How India is Leading the Pharmaceutical Export Industry

The rise and rise of India’s pharmaceutical exports is not an accident. With a vision to put India on the global pharmaceutical map, the Indian government, as early as the 1960s, begin encouraging the growth of drug manufacturing Indian companies through various policies, incentives and legislation such as the patents act of 1970. 

In turn, Indian pharmaceutical companies took this opportunity with open arms and ran with it. With their expertise in producing new formulations at extraordinarily low costs and their proficiency in reverse-engineering new procedures, these early Indian pharmaceutical companies and the pharmaceutical exporters in India made a place and a name for themselves worldwide.

Over the years, many locations across the country have developed to become pharmaceutical manufacturing hubs, consistently creating advanced pharmaceutical products in India. Places such as Himachal Pradesh, Baddi in the north; Sikkim in the northeast; Ankleshwar, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Pune and Mumbai in the west; Bangalore and Chennai etc in the south are today some of the major hubs of pharmaceutical production and packaging across India.

• By the year 2017, the Indian pharmaceutical industry was estimated to be of around US 33 billion dollars. Out of this gigantic value, 20 percent belonged to generic drugs of global exports in regards to capacity alone. 

• By 2018, the domestic pharma market has crossed the turnover in the tune of US 18.2 billion dollars – a more than 9 percent year on year growth on the back of US 17.2 billion dollars in export revenue in the same financial year.

• Before the COVID 19 pandemic took over the world, it was estimated that by the year 2020, the Indian pharmaceutical industry would rise 30% to touch and to cross the elusive US 20 billion dollars mark. 

• As of today, a major chunk of pharma exports from India – over 32 percent, or US 3.8 billion dollars – goes to the USA. Other countries where India has a solid foothold in terms of exports is as follow: South Africa at 3.9 percent; Russia at 3.8 percent; the United Kingdom at also 3.8 percent and Nigeria at an impressive 3.3 percent.

• State of the art manufacturing plants, a sharp focus on quality at every stage, high-grade raw materials and API, special care to maintain utmost cleanliness and hygiene, acquisition of latest advanced machinery, certifications from WHO GMP and other major organization and the pursuit of excellence are some of the reasons why Indian manufactured pharmaceutical products are widely accepted and loved by other traders and ordinary people the world over.

• Today, when the entire world is on a pause, waiting for a cure for the Coronavirus disease, a lot of hopes are pinned on India’s prolific pharmaceutical industry to innovate an efficient and affordable vaccination that can quickly be approved by major health bodies and go into mass production with the support of India’s giant manufacturing capacity, which is only surpassed by China.

• Although Indian pharma companies are quite adept at moulding their product development process to evolving environments, some of the more ambitious pharmaceutical organizations are envisioning and endeavouring towards an even bigger aim: the discovery of new molecules. 

• Pharmaceutical companies, big or small, are investing heavily in Research and Development. Those without such capacities resort to contracting their R&D to other specific companies.