Government on April 13 approved funds to set up 16 manufacturing plants for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) in the country under the production-linked incentive scheme for active pharmaceutical ingredients.

The government's move comes in the wake of states reporting a shortage of vaccines for COVID-19, at a time when the country is witnessing a resurgence in coronavirus cases. On March 13th the country reported 1,61,736 new cases in the past 24 hours.

The government has given the approval to set up manufacturing plants for active pharmaceutical ingredients including Valsartan, Losartan,Levofloxacin, Sulfadiazine, Ciprofloxacin, Ofloxacin, Telmisartan, Diclofenac Sodium, Levetiracetam, Carbidopa, and Levodopa.

Last month, the government had approved a total of 33 applications with a committed investment of Rs 5,082.65 crore under the Production Linked Incentive scheme for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients.