Rs 4,500 cr advance payment for SII, Bharat Bio

The government has approved ₹4,500 crore in “advance payments” to the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech against future supplies of Covid-19 vaccines, officials said. Both companies had asked the government for financial aid to enhance their vaccine production. The finance ministry has relaxed the general financial rules to allow the advance payment without any bank guarantees, a top government official told ET.“We have cleared ₹3,000 crore to Serum Institute and ₹1,500 crore to Bharat Biotech as advance payment for supply of vaccines till July,” the official said.The advance payment has been made at the same price of ₹150 per dose agreed earlier, said the official.Serum Institute will supply 200 million doses and Bharat Biotech will supply about 90 million doses to the government by July. The health ministry will work out the other details, the official added."We have tweaked the rules a bit," the official said, referring to the advance payments.Any advance payment to a supplier can be made only by the government on provision of a bank guarantee, as per the general financial rules administered by the department of expenditure under the finance ministry.82154880‘Faster Mode to Help Cos Scale Up’Another official said release of advance payment was considered an easier and faster mode to help the companies scale up and added that these were credible companies with a reputation so the requirement of bank guarantees could be relaxed.Serum Institute needs ₹3,000 crore to boost its output of Covishield, the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and University of Oxford, according to a report last week.The country has administered over 126 million doses of vaccines since the inoculation drive began on January 16.Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech have a monthly production capacity of about 75 million doses, which can sustain an average 2.5 million inoculations a day. Serum Institute’s output is 65-70 million doses a month right now.With infections surging in the country, the government has been under pressure to enhance the supply of vaccines. Last week, it said vaccines approved by drug regulators in the US, UK, the European Union and Japan or those cleared by the World Health Organization would be eligible for use in the country with bridge trials to be conducted alongside.The government has also drawn up a plan to ramp up Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin manufacturing capacity to about 100 million doses a month by September from 10 million currently.The company will get a financial grant of Rs 65 crore, in addition to the advance payment, to repurpose its Bengaluru facility. Production of the indigenously developed Covaxin will also start at two public sector-owned plants in Hyderabad and Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh.In addition, the Centre will provide Rs 65 crore to Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation, a Maharashtra government-owned company, to manufacture Covaxin.

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