| The Indian
Government has decided to revamp the drug regulatory
structure in the country and set up an independent
authority on the lines of US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) for quality control of drugs.
Once the regulatory
body is put in place, the government will approach
the American FDA for an agreement on mutual approval
of clinical trials and drugs. The independent drug
regulatory authority would be set up in two years.
All the strong points of FDA would be replicated
in the new structure.
The proposed
structure, which will be called Central Drug Administration
or National Drug Authority, would have ten different
sub-authorities to deal with areas like cosmetics,
blood safety, medical equipment, biological products,
recombinant products, etc. The step is being initiated
on the recommendations of the Mashelkar Committee,
which went into the issue of drug safety and spurious
drugs. According to officials the current system,
which is guided by he Central Drugs Standard Control
Organisation, is "old, fragmented and not independent".
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| The government
is set to provide major tax breaks to the private
operators of the modernised Delhi/Mumbai airports.
The fiscal concessions, however, come with a rider
i.e. private operator of the Delhi and Mumbai airports
will be allowed only a 10% escalation in airport
charges in the first phase.
The fiscal concessions
will help the private airport operators to keep
costs under control and ensure better returns on
the investments. The government is planning to provide
tax breaks under sections 10(23G) and 80-IA of the
Income Tax Act. Among others things, the provisions
allow a 10-year tax holiday in the initial 15 years
of operations.
Similar concessions
under the I-T Act are currently available to other
infrastructure areas like power and telecom. While
the tax holiday provides relief to investors in
the initial years when payout on interest is high,
section 23 provides tax breaks on interest and dividend
income arising out of investments in such core projects.
Airport
charges in India are considered 78% higher than
the global average. According to an estimate, a
capital investment of Rs 8,720 crore (US $ 1.93
bn) will be required for Delhi and Rs 6,400 crore
(US $ 1.42 bn) will be required for Mumbai airports
over 20 years. The final word on the estimated costs
is still awaited. The first phase of modernisation
of the two airports is likely to be completed by
’10.
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