NEW DELHI: The government is mulling a fiscal stimulus package and faster environmental clearances to support local manufacturing of some identified active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) used as raw material in medicine formulations, official sources said.The move comes in the wake of concerns of shortage of some key medicines amidst the coronavirus outbreak in China – which is the major supplier of API to not only India but across the globe.In a high level meeting on Wednesday, chaired by NITI Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant, the government assessed the present situation and discussed several measures including an API policy to revive local manufacturing of API and bulk drugs.“The government assured that it will recommend fiscal package and benefits for the API industry, similar to what has been extended to mobile handset manufacturers in the budget to boost local manufacturing,” an official, present in the meeting told TOI.India imports around 80-85% of APIs from China. While some major pharma companies like Lupin, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories manufacture APIs locally for some medicines, but it is mostly for captive use.Local manufacturing for API has been unviable in India as China supplies them at 10-15% lower cost. For past many years, the government has been contemplating a policy to revive the local API manufacturing through incentives etc. However, the policy is yet to be finalised.Apart from officials from the government’s think tank, the meeting at NITI Aayog was attended by senior officials from the department of pharmaceuticals (DoP), National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and senior executives from the pharmaceutical industry Meanwhile, the DoP has sought orders from the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) restricting export of the 12 APIs and formulations. In a letter to DGFT, the department suggested companies should be temporarily restricted from exporting 12 drugs including antibiotics, hormones and vitamins – raw material from which is largely sourced from China’s Hubei and Shandong provinces.However, the industry maintained that there are adequate stocks of both API as well as formulations to continue till mid-May.“The shortage is a perceived shortage. The market always has a stock of medicines for 45 days. In addition, we have a stock of 30 days in our factory. Apart from this, most of the industry – mainly the large players – keep a 90 day inventory of API. Only small scale players are doing panic buying. There is no real shortage,” head of one of the leading pharmaceutical companies said.However, the government maintains that it needs to take precautionary steps to avoid any cascading impact on supplies of essential medicines. “We need to think from the perspective of public health and ensure that supplies continue. Therefore, we have recommended a temporary restriction so that there is no shortage or price hike for patients,” an official said.Though new cases of coronavirus in China appears to be slowing, the death toll from the infection in mainland China crossed 2,000 on Wednesday. China's National Health Commission reported 1,749 new cases, the lowest daily rise since January 29, while Hubei province - the epicentre of the outbreak - reported the lowest number of new infections since February 11. The latest figures bring the total number of coronavirus cases in China to over 74,000 with 2,004 deaths, three quarters of which have occurred in Hubei, provincial capital of Wuhan.