Globalization of the Indian pharmaceutical industry

Abstract

Among the various science oriented sectors in India, the pharma industry leads the chartowing to its diverse capabilities in the difficult areas of drug production and technology. Thepharma industry in India is a highly complex and yet organized sector with its total worthestimated to be around US$ 4.5 billion and an estimated growth rate of 8-9% annually.Among the third world countries, India is ranked the highest for its technology and the wideand diverse types and qualities of medicines that it manufactures – ranging from simpleheadache tablets to sophisticated cardiac formulations and antibiotics.India is expected to feature in the top 10 pharma markets globally by revenue by the year2020. This is largely due to its huge population base (2nd largest in the world), changes inpatient profiles, increase in consumption related to health care, increase in the average lifeexpectancy of an Indian, rapid increase in the number of urban centres and an evolving andhighly active contribution by the private sector enterprises.Indian pharma industry has seen robust and explosive growth in the past two decades owingto some of the reasons mentioned above. Indian market for pharma products is highlyfragmented with around 20,000 registered units and characterized by extreme pricecompetition and price control mechanisms imposed by the government. The organized sectoris composed of roughly 250-300 companies which make up the 75% of the market with thetop 10 firms making up 30% alone. Approximately 75% of the nation?s demand for variousdrugs, formulations, tablets, etc. is fulfilled by way of local production.