Indian Pharmaceutical Industry: An Overview
The pharmaceutical industry develops, produces, and markets medicinal drugs. Pharmaceutical companies can deal in generic and or brand medications. They are subject to a variety of laws and regulations regarding the patenting, testing and marketing of drugs.
Indian Pharmaceutical industry has more than 23,000 companies comprising of large, big, medium and small companies. India has one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical markets in the world. The Indian pharmaceutical industry, now a $17 billion (over Rs. 68,000 crore) Industry, has shown tremendous progress in terms of infrastructure development, technology base creation and a wide range of products. The Indian pharma market is currently estimated at 8.7 bn and is expected to reach 10 bn by the end of 2009, with the sectors contributing to GDP being 1.3percent. Research and Development spending by the Indian pharma companies is 2-4percent of sales. This is marginal compared to 10-15percent of sales for the global players. Pharma companies have posted 23percent growth in their revenues and 38percent growth in profits. The country ranks 17th in terms of export value of bulk actives and dosage forms. Indian exports are destined to more than 200 countries around the globe including highly regulated markets of US, Europe, Japan and Australia.
The pharmaceutical industry produces bulk drugs belonging to major therapy groups. Globally the Indian pharmaceutical industry ranks 4th in terms of volume (with an 8percent share in global sales), 13th in terms of value (with a share of 1.5percent in global sales) and produces 20-24percent of the world's generic drugs (in terms of value). The industry has developed Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facilities for the production of various dosage forms.