Some Indian pharmaceutical companies are interested in entering the Ukrainian market with Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) products, President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (IPMA) Dr. Ramanan Unni Parambath Menon has told Interfax-Ukraine. “Many pharmaceutical companies are present on the Ukrainian market with AYUSH products and many of them are interested in entering it,” he said, adding that the Ayurvedic term is incorrect for this segment of medications.
“AYUSH is ab abbreviation for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy,” he said.
Commenting on the specifics of the Ukrainian regulatory base for the import of AYUSH products, Dr. Menon said that in Ukraine some of these medications are registered both as medicines and as biologically active additives.
“In India, there are separate rules for registration of AYUSH products. There are no separate rules in Ukraine. We would like these rules by analogy with India to be implemented in Ukraine,” he said.
In this case, according to Dr. Menon, some AYUSH preparations have a full package of documentation for the registration of medical products required by the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
In turn, Head of the Representative Office of Dia Pharma Limited Ukraine Mr. Thamarai Pandian said that there are special rules of registration for AYUSH medications drawn up for the WTO in some countries like Switzerland, Germany, Hungary and some other EU countries.
“The Health Ministry of Ukraine could have introduced the same WTO rules in Ukraine,” the expert said.
At present, there are 278,000 Ayurvedic specialists, over 200 Ayurvedic educational institutions and 112 Ayurvedic skill enhancement institutions. Some 15,000 people graduate from them every year.
There are 7,439 private companies in India that produce Ayurvedic medications and over 20 companies with the international GMP certificate.
Lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) becomes a driver of the banking market, Deputy Board Chairperson of the bank Globus Olena Dmitriyeva said at a roundtable organized by the Financial Club in Kyiv on Tuesday. “SME becomes a driver of lending, as in this segment the quality of the portfolio is twice better than the quality of portfolios of corporate clients. 75% of banks started lending to SME, and this is a good trend,” she said. Dmitriyeva said that at present, banks are trying to relax the decision making processes for lending to SME.
Head of the SME department at Piraeus Bank Svitlana Bazhenova said that from October 2017 through February 2018, the SME loan portfolio in Ukraine grew by UAH 25 billion.
“The growth of SME share of total portfolio of loans issued to businesses by Ukrainian banks grew from 51% to 52% of the total loan portfolio. The growth was mainly generated by loans to SME,” she said. Deputy Director of the SME department at Ukrgasbank Semen Puskai pointed out the importance of programs to support development of SME.
“We are optimistic about the future of the SME segment, as there are now many assistants in this area. There is the state that implements programs to reduce the cost of loans for agrarians, and we also see the active participation of international financial institutions like the German-Ukrainian Fund, the EIB and IFC. When decentralization began municipalities started joining the project. They cheapen lending rates and support business in their region… To date, the programs signed and declared with the municipalities are quite numerous, but it is necessary that these programs start working as soon as possible and then, there will be cheaper rates,” he said.
LENDING, MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES, SMALL ENTERPRISES, UKRAINIAN MARKET
