The government informed the Rajya Sabha that it has devised a scheme to forge public-private partnership to manufacture medicines for diseases affecting the common man.

"We will be leaders of the pharma industry in the years to come," Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said.

He said since private companies did not come forward to manufacture expensive drugs for diseases such as Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV, which especially affected the common people, the government had decided on the new scheme.

Under the scheme, the private pharma companies could approach the government for loan of up to 70 per cent on a viable project.

The interest component would be kept low while offering credit for such projects, the Minister said adding the government would provide all assistance for manufacturing common drugs.

In reply to a query, he said headway has been made in discovering a new molecule for Tuberculosis, which would help patients. On the issue of research and development in the pharma sector, Sibal said a sum of Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) has been allocated for the purpose.

He said out of the 25,000 pharma companies, 15,000 were in the small-scale sector.