countries with our Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) and agreed to facilitate B2B meetings for them.
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